Can i install snow leopard with a flash drive?

i purchased the snow leopard family pack to upgrade 3 computers. I have installed it on one macbook pro, and finally got it to go on a mac mini. i am having an issue with my macbook pro, as it wont read the disc. Can i use a flash drive to install it? and how big should it be?

It's probably easier to install it more directly; to use a (working) DVD drive, rather than building yourself a USB keydisk.  Get yourself an appropriate cable (probably FireWire) and Google or Bing search around for details of installing using what is known as Target Disk Mode, or alternatively scounge up an external USB DVD drive and use that directly on the OS X box with the failed DVD drive.

Similar Messages

  • Can I install Snow Leopard with an external disk drive?

    I have been trying to update my software to Snow Leopard but I am using an external disk drive and when I try to install the software I get the message "The application 'Install Mac OS X' cannot be used from this volume". Is there any way to fix this problem?

    Are you booting your computer from an external drive? If so please say why? How are you trying to upgrade to Snow Leopard? Do you have the 10.6.3 retail Snow Leopard DVD? On what drive are you trying to install Snow Leopard? Are you doing this?
    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. Install Snow Leopard
    If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer.  Proceed with installing OS X.  Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files.  After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.
    Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. Then use Software Update to download and install any other needed updates for Snow Leopard.

  • How Can I Install Snow Leopard with Only 4GB HD?

    My MacBook needs an upgrade so that I can install the new Adobe Creative Suites, which require Snow Leopard 10.63 or higher.  The problem is that the machine only has a 4GB HD and Snow Leopard requires at least 5GB free space to install.  Is there anything that I can I do?

    Additionally, you should maintain an absolute minimum of 10 - 15 GB of empty hard drive space at all times for the OS to function properly. In this case, that appears to translate to you having to delete or move (to an external drive) about 20 GB of files. You can move your iPhoto and iMovie libraries to an external drive permanently which would most likely create enough space.
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2302
    http://support.apple.com/kb/PH2506

  • I have a new time capsule, want to use it in conjunction with iMac G5 and MacBook; laptop runs Snow Leopard  but G5 can't install Snow Leopard, is stuck at OS 10.4.11.  Am I doomed?  Can anyone advise me?  Thanks..

    I have a new Time Capsule, want to  use it in conjunction with an iMac G5 and a MacBook.  MacBook runs Snow Leopard, but G5 (lacking Intel processor) can't install Snow Leopard, is stuck at OS 10.4.11.  Am I doomed?  Will appreciate any advice.  Thanks.

    you should still be able to get a copy of Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard), which should run on your G5.

  • When i try to install snow leopard with install disk, it has me restart the computer instead of installing. can anyone help me figure out how to get the disk to actually install?

    when i try to install snow leopard with install disk, it has me restart the computer instead of installing. can anyone help me figure out how to get the disk to actually install?

    Ok, it's just a glitch that it's not auto-rebooting from the disk.
    Please backup your personal files off the machine to a regualr external drive and disconnect all drives before doing anything
    Take the 10.6 disk out and clean and polish the bottom with a very soft clean cloth and a tiny bit of rubbing alcohol to cut the oils.
    Stick the disk in and reboot holding c key down, this will make it boot from the disk and you can install Snow Leopard that way.

  • How can i install snow leopard together with lion, on a Lion based MacBook Pro ultimo 2011

    Hi
    How can I install Snow Leopard on a Lion Based MacBook Pro ultimo 2001. I will both have installed Snow Leopard and Lion on my computer, but how can i do that?
    I have purchaded Snow Leopard, but I can installed it
    Pls can anyone help me
    Best regards and merry christmas
    Robert

    Apple figures that having supported PowerPC code for the last 6 years is enough so they dropped it.
    Why should they have to support some that old forever? It doesn't make good business sense to support some that so few will use.
    If you must play those games, my suggestion is to get an older Mac that will support PowerPC. It is going to be a difficult task to get Snow Leopard to run on a new Mac.
    Allan

  • Can't install Snow Leopard on MacBook Pro - DVD won't mount

    I am unable to install Snow Leopard on my MacBook Pro as the DVD won't mount.  This is an early 2008 vintage MacBook Pro, intel core duo...
    I'm using a OS X Snow Leopard install DVD (family licensed).  This DVD has been used to install 3 other Macs in my house without a problem (about a year ago), but cannot be used to upgrade my MBP.  Actually, this disk mounted on the MBP exactly once - inserted with system up, the disk mounted.  Upon running the installed (a year ago), the computer restarted but hung in boot.  After getting the disk ejected and the computer restarted, the disk would never mount again.  I've defered upgrade for a year but at this point need to upgrade my MBP at least to Snow Leopard and possibly Lion.
    The problem doesn't seem to be with the DVD, since it continues to mount fine in other computers, and in fact a borrowed Snow Leopard DVD also will not mount on the MBP.
    BUT ... the problem also does not seem to be with the optical drive in my computer, as it can read & mount the install/restore disks that came with the computer as well as other CDs and DVD ROMs.  Only the Snow Leopard install DVDs fail to mount.
    I've also tried mounting the 10.6 install DVD on my Mac Pro desktop, making it available over the network (ethernet) with DVD/CD sharing.  I can mount the remote disk from my MBP that way, but when I launch the installer, the application launches (its own menus are displayed, I can quit from menu, for example) but does nothing -- no windows open, nothing.
    I've also tried "Remote Install" (again with the DVD made available with the Remote Install MacOS X application on my desktop), but when I boot the MBP with option held down, the remote disk is not available as a startup disk.
    Zapping the PRAM did not help.
    Am off to the store to get an optical drive cleaning kit and a blank DVD big enough to burn a new disk image, but would appreciate any further ideas at this point....

    Solution that worked: Copy the Install DVD to a USB flash drive and boot from that. 
    http://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
    Up and running with Snow Leopard now and working on the updates.

  • Can I install Snow Leopard now?

    I previously asked a similar question, but can I install Snow Leopard 10.6.3 in a VM, update it to 10.6.8, and then copy files to a partition on my hard drive? I have 10.6.3 retail version. (mid 2011 iMac)

    How To Run Snow Leopard On A New Mac
    This does not apply to new Mac Minis or MacBook Airs. When newer models are introduced that also require Lion for hardware support, the techniques described below will no longer work with the possible exception of using Parallels 7.
    What has to be done:
      1. Create a new partition on the hard drive.
      2. Get a clone of a 10.6.8 Snow Leopard system. Put the cloned Snow Leopard
            system onto the new partition.
    Step One: Create a new partition on the hard drive
    To resize the drive and create a new partition do the following:
      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.
    Step Two: Obtain a clone of a Snow Leopard system:
    You will need access to a Mac already running Snow Leopard. You will need a 16 GB USB flash drive or an external hard drive to which you can clone the Snow Leopard system from the Mac that has Snow Leopard installed. Alternatives are:
    Option One:
    Install a new Snow Leopard system onto a USB flash drive. Boot the Mac used for installing with the USB flash drive. Update the flash drive system to 10.6.8 using the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard. Verify that you can boot the Mac with the USB flash drive.
    Take the USB flash drive to your new Mac and try booting from it. If it works then clone the system from the flash drive to the newly made partition:
              Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
      1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
      2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
      3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
      4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
      5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination
          entry field.
      6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
      7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the new partition on the internal drive. Source means the USB
    flash drive.
    Option Two:
    If you have a large enough external drive you can erase and use, then it would be easier to just clone the entire Snow Leopard system from the source Mac computer to the external drive.
              Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
      1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
      2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
      3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
      4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
      5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination
          entry field.
      6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
      7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the external drive. Source means the Snow Leopard Mac's
    internal drive.
    After cloning verify that it will boot the source Mac. If so then take the external drive to your new Mac boot with it. If all is well then restore the clone to the new partition on your new Mac:
              Restore the clone using Disk Utility
      1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
      2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
      3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
      4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
      5. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination
          entry field.
      6. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
      7. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    Destination means the new partition on the internal drive. Source means the external drive.
    You will need a retail copy of Snow Leopard. If you need to purchase Snow Leopard contact Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service. The price is $29.00 plus tax. You will receive physical media - DVD - by mail.

  • Can't install snow leopard on partition after upgrading to lion

    I rushed out too early to install Lion via Apple Apps store.  Now, I realize that Rosetta is gone and so are my options to use older apps.  As I was reading on the web and Apple Support, I have tried various things and get a window saying that I can't install snow leopard.
    I have never partition my hard drive, but using disk utility I created a partition called "Snow Leopard."  It divided my HD in half which is okay.  I closed the disk utility window, rebooted holding down the "C" key, and saw the OS X Install DVD.  When I select it a window pops up saying, "You can't use this version of the appl inst Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X.  You have installed Mac OS X 23.1.1."
    Before downloading lion, I made a backup of my existing HD using Time Machine to an external HD.  When I open up a saved version dated a month ago, I see that the applications that were working in snow leopard now have the icon circle saying that it is not supported by lion.  This is strange since I used Time Machine to back up my HD, then turned off the app before downloading lion.  Even older versions saved on the external HD show the circle.
    I read about lion and the "Recovery HD," but when I hold down the Command-R key nothing happens when I restart my computer.  It also talks about using the option key but that does not work.  It talks about reinstalling lion using this system, but I don't see it working.
    How can I install snow leopard on my new partition, then I would go to "Software Updates," to get the latest version, or use one of the versions on my external HD to have both operating system.
    Thanks,
    DaisyMay

    Hi Scottiemn,
    As I was trying different things to make a partition on my HD, I made notes as to what I did, and I finally got it to work.  I will try to explain what I did.
    Before installing “Lion,” I backed up Snow Leopard using Time Machine to my external Seagate HD.  I installed “Lion,” and found out that I could not use some of my old apps, so I did the following.
    Since I am running “Lion,” I opened up disk utility and selected my MacHD (1TB), then I selected partition, and it showed “Macintosh HD” under the partition information name.  I believe I selected the plus, + and it divided my HD space in half, and I named it Snow Leopard.
    I then installed the Snow Leopard DVD, and restarted my computer holding down the “C” key, I held it down for about 30 seconds or more and then took my finger off of the key.  As I waited I finally saw that I was on the install DVD, and on the top menu bar I saw “Utilities.”  I had my external Seagate HD mounted on my desk top before I restarted my computer, I selected the “Utilities,” on the menu bar and it gave me the option to back up from Time Machine, I selected my external Seagate HD to the newly created partition I named Snow Leopard and I said “Yes.”  I followed the instructions and after it was done, I went to the menu bar and selected System Preferences, System, Startup Disk, and selected to start up with Snow Leopard.  On my desktop, I can see two Hard Drives, one is Macintosh HD with “Lion,” and the other is Snow Leopard. 
    Then, I started up my computer and I was on the Snow Leopard partition and I saw all of my apps working.  I then went back to the menu bar and selected System Preferences, System, Startup Disk, and selected to start up with “Lion,” and restarted my computer and I was running “Lion.”
    I am not sure why I was not able to use the DVD of SL before, but somehow I got it to work, and I hope that I have explained what I did above.
    One thing, when I installed “Lion,” from the app store, I did not make a bootable DVD of the application.  I went back to the app store and downloaded “Lion” again and kept it in the dock until I got Snow Leopard to work.  I burned a DVD of “Lion,” and so I have a backup of it.
    Since my Seagate HD has only 250 GB of space and it is an EIDE HD 7,200 rpm using an OWC Mercury Elite FW400/USB2 with the Oxford chipset 911 enclosure which I bought in 2008, I decided that since I now have my 27 inch iMac quad core i5 with 1TB that I needed a larger hard drive.
    I researched the web and decided to go back to OWC and just bought a 2.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro “Quad Interface” 64MB with eSATA/FW800/FW400/USB2.0 with 7,200 rpm speed for $219.00.  I partitioned it for Time Machine, and Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I ran Time Machine, and both partitions “Lion, and Snow Leopard” are on the Time Machine partition and both HD’s are under the Carbon Copy Cloner.
    I am self taught on my many iMac’s over the years, and I go to the forums to ask questions and follow the helpful hints to resolve my problems.  I carefully try different things and write down what I did so I don’t repeat things.
    I hope that I have explained what I did, and hopefully it will work for you.
    When I want to run SL, I select in the System Preferences to start up from that disk, when I want to run Lion, I go back and select that and start up my computer running Lion.
    Since I have many old apps that Rosetta uses to open them up in SL I wanted to keep that operating system.  I will go back now that I have everything working and see if I really need them.  I won’t rush to remove my SL partition that I created, but in time if I don’t need the older apps then I may clean out my system and just run Lion.
    I run Lion now all of the time, but when I need to go back to SL, I now have the option.
    Good Luck,
    DaisyMay

  • Can't install Snow Leopard on a MacBook

    Hi guys...
    A friend of mine brought me his Macbook to fix it because the hard drive was making sounds and now won't boot.
    The drive in fact is bad, it barely mount, makes noises, etc.
    I've replaced the internal hard drive for a Toshiba 320gb SATA 3.
    The thing is that apparently the DVD doesn't recognize my drive and of course, i can't install Snow Leopard.
    My question is, is this a problem with the new drive?. I believe that being a SATA3 could be causing the problem.
    Second question... Can i install Snow Leopard (somehow) using my Mac mini?
    Thanks so much and i hope you can help me.
    Regards.
    Francisco.

    Hi!!
    >I've used another internal hard drive and installs correctly<
    Using the DVD installer?
    Yes
    So it boots with another hard drive in there but ejects when you put the Toshiba in there?
    Yes but it only make sense if the DVD would create a temporary partition or something in order to install the OS.
    >Could it be that the drive is SATA3? <
    Even so it would be downwards compatible.
    I though so too
    >or maybe the hd is bad?<
    That would make more sense.
    I'm going to clone the installation that went OK in order to see if it's actually my internal drive the problem.
    Could it be the manufacturer?
    Thanks so much and i'll let you know.
    Regards.
    Francisco.

  • Can't Install Snow Leopard on new drive

    I'm having a relatively serious problem with upgrading my hardware. I have a Mac Pro tower with an empty HD slot into which I installed a new drive which mounts properly.
    My plan was to simply move everything from the old hard drive to the new one, using Disk Utility's "Restore" function.
    That seemed to work fine, but when I restarted and attempted to switch startup disks, selecting the new drive caused an immediate kernel panic (the grey screen saying "You need to restart your computer") which was preceeded momentarily by some very strange dos-like text in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
    So after several attempts, I gave up and tried to simply install snow-leopard on the new drive. That never even got started. While the snow leopard installer would happily install the OS on any of my external drives that had enough free space, the new drive (despite the fact that it was mounted on the system) would not even show up in the list of drives to select in the Snow Leopard installer.
    I checked the formatting of the drive, and it seems to be the same as both my current startup disk, and the external drive that the OS could be installed on.
    How can I move my entire system to this new drive without causing instant kernel panics? Thanks in advance for any help!
    Cheers,
    Ari

    Interesting. Yes, I think that is what macjack had in mind. However, after doing what macjack said, your drive would be erased Mac OS X extended (journaled), and, after shutting down disk utility, you could just continue the install you would have started. At the end of the install, you could restore your files, data, settings, and apps from your other drive. The choice, of course is yours. If I were doing it, I would perfer the first alternative.

  • Can't Install Snow Leopard on external drive

    Hey Mac Addicts,
    I'm trying to install Snow Leopard on an external drive (Lacie Triple Rugged, FW800 USB3.0)  but keep on getting "Installation failed, can't copy the support files.
    My drive is partioned in to 5x100GB partitions, GUID partition scheme. I boot from my installation disk, choose my partition and hit install. The DVD spins and spins and eventually give me a failure. I've tried not installing the custom options (Quicktime 7, Rosetta and have even unchecked X11) but still get the same.
    The MacBook Pro I'm trying this from is running 10.6.8 and previous successful attempts at doing this were from 10.6.4, I'm thinking this is the issue, but would rather not have to clean install my machine and try again.
    If anybody has any idea's that'll be marvellous, as I am a little confused and lost, especially as I've done this before.
    All the best and thanks in advance.
    BigMik

    Two things,
    1: Use FIrewire
    2: Use Disk Utility to first Erase with Security Option Zero All Data, the entire drive, then setup the partitions
    3: If it doesn't work, then increase the size of the 10.6 parittion or reducing the partitions until it works.
    4: Also do all this from the Disk Utility on the internal drive, then try again from the 10.6 install disk. Apple might have pulled something.
    Also you can clone your present OS X 10.6 partition using the donationware Carbon Copy Cloner, however the external partition needs to be large enough for all the contents (recommended)
    https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

  • Can I install Snow Leopard on MacBook Pro 2013

    Can I install Snow Leopard on my new MacBook Pro 2013. I'm so tired of the UGLY grey icons. I keep thinking that the mail or iPhoto window is not the active one because everything is grey.  I use Snow Leopard on my 27inch iMac and love it. Nice RED delete button for mail, etc. Thanks

    Firmware restrictions prevent directly loading any OSX earlier than what came with the system.
    The *only* way around is to load SnowLeopard *Server* (not Client) into a virtual machine (Parallels, VMWare Fusion, VirtualBox).  But that costs $20+shipping/tax for the disk and is a learning curve into SL Server.  And you *still* need your host OSX to run it, and the VM will not most efficiently use the hardware resources.

  • Can't install Snow Leopard on Macbook Pro MC700 - 3 beeps after installer starts.

    can't install Snow Leopard on Macbook Pro MC700 - 3 beeps after installer starts (10.6.3 retail). Lion installer starts normally. What's a problem?

    I have the same trouble, I try installing rEFI but when I try start my Pro from DVD doesn't recognize.
    Can I start from USB Memory? with files from SL DVD? or have some thing else?
    I have original DVD of SL 10.6.3, if I buy the latest stable version, can I install? or the EFI firmware with Lion change again?
    I try to use Lion, more than one week but I can't, and some app that I use for my profession, doesn't work, I really need downgrade to SL.
    Really Thanks for any help.
    Pablo

  • How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

    How can I install Snow Leopard on my 15" MacBook Pro without using its DVD drive?

    I'm assuming your dvd drive is broken? if you have a thumb drive large enough (8GB or better), you can use another computer to make a bootable image from the install dvd to the thumb drive. then you can install from the the thumb drive.
    Ihttp://www.maciverse.com/install-os-x-snow-leopard-from-usb-flash-drive.html
    that's a step by step walkthrough.

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