About installing Lion over Snow Leopard from an external Hard Drive

I was just talking with an Apple Representative on the phone a bit earlier and he said that if I connected up to a computer with Lion on it already, booted it into recovery mode, then installed Lion onto an external HD that I could then attach the external HD with Lion on it to a Snow Leopard machine and boot off of the Lion Partition (on the external HD) and then I could upgrade my sno leopard machine from this lion "image" on my external Lion drive.
My question is that will this keep all of my files on my Snow Leopard machine in place (so basically will this perform an upgrade) or completely erase everything off of my Snow Leopard machine?

To boot from an external optical drive:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the desired disk icon for the external optical drive. The DVD
should be in the optical drive before restarting the computer.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.

Similar Messages

Can the new Mac Mini boot Snow Leopard from an external hard drive?

I currently boot my 2009 Mac Mini from a FW800 external drive with 10.6.8. If I just plug my external drive into a new 2011 Mac Mini, will it boot into Snow Leopard if I set it as the startup disk or will I get a kernel panic?

I bought a 2011 Mac Mini, which came with Lion installed. I thought maybe I could repartition it and have a Snow Leopard partition. So I repartitioned it (500gb split into two 250gb partitions). I named the new partition "SnowLeopard" just to make it easy for me to tell the difference.
I attached the external DVD and put in a Snow Leopard installer disc, holding down the C key so it would boot and install from that, but it just spun for awhile. Doesn't appear to work.
Then I read somewhere else that someone had managed to clone a copy of Snow Leopard onto an external drive and boot from that. In their situation they were talking about a MacBook, but the principle seemed sane.
So I rebooted, holding down the T key to put the Mac Mini into Target hard disk mode, and attached it via Firewire to another MacMini (circa 2008 or so, not sure of year, but it was upgraded last year to Snow Leopard and has been upgraded along and along). Then I used Carbon Copy Cloner to copy Snow Leopard (that is, the entire hard disk-- System and all applications and data) to my newer Mac Mini's "snow leopard" partition.
For yucks, when it was done cloning, I restarted the older Mac Mini, and had it boot from the newer Mac Mini's snow leopard partition--- it worked! To make it easy to tell the difference, I changed the desktop background to something completely different. I think I tried booting from Lion but I can't remember if that worked.
Then I rebooted the newer Mac Mini, which booted up in Lion, of course. Going into System Settings, I changed the startup disk to the "snow leopard" partition, and rebooted, and it booted up in Snow Leopard.
I have yet to test the applications on the Snow Leopard partition. Another problem has arisen.
Because with both of the Mac MInis being active on the network, they both had the same computer and user name. So I renamed the newer Mac Mini to something completely different, and changed the password.
Unfortunately, now I cannot change any other setting in the System Settings that requires a password. While the newer Snow Leopard lets me log in with the new user and new password, whenever I try to click the "lock" icon to change something, I'm prompted for a username and password. Apparently this is some different username and password than either the new or old username/password.
I've tried various combinations of both: new user/old password, old user/new password, old user/old password, etc.
So if you do what I've done, be careful about changing the username and password on your cloned computer. I think it may be wiser to create a new user and then delete the old cloned users. I may just have to re-clone the old Mac Mini to the new one again.
If anyone has any ideas about this password conundrum, please pass along!

Can I install Lion over Snow Leopard without erasing and restoring hard drive?

Been reading a lot about downloading Lion. Recommended to back up hard drive to ext. drive, erase hard drive, install Lion and then re-install apps and files from ext. drive. Can I just install Lion over Snow Leopard without erasing all apps and files on hard drive?

If you do an upgrade install then be sure to do this first:
1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
2. Make a bootable backup just in case. Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.

Install Lion over Snow Leopard on third party SSD.

I am currently running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on a third party SSD (Intel 510 series), and am using Trim Enabler 1.2. Everything is running well.
Regarding installing Lion 10.7.2 on the same SSD drive, I have some questions: Should I simply install Lion over Snow Leopard, then either switch to Trim Enabler 2.0 beta 4, or use Grant Pannell's tips here http://digitaldj.net/2011/07/21/trim-enabler-for-lion/. I have read in places that it is best to perform a wipe or some type of reconditioning of an SSD before installing Lion on it. Thanks for any advice you all may have.

I would do the following:
1) buy an external disk enclosure with USB and/or FireWire interface
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817146604
2) buy a cheap traditional hard disk at least the same size as the SSD or larger
3) Clone the SSD to the external hard disk inside the enclosure
4) Download Lion from the App Store and copy the installer to a USB Flash Drive
4) Delete the partitions on the SSD (don't bother formatting)
5) Install Lion cleanly with a boot USB Flash Drive
6) Connect the external disk and use the Migration Assistant to move your data back
7) Once you are sure all is good (take a few weeks to be sure) then you can format the external disk and use it as a Time Machine drive. Or use it for other purposes.
Give it time to index everything with Spotlight.
That would be the most clean way to upgrade. Some have been lucky with Lion upgrades but if you have a ton of legacy stuff installed as well as custom tweaks, etc. Then you are likely to run into issues. Best to start clean and neat and migrate your data over. I would even re-install the Apps individually.
Make sure you are not running any PowerPC Apps which rely on Rosetta because that won't work in Lion after the upgrade.

INSTALLING LION OVER SNOW LEOPARD

I am getting set to install Lion over Snow Leopard (10.6.8).
Is there anything I need to know about this? I plan on doing a complete time machine back up before I do the install, on a HD that is internal, anything I need to know about that? I just want it to go smoothly, any direction and/or suggestions is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

any new Apple kB articles
http://support.apple.com/kb/index?page=articles
Me, I think clone backups are more useful, and only use T.M. as secondary.
Using Cloning as a Backup Strategy
I'd assume that professional apps may need to be tested still; and of course check to see what you have that depends on PowerPC code and Rosetta first. That has some in a tither.
A clone lets you still be able to boot Snow Leopard. Check out Carbon Copy, SuperDuper.

I've installed LION. Is it possible to put Snow Leopard on an external hard drive?

I've installed LION. Is it possible to put Snow Leopard on an external hard drive?

I was unaware of this change for usb support! However Babowa makes a good point in that you would probably not want to run SL via USB and rather Firewire.
Having said that, the 13" MacBooks do not have firewire.
But again as Babowa points out, that machine wouldn't be able to run Lion anyway.

HT3777 I have a Window 7 HP laptop. I want to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive as the memory space on my laptop is very less. I have the original snow leopard disc and I think it's a retail version . Please guide me through the installation.

I have a Window 7 HP laptop. I want to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive as the memory space on my laptop is very less. I have the original snow leopard disc and I think it's a retail version . Please guide me through the installation in details. Can you also please let me know about this boot camp.

You cannot. From a legal standpoint, the license agreement for OS X mandates that you run OS X only on Apple hardware. HP is not (yet) owned by Apple.
From a technical standpoint, your HP laptop doesn't use EFI, but rather an early predecessor called a BIOS. Apple is the only vendor of consumer computer hardware that uses EFI; other vendors reserve EFI for use in servers.
Secondly, Apple's operating systems support a rather limited number of configurations of video hardware and mainboard chipsets directly since they need only support those systems that they manufacture. You cannot use Windows software or drivers on OS X, so prior to installation, you would need to write your own hardware drivers for your laptop, create an OS X drive image on a Mac, and then modify that image with your drivers before putting it in the HP.
It will be simpler (and legal), to simply purchase a used Mac. Apple's online store has refurbished MacBook Airs starting at $850 and Mac Minis for $700. If you go to e-bay or craigslist, you'll find used Macs for considerably less.

Can I install snow leopard on an external hard drive so I can run quicken 2006, and put snow leopard on my imac harddrive

Can I install snow leopard on an external hard drive in order to run my quicken 2006, and install lion on the hard drive of my imac?

You don't need to erase the drive and repartition from scratch. You may be able to add a second partition on the fly. The caveat here is that once you do that you cannot create a Windows partition using Boot Camp. Of course if you have no plans for Boot Camp then it isn't relevant.
To create a second partition on your existing startup volume:
To resize the drive do the following:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list.
2. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.
Now, you cannot add a new partition that exceeds the amount of contiguous free space at the end of the drive. Disk Utility will fail to add the partition if it cannot find sufficient contiguous free space. If that's the case then you will need to follow your state outline - backup, boot from clone, erase internal, repartition internal, restore backup to one of the partitions (or both in your case.)

I had Leopard on may Mac. I upgraded to Mountain Lion using Snow Leopard. I can't use my video with Mountain Lion. Can I load Snow Leopard on an external hard drive so I can use it with my camera?

I had Leopard on may Mac. I upgraded to Mountain Lion using Snow Leopard. I can't use my video with Mountain Lion. Can I load Snow Leopard on an external hard drive so I can use it with my camera?

First, you cannot do this if you have a Boot Camp partition.
Second: Create a new partition.
1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
2. You should see the graphical sizing window showing the existing partitions. A portion may appear as a blue rectangle representing the used space on a partition.
3. In the lower right corner of the sizing rectangle for each partition is a resizing gadget. Select it with the mouse and move the bottom of the rectangle upwards until you have reduced the existing partition enough to create the desired new volume's size. The space below the resized partition will appear gray. Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed. (Note: You can only make a partition smaller in order to create new free space.)
4. Click on the [+] button below the sizing window to add a new partition in the gray space you freed up. Give the new volume a name, if you wish, then click on the Apply button. Wait until the process has completed.
You should now have a new volume on the drive.
It would be wise to have a backup of your current system as resizing is not necessarily free of risk for data loss. Your drive must have sufficient contiguous free space for this process to work.
Third: Install Snow Leopard.
Boot from your Snow Leopard DVD. Follow instructions for installation being sure that before you actually install Snow Leopard you have selected the new partition as your target destination.
Booting From An OS X Installer Disc
1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.
2. Restart the computer.
3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.
4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple logo
appears.
5. Wait for installer to finish loading.

I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive.

I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive. I've followed every possible instruction on every which website. The problem is when I boot to Install disc, I am unable to choose which hard drive I'd like to install the OS on. It says that it is unable to Install and automatically takes me to Restore and suggests that I restore to Time Machine backups. Any and all help is appreciated.

lovinlife5959,
have you tried booting from the grey Mac OS X Install DVD that originally came in the box with your MacBook Pro? See if you can install its version of Mac OS X (either 10.4.9, 10.4.10, or 10.5.0, depending upon when it shipped from the factory) onto your external hard drive. If that works, boot from your external hard drive, run Software Update on it, and then try updating your external drive to 10.6.3 via the white Snow Leopard DVD.

Snow Leopard on an external hard drive; sign-in issues, Snow Leopard on an external hard drive; sign-in issues

I have an older (circa 2006) MacBook running Tiger. I've been able to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive and when I restart, it seems to boot from the external drive. However, it asks for a user name and password and the combination I use in Tiger doesn't work. I don't get an option for an admin user/password.
Any suggestions?

If you did a fresh installation from the original installer disk, then unless you used Migration Utility as part of the installation then you would have been stepped through the process to set up a user acount. Without that there would be no account to log into. So either you don't remember, you didn't install on an empty drive, or you used Migration Utility.
In any case, boot from the original installer, select the external drive, and under the Utilities menu choose Password Reset.
Regards.

Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on an iMacPPC?

Can anyone boot Leopard from an external hard drive on a G5 iMac PowerPC? How?

Allan's answer is irrelevant as he refers to Snow Leopard. He must have isread your post!
Yes, you can and I do. The proviso is that the external hard drive is connected by firewire, as a PPC Mac cannot boot via USB.

How do I boot Mac OS X Leopard from an external hard drive onto an eMac?

My eMac's internal hard drive died a while ago, and I was finally able to successfully able to install Mac OS X Leopard onto an external hard drive. However, my eMac still refuses to boot Leopard. I only keep being put on the OS Install/Upgrade screen. After install, I selected the Start-up Disk utility and chose my hard drive. Upon restart I find myself on the Install/Upgrade screen as I said earlier. I tried restarting again, but this time I pressed the option key to select a boot disk. However, only my Mac Install Disk shows up.

How is the external HD connected - USB or Firewire? Most Power PC Macs can't boot from a USB connected external HD.
 Cheers, Tom

A library on my hard drive became corrupted, so I over-wrote it from an external hard drive. When I access the library now on my hard drive, many of the images are vertical, and cannot be rotated other than one at a time. Ideas to correct this?

A library on my hard drive became corrupted, so I over-wrote it from an external hard drive. When I now access the library on my hard drive, many of the images are vertical, and cannot be rotated other than one at a time. Ideas to correct this?

You had already done "Repair" and "Rebuild"? These usually takes scores of minutes or hours.
Does the Library on your external drive work from the external drive? Navigate to it in Finder and double-click the name.
If it does, delete the problem Library, empty the System Trash, reboot, Verify your system disk using Disk Utility (and might as well repair permissions while you're at it), reboot, test the external drive Library once more to confirm it works properly, then close it and copy the Library to your system drive. When the copying is done, double-click the Library (now on the system drive) and see what you get.

How do you reinsatll snow leopard from an external optical drive

Both my hard drive and superdrive crapped out. How do i reinstall from an external USB optical drive? I am having a complete brain **** at the moment!

If your replacing your internal hard drive, why not also get the Superdrive replaced?
The OS X install disk supposedly won't boot from a external optical drive, only the internal one.
To OS X onto your new internal drive, your going to need another Mac with optical drive to take 10.6 off the disk and place it onto a bootable USB. Any Mac should do, as the 10.6 installer isn't going to be booted .
http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
Other methods, requires another compatible Mac.
If you have machine specific 10.6 disks and you have another exact model of Mac, you can use a SATA to USB adapter (or enclosure) to use boot the second Mac with the disk and install 10.6 on the "extenral" drive, then place it back inside the other Mac.
If you have the 10.6.3 white retail so called "upgrade disk" for 10.5 (it also has the full 10.6 on it) and you have another Intel Mac that it's OS X version originally came with anything 10.6.2 or earlier, then it will boot that disk to install on the "external" drive, then it can be placed back into the other Mac.
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Another internal drive access method is to use Firewire Target Disk Mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
Also one can use a external drive to install the compatible OS X version onto, then option key boot the Mac with the new drive off the external, install Carbon Copy Cloner and clone the extenral to the newly formatted internal drive.
Most commonly used backup methods

About installing Lion over Snow Leopard from an external Hard Drive

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