Can I use snow leopard on an external drive

I have a mid-2010 13" MacBook 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, running Mountain Lion 10.8.3. I recently upgraded the internal hard drive from 250 GB to 500 GB and the new internal drive is working just fine.
I put the smaller hard drive in an external case, reformated it, and installed Snow Leopard 10.6. I've tried booting from the Snow Leopard drive, but something is preventing me from doing so. Mountain Lion won't relinquish control of the system.
Am I trying to do the impossible, or is there a way to boot from an external Snow Leopard drive when you are running ML on your internal drive? I would like to be able to do this so I can use some legacy applications that ML doesn't support.
Thanks -
Steven

When I erased and formatted the external drive (using Disk Utility) I made sure that the partition scheme was GUID.
I installed Snow Leopard on the drive while the drive was connected (via USB) to my iMac, which is also running Snow Leopard. Booting from the extrnal drive on the iMac seems to be working OK. However, I use my MacBook at home and at work, and I'd like to be able to use several legacy applications there.
I've tried booting by going to System Preferences > Startup Disk AND by holding the option key down during startup. In both cases things seem to be going along smoothly, then I get a black dialogue box that tells me (in several languages) to power down the computer, then restart it.
I haven't tried using Startup Manager. I do that right now.
Thanks.

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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.

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.)

If you lost your install CD's for an iMac7,1. Can you use Snow Leopard to reboot/install?

If you lost your install CD's for an iMac7,1. Can you use Snow Leopard to reboot/install?

Best answer; see AnaMusic above.
Will SL do? Yes, provided you use the SL retail disc. A grey disc from another Mac will not work.
A few considerations -
Be warned that printer drivers, and scanner drivers in particular will almost certainly need updating for SL. That could be a problem if the printer or scanner is more than a couple of years old.
Many third party applications (and some Apple ones) may need updates for SL (Adobe particularly), so check with the vendors for compatability before you upgrade.
You'll need Rosetta to run PPC apps like Appleworks and many MS Office or Adobe versions. Ensure you select it from the 'optional installations' when installing SL.
Note also that any bundled applications that came with your Tiger original discs (iLife in particular) are not included on retail OS versions.

Can I use Snow Leopard?

I have an iMac G5 (1.8 GHz PowerPC G5), currently running OS v 10.5.8. From what I've read in these forums, this model is not Intel-based. Does that mean I can't use Snow Leopard? I'm not especially tech-savvy, and don't know geek-speak, so I'd appreciate simple answers! Thanks for any advice you may have.

10.5 is still receiving security updates, and that will run on your G5.
Considering Apple hasn't sold G5s since 2006, I'd think that's fairly good for a machine that is already out of AppleCare coverage, even if AppleCare was purchased. As long as your machine does what you need, you should have no reason not to run it. There is a large market for used and refurbished machines, that frequently can do things newer machines can not.
For instance your G5 can run Classic if 10.4.11 or earlier is installed on it.
Your G5 can run PowerPC games that have specific graphic drivers only found on your G5. And there are some older versions of Photoshop best optimized for G5s that don't run as well on Intel Macs. There are also some people who run Macs that are twenty or more years old, because it does what they need. So don't feel bad being left out of the Snow Leopard path.

How do I install snow leopard on an external drive so I can update imac to lion

Hi, I have only one software program for which I need to keep using snow leopard. I would like to make a second start up on an external drive, and also put this software there, and then update my Imac to Lion. As I am not computer savvy, I would really appreciate step by step directions. so far, I have installed Lion once, found out the problem, uninstalled it , reinstalled 10.6.8, and restored all from back up. Now I need to figure out how to have both OS"s . I only need to use this software about once a month. I have also heard of something that makes a second machine as a virtual machine on the imac, but I don't know anything about it. Thanks,

Simply clone your system drive to the external drive:
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. Upon completion proceed to the cloning.
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.
Clone Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
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.
To startup from the external clone restart the computer and at the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for the external drive then click on the arrow button below it.

Can I upgrade to Lion given that I currently run Snow Leopard on an external drive?

I run Snow Leopard on an external HD. If I upgrade to Lion will it install and run there successfully? My internal HD is dead.

Yes it will, in fact that was my configuartion for a while before I installed on the internal.

Can I use snow leopard on a core duo

not core 2 duo ..... just a core duo the first intel macbook pro 2.0 ghz
Hardware Overview:
Model Name: MacBook Pro 15"
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per processor): 2 MB
Memory: 512 MB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP11.0055.B08
SMC Version: 1.2f10
Serial Number:
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled
thank you Jim

can I use snow leopard on a core duo
Yes. It requires 1GB or more RAM.
(47381)

Can you use Snow Leopard Server with Timewarner Road runner for file sharin

I have Time Warner Roadrunner service for internet. I have there fastest package. they said it has a dynamic ip address. If you are using Snow Leopard Server and I want todo File sharing upload and downloads to my Macpro do I have to have a static ip address or is there a way around this. The Static ip address accounts are expensive
Also from your experience. if I have 12 people uploading and downloading files willt his bring my browsing in safari to a crawl?
thanks

You need to first check with your provider to see if that service is even allowed (often it is not). You may have to subscribe to a commercial or small business service to set up an FTP or other file sharing server.
Actual performance depends upon what your upload capacity is, and how much of that is being used by the total users using the service. It is possible a single user downloading files from your server will consume your entire pipe. OTOH, it might support hundreds of simultaneous users, if they are each using a small amount. In reality, your link capacity will be shared by all users regardless of the number of users.

Can I use snow leopard on my intel quad core pc

Fed up with Microsoft however don't really want to junk the PC. Can I install snow leopard on this PC? Is there anything else that I need? I am not a teccy

Snow Tiger wrote:
Can I install snow leopard on this PC?
no.

Snow leopard on an external drive

Can I run Snow Leopard on a separate external drive, with Lion on my iMac, and switch over to Snow Leopard, using the iMac as a display?

You certainly can.
I do that - I have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 on an external firewire drive, and Lion on the internal. Switching from one to the other is simply a matter of using the Startup Disk control pane in System Preferences to select the other volume, then restarting.
Note - for booting purposes, it would be best to use a firewire drive rather than a USB drive. Reason - connection speed. USB's sustained throughput is just too slow for comfortable use.

I upgraded to Snow Leopard on an external drive. how do I reconnect to my old data?

I upgraded my Mac Mini from Leopard to Snow Leopard. My old system is on the internal drive and the new OS is on a 500GB external hard drive plugged in via firewire. I made the mistake of not selecting for the install to include data from other volumes. Now I cannot find how to include that data from the old volume. In fact, the new iTunes does not even see my iTunes library installed on the same volume. iTunes does not even detect when I plug in my iPad. Please point me in the write direction. there is no useful info in the manuals.
thanks,
Len

Thanks John, that was it. To tell the truth, the name Migration Assistant finally came back to me even before I saw your message, but that was pure luck. I was disappointed that searching on my Mac and the Apple support site did not bring up that term. Even having found the tool, the creators had apparently not thought of migrating from the another drive on the same computer. Pretty big oversight to me. Luckily I've been using Time Machine on another external drive and that option was available and worked.
Thanks again because if I had not thought that name and you had not responded, I would be veeeeerrry frustrated.

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.

Can I use Snow Leopard and Leopard on different partitions?

My new MacBook Pro did not include a Snow Leopard installation disk, and I desperately need to use Boot Camp to install Windows asap. I do have my old Leopard disk. Will using the previous OS with Boot Camp cause a cat fight that will produce problems, or should I suffer the serious inconvenience of waiting until I can get a SL disk?
Thanks.

Cat fight will ensue.
Order replacement installer disks from Apple as it includes the free iLife that comes with a new Mac.
The $29 Snow Leopard retail disk does not. However it's possbile to install Leopard from the installer disks then upgrade to Snow Leopard, thus getting your iLife.

Can I use Snow Leopard Server with Windows clients?

Mainly for e-mails and calendars. I have small office with 12 windows computers from XP to Win 7 and MS Office from 2003 to 2007. Will Snow Leopard Server work with that?

Can Mac OS X Server do this? Sure.
You're going to be learning a whole lot about running a server, regardless.
You really need to sort out what you have here and where you want to be, and how to upgrade or replace yor migrate your environment, and before you add the substantial increase in complexity of serving Windows from Mac. If you can't get off of Office circa 2003 or similarly old software, what are you going to do when you find, say, an incompatibility, or a need to migrate mail clients? Who are you going to call for help?
I'd guess that Small Business Server (SBS) is likely your best target here.
AFAIK, Exchange Server (which I'm guessing is what you're using) supports larger mailboxes in newer releases.
Look at the sustaining costs for what you're considering purchasing, too. How much it'll cost to configure, deploy and maintain the box and the network. Up-front costs are an obvious consideration, but maintaining many boxes and many versions itself introduces costs.
The arrival of Lion Server next month does not change my opinion. (And I'm not usually suggesting Windows and Windows Server boxes, either.) (And with the arrival of Lion and Lion Server, I'll follow my usual approach and not look to upgrade to the first release of that (or any other) new platform, if there are business-critical functions and services involved. You need time to debug and test the deployment.)

Can I use snow leopard on an external drive

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