This is only here for archival reasons. Please use a newer guide if possible.

Old 2: Single USB Mac OS X Install (Windows & Mac required)

Requirements:

On the Mac:
  1. Insert the retail Mac OS X Installation DVD into the DVD drive, and plug your USB drive in. Open Disk Utility (Applications/Utilities) and select Partition. You need to change the Volume Scheme to 2 volumes. Format the first volume as MS-DOS at 40 MB and format second volume as Mac OS Extended (it does not matter whether it is Journaled or not.) Select "Options..." and select Master Boot Record (MBR), then click Apply and confirm the operation. Click on the Restore tab, drag the icon for the partition on the larger USB volume to the Destination field, and drag the DVD to the Source field. Click Restore, confirm the operation. This usually takes around thirty minutes, depending on drive speeds and the cleanliness of you disc.
  2. While you are waiting, make sure that you have downloaded all of the necessary files, listed above. Unzip these files (if necessary) and mount any disk images. First, mount the DellMiniBoot ISO by double-clicking it. Once the DVD has finished copying, copy all of the contents (except the DellMini9Utils folder) to the smaller volume of your USB drive. You may now Eject the ISO and the USB drive. (You can do this by right-clicking [control click on one-button mice] on the drives and selecting Eject.)
    (It may be worthwhile to copy the new DellEFI to the USB drive before ejecting, but it is up to you.)

    On the Windows PC:

  3. Plug in the USB drive. Download Syslinux and extract it to your C: drive. Make sure that there is a directory on your C: drive called syslinux-3.63 and another within it called win32. Now open the Start menu. On Windows XP select "Run..." then type in "cmd" and press enter, or on Windows Vista and 7 simply type "cmd" in the search box. (For Vista and 7 users, you may need to right-click on the Command Prompt program above and select "Run as Administrator".) We will now need to run some commands in the Command Prompt:
    Code:
    cd C:\syslinux-3.80\win32

    Then:

    Code:
    syslinux.exe -ma <you USB drive letter>

    In my case it looked like this:

    Code:
    syslinux.exe -ma E:

    It should take a few seconds and return to a blank prompt. This is normal, and this step is complete. You may now close the Command Prompt and remove your USB drive.

    On the Dell Mini:

  4. This would be a perfect time to make sure that there is nothing left on your Dell Mini that you need or to back up any further files. This install process will erase everything on your drive. Turn your Mini on, enter the Setup menu by pressing "2" (two) during boot, and make sure that "USB Legacy Support" is on and that "USB Wake from Sleep" is off. If you like you can set the boot order so that it tries to boot from USB drives first, but I prefer to leave this off. Save and exit.
  5. Insert your USB drive. Unless you reconfigured the boot order, you will need to press "0" (zero) during boot to bring up the boot selection screen. Boot from the USB Storage. You should see some text about loading initrd.img, and when that is done you may see an error about com.apple.boot not loading correctly, this is absolutely normal so ignore it. Highlight the selection that has the name of the Installer partition, press Enter, and you will now proceed with the Mac OS X Installer. For those fortunate enough to have a 10.5.6 disc, this should have a normal aspect ratio. If you have an older one, it will look stretched.
  6. Select your language. Before you go much further, you will want to open Disk Utility (Utilities in the Menu Bar, and then Disk Utility) and partition your. So first select your SSD in the pane on the left (not a volume on the SSD, the actual SSD drive icon) and then select the Partition tab. Set the format of the partition as Mac OS Extended (Journaled), give it a name, and then select "Options..." and set it to GUID. (You can also do this to another USB drive if you feel like installing to an external drive.) Once you are done you should exit Disk Utility and continue on with the install process. Depending on the size of the install drive you may need to deselect some of the options, such as additional languages and printer drivers. You can do this by clicking the Customize button. (If you still don't have enough room after deselecting everything, then see Guide Advanced 3.)
  7. Installation can take as little as thirty minutes, but this varies. Sometimes the installation works perfectly and it tells you so, sometimes it tells you that installation failed even though it did the whole process. Either way you should restart, this is simply a quirk in the process. The restart can take a few minutes, so give it some time. If it hangs on a blank screen try pressing "Esc" and then if that doesn't help simply hold down the power button until it turns off, and then turn the Mini back on. Boot back into the USB drive, but this time you will want to use it to boot into the SSD, using either 81 or 82, but type "-x" (without quotes) before doing so. It will look like "boot: -x".
  8. For those with 10.5.6, this should be fairly painless. The drivers on the DellMiniBoot v8.02b1 enable nearly everything except sound to work on first boot. For the lesser versions, it won't be as pretty but it will be functional. Go through the first-time setup process. Once the setup is finished, you should see the Desktop and Dock.
  9. Now install the AboutThisMac.pkg, then proceed to run DellEFI. Do not run these from the smaller flash drive, since there have been corruption issues and DellEFI in these ISOs is outdated. Unless you have some reason to, use the default settings by selecting "Easy Installation" and then clicking Install. Confirm your decision, let it run, but press No when it asks if you are ready to reboot.
  10. You MUST download and install the 10.5.7 Combo Update. I recommend that you download and extract to a flash drive this beforehand since I can't guarantee that you will have internet capabilities on first boot. You may need to make room on your drive to fit it, see the tips section for this. Do this before proceeding any further! When it is finished, press Restart. Boot using the USB drive like you did at the end of Step 7. Reinstall DellEFI, this time selecting a Custom Installation and checking the boxes to reinstall the bootloader and extensions, then restart. You can now remove the USB drive(s) and start from the SSD. You are done, at least with the installation. Congratulations!

mechdrew Old 2 Version 2.94