Can I install Leopard on an external drive to run my computer?

Since it seems my hard drive has totally bit the dust, can I install Leopard on the external drive I use for Time Machine, and run my desktop from that drive? Could I run it from an external drive totally dedicated to Leopard? I am buying a new desktop soon, but I need info off of this machine. Can I plug in my Time Machine drive to my laptop and be able to use it without losing data?

Elizabeth Salcido wrote:
Thanks so much.
Youa re welcome!
I figured I would have to use a second drive. At least when I get my new desktop I will have a drive for Time Machine for both desktop and laptop.
If you really plan to keep the laptop around after you get your desktop, I would recommend replacing its internal hard drive. While running your laptop off an external is possible, it should be considered a stopgap measure. i wouldn't do it on a permanent basis. For one, as you'll find out, it's quite a bit slower than when using the internal drive.

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Can you install leopard from an external usb disc drive?

I don't know if the disc drive is fast enough for leopard or something. It's taking forever to open the installer, and when I restarted into the installer it just booted back to my desktop. I have an external disc drive I want to try. Can you install leopard from and external disc drive?

****, I just tried it and when I restarted it didn't go into the installer. I think my disc drive in my old mac mini might be too slow. It takes forever to recognize the disc and just to double click on it and it up. And when I tried to install it the first time from the internal drive it just booted right into my desktop again.

Install Leopard on an External Drive on a Snow Leopard Mac Book Pro

Hi
I have a MBP 17/CTO 2.66GHz i7, which came installed with Snow Leopard.
I've used boot camp to install Windows 7.
I've attempted to install Leopard 10.5.4 on an external drive.
The steps I've taken:
1 - Connected my WD Passport on the Firewire Port
2 - Partitioned the drive. The first partition is 100GB, Mac OS/X Extended (journal) and I've selected the GUID Partition Scheme
3 - Inserted the Mac OS/X Leopard DVD, and followed the instructions to restart
4 - On restart I have three options. Mac OS, Windows and Install Mac OS\X
5 - I select Install Mac OS\X.
6 - The disc spins for a few moments and then the laptop freezes
Beware of the following issue:
1 - On restart more often than not, the DISC will spin and then the laptop will freeze.
2 - To overcome this, restarting pressing the ALT (option) Key.
3 - You should see your boot options. If you do not see "Install Mac OS\X", then eject and reinsert the disc.
The question maybe why would I want to have an Leopard Installation when I have Snow Leopard. The software I develop has thrown up a number of differences between Leopard and Snow Leopard, hence I need both OS's to support my software.
I mentioned this to the Apple Store before I purchased my machine. They put me through to a senior technician at Apple Care, who told me it would be possible to have the set up I am after; and to contact Apple Care if I ran into any difficulties.
After I received my laptop and ran into the problems I described above I contacted Apple Care, only to be told by a senior technician that it should be possible to install Leopard on an external drive, but Apple Care cannot provide any support or assistance.
I really do like the laptop and would much rather not return the laptop; but I really do need the setup described.
Anyway I have tried a number of different approaches:
1 - Having no partitions (so just the single partition)
2 - Trying all three Partition Schemes:
- GUILD Partition Table
- Apple Partition Map
- Master Boot Record
All resulting in the same problem.
I can confirm the external drive does appear as bootable in disc info.
My guess is one of the following is preventing the install:
1 - It is simply not possible to install an earlier version of Mac OS\X than 10.6 on the laptop I have, even if I tried to install on an external drive. This restriction is built into some hardware confirguration. So even if I wiped the internal hard drive or added a new partition to the internal hard drive, I would not be able to install 10.5.4. I say this may be a reason as the second technician told me the CPU has built into it a process which prevents installing older versions of Mac OS/X, but that it should NOT restrict installation on an external harddrive.
2 - When trying to install Mac OS/X, a search is carried out for an external drive which has the correct format. For some reason it may be that this search is not finding my external drive?
I'm a little stuck here and quite disapointed that the support promised by Apple Care for assistance in setting this up, is now not forth coming.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, as ideally I would prefer to keep and not return the laptop, it's a beautiful piece of machinery.
Cheers
Parmy

The mystery continues...
I have an older MBP (2.33 GHz Intel Core Duo) which came installed with Tiger. I can confirm I purchased a genuine copy of Leopard (10.5.4) from the Apple Store and it’s not an OEM version. I installed 10.5.4 without a hitch on my old MBP internal drive. It is the only OS installed on my old MBP.
Using my older MBP (which through software updates is now running 10.5.7), I managed to install 10.5.4 onto my external HD (WD My Passport Studio – 640GB FireWire 800).
However; on the final restart, the screen remained grey and 10.5.4 did not boot from the external drive.
I restarted the machine holding down the ALT (option) key, and only two options appeared, Macintosh HD and the Install DVD. I selected the Macintosh HD and opened System Preferences.
In System Preferences --> Startup Disk, I discovered the partition on my external HD which contains 10.5.4. I selected this partition and selected restart.
On restart my MBP displayed a grey screen, and the blue light on my hard drive flashed slowly. I left this for an hour, however; the OS did not start and the screen remained grey.
I then plugged my external HD into my new MBP which I started holding down the ALT key.
To my surprise I found 3 boot options (Macintosh HD, Windows and Leopard). Leopard being the partition on my external drive, which now has 10.5.4 installed.
I selected Leopard, but sadly after 30 minutes, the OS failed to boot.
Although this deviates slightly from this post, I fail to understand the problem here:
1 – Why can’t I boot 10.5.4 on an external drive, from my old MBP? Surely this is not because my old MBP is now running 10.5.7?
2 – Why can I see 10.5.4 as a boot option on my new MBP but not on my old MBP when I start the MBP holding down the ALT key?
I doubt there is a problem with my external drive, as it seems to read, write, etc... in all normal cases.
Whilst it definitely appears that I won’t be able to boot 10.5.4 on an external drive from my new MBP, I should be able to at least boot it from my old MBP, which would give me the option of installing Snow Leopard and Windows on the internal drive of my old MBP.
Apologies for keeping this post going, but I hope by getting to the bottom of this, it will help other Mac users as well.
I’ve run out of ideas of things to try, so I will give Apple Care another call in the morning, and will report back.
Any suggestions of other things I can try?
Cheers

Can I install os9 on an external drive from mavericks

Can I install OS9 on an external drive from Mavericks? I'm running Mavericks 10.9.4 on both my MBP and 27" iMac. I have my original OS9 install disc. I'd like to install OS9 on an external drive so I can use some classic apps that I'd like to use.
I tried to install directly to an external drive, but when I click on the Mac OS Install icon, I get the message "You can't open the application "%@" because it may be damaged or incomplete." The icon for Mac OS Install is the generic page with an A. Figuring that Mavericks doesn't recognize the app. Then I restarted and held down the C key - no luck.

I understand, but was hoping I boot off an external drive in 9. Thanks for your response and I apologize for my late response.

Can't load leopard on an external drive

I am having some serious trouble trying to load leopard on an external drive. I have a 1TB drive on my MBP and it is partitioned with Mavericks and Leopard. I am tired of Mavericks hanging up and I am goint to do a clean install like I did on my Mac Pro.
I have a mini 500GB FW drive that I put mavericks on and migrated my data. On the leopard partition I have a few older programs and I want to migrate that partitition to a 320FW external drive. That way I have all my data, can wipe my 1TB drive, partition it, load mavericks and leapord and migrate from the FQW Drives.
When I put in my disc for leopard, Mavericks won't allow me to load it. I tried the Command R function with start up and I can't load leopard on that drive. I get a message saying I can't do that. I have also tried to copy the leopard disk over to the 320 GB FW HD and I get permission errors.
I really need to be able to use leopard for an older program that takes panasonic p2 cards.
Is there anything I am overlooking or missing? Any tricks to make this work?
Thanks!

I hope you mean Snow Leopard:
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. 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 the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

How do I install leopard on an external drive

I have been unable to install snow leopard on my external drive, when I put the install disc in the drive on the iMAC, it shows up on the desktop, but i cannot get it to install on the external drive, the iMAC has Lion installed.

I'd like an answer to the original question, too. I have a brand new Intel iMac which came preloaded with Lion. I'd like to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive for a variety of reasons. I would rather NOT erase the internal hard drive of the iMac, if possible. Of course, I get this same message that, "You cannot install Snow Leopard on this machine running Lion" more or less. Does anyone have a method of faking out the installer so it will install Snow Leopard onto an external hard drive even though the Mac is running Lion?

Can I install Linux on an external drive?

I'm kinda curious about something. If I boot up off an external firewire drive at boot time and I have previously partitioned it into 2 partitions (techtool or iPartition) is it possible to install a Intel Linux distro on the 2nd partitition?
When I go to boot from that external drive will the Linux installed boot loader allow me to select OSX or Linux to actually boot from?
Even better can I just install Linux on this external drive in the only partition?
I'm only looking to experiment with a Linux distro and I don't want to use Parallels anymore so I'm wondering if I can use an external drive to do so.
TIA,
Peter

I'm kinda curious about something. If I boot up off
an external firewire drive at boot time and I have
previously partitioned it into 2 partitions (techtool
or iPartition) is it possible to install a Intel
Linux distro on the 2nd partitition?
When I go to boot from that external drive will the
Linux installed boot loader allow me to select OSX or
Linux to actually boot from?
Even better can I just install Linux on this external
drive in the only partition?
I'm only looking to experiment with a Linux distro
and I don't want to use Parallels anymore so I'm
wondering if I can use an external drive to do so.
TIA,
Peter
Here is an indirect answer. I know you can using Paralles, not sure about the other way though.
http://www.parallels.com/

Can I install Leopard from an external USB DVD drive?

I am trying to install Leopard onto an older PB G4 whose internal drive is shot. I have an external Pioneer USB 2 drive attached, but when the Leopard Installer prompts me to restart, the installer doesn't kick in and the computer restarts into basic OSX. I've tried to choose the Installer DVD via System Preferences "Start-up Disk" pane, but it doesn't show up. The DVD drive does have its own AC power source.
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks!

Mac OS X will only boot PowerPCs with Firewire, not with USB. That's the reason it doesn't work.

I have Tiger. Can I install Lion on an external drive?

I have an iMac Intel Core 2 Duo running Tiger. What I would like to do is install Lion on an external hard drive and have the ability to boot up using either Tiger or Lion as the occasion arises. Reason being, I have some software apps that would no longer run on anything higher than Tiger and would require $1200 worth of upgrades. While I plan to eventually make such upgrades (and perhaps buy a new Mac to put it all on), for now I'm seeking an interim solution.
In short, I want to take advantage of what Lion has to offer in the way of increased speed and flexibility (especially with internet surfing) while at the same time being able to boot up part of the time in Tiger to continue to run my older apps when needed.
So, can it be done? Install Lion on an external HD? Or do I need to install Snow Leopard first, then upgrade to Lion? Or is none of this possible without buying a new computer and just keeping my old machine to run Tiger with the older apps?

The short answer is yes, the somewhat longer answer is that you must should first install Snow Leopard. With the exception of Classic / OS 9 everything you do with Tiger should run fine in Snow Leo.
Lion System Requirements: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4949
Next you will need more memory. Consider Lion's specfied 2 GB minimum with a great degress of skepticism. That is a very small cage for this cat. 4 GB is a more realistic minimum.
If I interpret your system correctly, you have a mid-2009 iMac. It can address 8 GB memory. Lion will be very comfortable with that amount.
Message was edited by: John Galt

Install leopard on an external drive?

Hi I was wondering if I can do a clean install of leopard on a usb external drive.
I originally did an upgrade install on my imac, but would like to play around with a clean install on an external. And if the setup seems faster would like to migrate it back to my internal. Just wondering if this would be possible? Thanks

Yes you can I have a clone of my internal drive with leopard using carbon copy cloner and it is bootable

Can i install CS6 on an external drive?

Currently have CS5 on my macbook pro running Mac OS X 10.7.5. Looking to purchase CS6 but do not want to upgrade the CS5. Can I install the CS6 on an external drive so I do not effect the CS5 on the hard drive?

No. However, the installation of CS6 will not effect the installation of CS5. They can coexist happily on the same computer.

Can't install 10.4 on external drive

I'd like to install 10.4 into a partition on an external firewire drive.
However, The installer says the OS cannot be installed in the partition. It's formatted correctly (hfs+, journaled). The partition shows up in the install options as a firewire drive with a red X through it.
There are two other partitions on the drive: One is formatted for windows and the other is also hfs+. Does that make a difference? The partition I want to be bootable is the first on the disk.
Thanks for any pointers

I got a crash log when I existed the installer. Here's a relevant section:
"boot baby" and "mac daddy" are the volumes on the external drive.
The log begins when I reformatted boot baby using disk utility from the installer DVD.
Sep 7 14:17:58 localhost : Verifying volume “Boot Baby”
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking HFS Plus volume.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking Extents Overflow file.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking Catalog file.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking Catalog hierarchy.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking volume bitmap.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Checking volume information.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : The volume Boot Baby appears to be OK.
Sep 7 14:17:59 localhost : Mounting Disk
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost : /Volumes/Boot Baby cannot be used as a target because: Mac OS X cannot start up from this volume.
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost : It took 0.264806 seconds to process the volume "Boot Baby"
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost :
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost : 1 HFS volume checked
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost : Volume passed verification
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost :
Sep 7 14:18:00 localhost :
Sep 7 14:58:09 localhost : Preparing to erase : “Boot Baby”
Sep 7 14:58:11 localhost : Initialized /dev/rdisk1s1 as a 8192 MB HFS Plus volume with a 8192k journal
Sep 7 14:58:11 localhost :
Sep 7 14:58:11 localhost : Mounting Disk
Sep 7 14:58:11 localhost : /Volumes/Boot Baby cannot be used as a target because: Mac OS X cannot start up from this volume.
Sep 7 14:58:11 localhost : It took 0.124536 seconds to process the volume "Boot Baby"
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost : Erase complete.
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost :
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost : /Volumes/Boot Baby cannot be used as a target because: Mac OS X cannot start up from this volume.
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost : It took 0.505161 seconds to process the volume "Boot Baby"
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost : /Volumes/Mac Daddy cannot be used as a target because: Mac OS X cannot start up from this volume.
Sep 7 14:58:39 localhost : It took 0.146515 seconds to process the volume "Mac Daddy"
Sep 7 14:59:28 localhost : Volume already bootable, not trying to make it bootable again

Can you install iTunes on an external drive?

My iTunes Music folder takes up so much room on my hard drive, I would like to save it on an external drive and delete everything on my c: drive. Is this possible?

Easy.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301748

Can I put apps on an external drive and run them from there?

I want to know can I put apps downloaded from the Mac App store onto an external hard drive and launch them from there? The storage on my mac is full and I want to put apps onto an external drive to create more space on my mac.

Bad idea. See this:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3472949?q=run apps on an external drive
Ciao.

HT2688 Can I install iTunes on an external drive and store my music there?

I am trying to figure out the best way to manage my music. 600 cds that I need to upload somewhere. I am thinking I put them in itunes and then bluetooth them to a wireless speaker. My old school stereo needs to go but I am not sure where to begin? Help?

iTunes, like any other program installed on a computer is only installed on the main (typically C) drive.
The media folder can be stored anywhere the user likes.
How one connects speakers to the computer is their own business and has nothing to do with iTunes.

Can I install Leopard on an external drive to run my computer?

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