Fresh install snow leopard - backup question

So here's the scoop;
My 2008 iMac is slowing down. What is the most efficient way to backup settings and files to an external drive, wipe the drive and run a fresh install for maximum speed?
I installed snow leopard as an upgrade from leopard on the day it was out and love it, I just like to start from scratch from time to time and I have a lot of files right now. I basically just want to backup all the files and preferences as they stand now, and copy it back onto a fresh install.

1. Repair the hard drive and permissions.
2. Clone the system to an external hard drive.
3. Boot from the Snow Leopard DVD and use Disk Utility to repartition and reformat the drive.
4. Install Snow Leopard.
5. Restore your data from the external backup.
Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
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 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 Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
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 backup drive.
Source means the internal startup drive.
Extended Hard Drive Preparation
1. 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.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID (for Intel Macs) or APM (for PPC Macs) then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

Similar Messages

  • Leopard quite sluggish, should I fresh-install snow leopard?

    I have an iMac 3.06 GHz core 2 Duo bought new in June '08 with 4GB RAM and 500 GB internal drive.
    Internal drive holds OS (10.5.8) and has 108 GB free out of 465 real GB (190 GB of that is an aperture vault).
    My home drive is on an external 2TB WD firewire 800 drive that is half full (914 GB used, 978 available).
    I also usually have one or two other firewire 400 drives connected also (1TB or less).
    I use the machine mostly for photo editing (Aperture mostly, but also trialing Lightroom now since Aperture doesn't support my new D300s yet), and a couple XP apps running under VMware Fusion 2 (also have Parallels 3 or 4).
    Lately the machine has been getting sluggish, and I can't find anything obvious as the cause of the problem.
    I was thinking a fresh OS install might be worth all the hassle. But if I am doing that I thought I might as well go to snow leopard at the same time.
    -Can I download a full snow leopard version that is not just an upgrade (for the upgrade fee)?
    -Is this a good idea?
    -Is Snow Leopard fairly stable now? (Sounds like it is not too bad, although I use PS CS3, which I think last I heard had some issues).
    -Finally, any other ideas to try to speed up my sluggish machine before a more drastic step like a fresh OS install? (The one idea I recall from other "slow imac" threads is a disk permissions check/repair.)
    Regards,
    Strathglass

    You cannot download Snow Leopard. You must purchase the retail installer DVD for $29.95 or the SL Bundle for $169.00 (SL, iLife '09 and iWork '09, plus Leopard.)
    I would consider erasing the drive and install Snow Leopard. I would also reconsider keeping your Home folder on an external drive. OS X will operate faster with the Home folder on the startup volume where it is installed originally. You can certainly choose to move your data to the external drive.
    I did not see you mention backup. With all this data you have I hope you have a backup strategy implemented.
    Snow Leopard is fine although one might ask if you really need to upgrade because if you don't then you may be better off with what is now working especially if this is a work-related computer.
    As for improving your computer's performance you might consider performing some maintenance as well as moving as much data as you can to your fastest drives - the internal drive and FW800 externals.
    Kappy's Personal Suggestions for OS X Maintenance
    For disk repairs use Disk Utility. For situations DU cannot handle the best third-party utilities are: Disk Warrior; DW only fixes problems with the disk directory, but most disk problems are caused by directory corruption; Disk Warrior 4.x is now Intel Mac compatible. TechTool Pro provides additional repair options including file repair and recovery, system diagnostics, and disk defragmentation. TechTool Pro 4.5.1 or higher are Intel Mac compatible; Drive Genius is similar to TechTool Pro in terms of the various repair services provided. Versions 1.5.1 or later are Intel Mac compatible.
    OS X performs certain maintenance functions that are scheduled to occur on a daily, weekly, or monthly period. The maintenance scripts run in the early AM only if the computer is turned on 24/7 (no sleep.) If this isn't the case, then an excellent solution is to download and install a shareware utility such as Macaroni, JAW PseudoAnacron, or Anacron that will automate the maintenance activity regardless of whether the computer is turned off or asleep. Dependence upon third-party utilities to run the periodic maintenance scripts had been significantly reduced in Tiger and Leopard.
    OS X automatically defrags files less than 20 MBs in size, so unless you have a disk full of very large files there's little need for defragmenting the hard drive. As for virus protection there are few if any such animals affecting OS X. You can protect the computer easily using the freeware Open Source virus protection software ClamXAV. Personally I would avoid most commercial anti-virus software because of their potential for causing problems.
    I would also recommend downloading the shareware utility TinkerTool System that you can use for periodic maintenance such as removing old logfiles and archives, clearing caches, etc.
    For emergency repairs install the freeware utility Applejack. If you cannot start up in OS X, you may be able to start in single-user mode from which you can run Applejack to do a whole set of repair and maintenance routines from the commandline. Note that AppleJack 1.5 is required for Leopard.
    When you install any new system software or updates be sure to repair the hard drive and permissions beforehand. I also recommend booting into safe mode before doing system software updates.
    Get an external Firewire drive at least equal in size to the internal hard drive and make (and maintain) a bootable clone/backup. You can make a bootable clone using the Restore option of Disk Utility. You can also make and maintain clones with good backup software. My personal recommendations are (order is not significant):
    1. Retrospect Desktop (Commercial - not yet universal binary)
    2. Synchronize! Pro X (Commercial)
    3. Synk (Backup, Standard, or Pro)
    4. Deja Vu (Shareware)
    5. Carbon Copy Cloner (Donationware)
    6. SuperDuper! (Commercial)
    7. Intego Personal Backup (Commercial)
    8. Data Backup (Commercial)
    9. SilverKeeper 2.0 (Freeware)
    10. MimMac (Commercial)
    11. CloneTool Hatchery (Shareware)
    12. Clone X (Commercial)
    The following utilities can also be used for backup, but cannot create bootable clones:
    1. Backup (requires a .Mac account with Apple both to get the software and to use it.)
    2. Toast
    3. Impression
    4. arRSync
    Apple's Backup is a full backup tool capable of also backing up across multiple media such as CD/DVD. However, it cannot create bootable backups. It is primarily an "archiving" utility as are the other two.
    Impression and Toast are disk image based backups, only. Particularly useful if you need to backup to CD/DVD across multiple media.
    Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQs on maintenance, optimization, virus protection, and backup and restore.
    Additional suggestions will be found in Mac Maintenance Quick Assist.
    Referenced software can be found at www.versiontracker.com and www.macupdate.com.
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
    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.

  • Re-Installing Snow Leopard - Backup required first?

    Though I know its always good to backup before a reinstall, my Time Machine is not working (which is why I have come to reinstalling system). I am told that the process of booting from Snow Leopard disk and installing will save off all my data and settings, then they will be there after the install. Is this true? I am currently dragging photos and music onto external drive to be safe, but I thought I'd check out of curiosity.

    Is this true?
    Yes, unless you use the Disk Utility to erase the drive or a problem occurs during the installation.
    (51614)

  • Re-installing Snow Leopard Registration Question

    Hello,
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    If I recall if you click the option button on the left lower corner or something you can bypass the registration process and just create a username etc.
    Since the machine is registered already then no need to send it off again.

  • I have created a new partition on the Mac HD for Lion as I would like to dual boot. Do I need to install Snow Leopard on that partition before installing Lion? If so, can I use one of my Time Machine backups to do this?

    I have created a new partition on the Mac HD for Lion as I would like to dual boot. Do I need to install Snow Leopard on that partition before installing Lion? If so, can I use one of my Time Machine backups to do this?

    zoominnana wrote:
    Can I set up 2 different time capsule backups? one for the lion partition and one for the snow leopard partition?
    No, you can't partition a Time Capsule's internal HD.  Both partitions will back up to the same sparse bundle. keeping the backups for each partition separate.
    Time Machine will not take the two OSX partitions as two different computers, but for best results, exclude the Snow Leopard drive from backups on the Lion partition, and exclude the Lion partition from backups on the Snow Leopard partition.
    There may be some files on the Lion partition that Time Machine on Snow Leopard won't like, among other things.  See #10 in  Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions for details.

  • Am running Tiger 10.4.11; just got Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (regular OS disk, not an upgrade); when I install Snow Leopard, will it wipe everything?  overwrite Tiger?  Do I need to make backups of applications and files to reinstall after Sno Lprd loads? thx!

    Am running  Tiger 10.4.11; just got Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (regular OS disk, not upgrade).  When I install Snow Leopard, will it wipe everything?  overwrite Tiger?  Do I need to make backups of applications and files to reinstall after Snow Leopard Loads?  thanks!

    Hi Donald,
    No it doesn't erase anything by default, it does what we used to call an  Archive and Install feature, which can give you a new OS, yet preserve your files and settings if you have enough room on your HD...
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107120
    But it does it automatically unless you specifically erase the Disk, but will replace Tiger completely for the OS & several Apple Apps like Safari, Mail, etc, yet preserve your old settings for those!
    If you think you may need Tiger to run any APPs that do not work in SL/10.6, then clone or backup first.
    I would recomend 2 things before installing though...
    Make sure you have enough RAM & HD space.
    Snow Leopard/10.6.x Requirements...
    General requirements
       * Mac computer with an Intel processor
        * 1GB of memory (I say 2GB at least)
        * 5GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)
    If it's a core Duo & not a Core2Duo, then it'll only run in 32 bit mode.
    "Try Disk Utility
    1. Insert the new Mac OS X SL/10.6 Install Disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
    2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
    Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
    3. Click the First Aid tab.
    4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
    5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214

  • My Bluetooth disappeared from my MacBook. How do I reinstall? That was my question, I recommend intalar MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard, but would have to format the MAC to have bluetooth, but I ended up installing snow leopard and windows 20011. I'll install Windo

    My Bluetooth disappeared from my MacBook. How do I reinstall?
    That was my question, I recommend intalar MAC OS X 10.5 Leopard, but would have to format the MAC to have bluetooth, but I ended up installing snow leopard and windows 20011. I'll install Windows 2011 with the same key? Why does the snow leopard has not fixed the bluetooth?

    Download and install this update combo. This update combo for Snow Leopard can bring any version of Snow Leo up to 10.6.8 with the lastest version of App Store for Snow Leo.
    OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 v1.1 update combo
    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1399

  • Re: Migrating my IPhoto from Time Machine Backup to my just-installed Snow Leopard OSX... the program is there, all my photos are there..... but my photos had all been neatly arranged in folders, and there is absolutely no sign of my folders.  What a mer

    re: Migrating my IPhoto from Time Machine Backup to my just-installed Snow Leopard OSX... the program is there, all my photos are there..... but my photos had all been neatly arranged in folders, and there is absolutely no sign of my folders. What a mess, 20,000 photos.  How can I restore my folders?
    (iphoto 08)

    Restore the library from Time Machine as shown in this screenshot:
    Then open the library with iPhoto.  No importing necessary.
    OT

  • Re-install Snow Leopard from TimeMachine backup

    Hey guys,
    What is the advance of re-installing Snow Leopard from a TimeMachine Backup, cause it installs just like before?? Or does it remove some (crap)files??
    Thnx

    Gizburdt wrote:
    I backuped my MAcbook (Snow). But it is running a little bit slow, so i want to re-install it from the backup. But I wonder, if i re-install it from the backup. Isn't it slow again, cause It installs all the files back on my Macbook.
    If you do a full restore of your system, almost everything will be put back. The only things missing will be the ones that Time Machine excludes automatically: system work files, most caches, your logs, trash, etc. So unless you have a corrupted cache (which is much easier to fix by clearing it), it's not going to help much, if at all. The only exception would be, if your HD is nearly full and badly fragmented, it may speed up a bit, but not for long. A much better solution would be to delete some old stuff.
    If you do a new install of Snow Leopard from your Install disc (and load the "combo" update), that will get you a new version of OSX without touching your apps or other files. So if there's a problem with your installation of OSX, that may fix it.

  • Question about installing Snow Leopard on a Mac Mini

    I'm in the process of installing Snow Leopard on a Mac Mini, but it's taking forever. It's been installing for well over 2 hours now and still indicates an hour left to install. Is this unusual? I'm getting a little concerned. What do I do if I have to cancel the install? Do I have to start from scratch again?

    How about this:
    1. If necessary start up from the external HD & verify that everything is working right & all your files are intact on it.
    2. Clone from the external to internal HD.
    3. Start up from the internal HD & verify as in #1 that everything works as expected.
    4. Install Snow Leopard on the external HD. If that completes successfully, restart from it & verify as above.
    5.a. If that all checks out, clone the external back to the internal HD & you are done.
    5.b. If that fails, you still have the internal HD with your working copy of 10.5.8 to use while you try to figure out what is going wrong.
    The main benefit of this is you always have one working installation to fall back on no matter what happens.

  • Suggestions for Safely Installing Snow Leopard

    Many users seem to be having problems upgrading to Snow Leopard. Here is a suggested installation procedure to minimize problems:
    1. Repair your hard drive and permissions:
    Repairing the Hard Drive and Permissions
    Boot from your OS X 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 Installer menu (Utilities menu for Tiger and Leopard.) 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. Now restart normally.
    If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.0 for Tiger, and 4.1 for Leopard) and/or TechTool Pro (4.6.1 for Leopard) 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 cloned backup of your startup system to a freshly formatted drive - external or internal.
    How to 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 Erase tab in the DU main window. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (journaled, if available) and click on the Erase button. This step can be skipped if the destination has already been freshly erased.
    4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    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 your extra internal or external backup drive.
    Source means your current startup drive.
    3. Upgrade to Snow Leopard on the backup drive.
    4. After upgrading to Snow Leopard restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Snow Leopard drive and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
    After booting into Snow Leopard you can check everything out to be sure everything is working properly. If you have any problems you cannot resolve then simply restart from your Leo system on your regular startup volume.
    When you install Snow Leopard I suggest that you first disable all third-party startup and login items, third-party contextual menu items, input managers, preference panes, and Internet plug-ins as many may be incompatible. During installation do not touch the computer except to reply to a dialog. Wait for everything to finish normally.

    Kappy many thanks for the posted advice on SL, which I followed, thanks to being directed here from replies to my own post on my SL install problems...
    I did as you suggested - repair the hard drive and permissions, then created a clone by making a new partition (Macintosh HD_2) and installed SL on that, and it all went fine
    However, I now have my active SL installation on a the partition called Macintosh HD_2, and I still have all the old OSX install on the original Macintosh HD. The system is def running on SL, loaded from HD_2.
    My question is, can I just delete the original OSX install, and if so, do I just delete that partition, to recover the disk space? I presume I can just extend HD_2 to gobble up the available space when Macintosh HD is deleted?
    (Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD_2 are of course partitions on the integral hard drive)
    Your advice would be much appreciated...

  • How do I install Snow Leopard while keeping files, applications, and settings

    I need to update my system, I realized that I need Snow Leopard (quiet late) before Maverick. My question is, how can I install it keeping files and all the data. I found this on Internet, does it work?
    Install Snow Leopard while keeping files, applications, and settings
    If you follow these steps, the installer will replace your operating system if one is already present, but will preserve your account information and personal files.  You may have to reinstall some applications, however.
    Insert the install disc (or the first install disc if you have more than one) into your disc drive. Restart your computer while holding down the c key. This causes your computer to start up from the install disc rather than your hard drive. When you see the gray Apple insignia, release c . 
    The Mac OS X installer should open automatically. Follow the on-screen prompts to read and accept the license agreement and begin the installation. When prompted to choose a destination disk, select your preferred location and click Install. 
    When the Mac OS X installation finishes with the disc, restart your computer. After the installation completes, a configuration program may begin automatically if you are installing for the first time. You will need to supply basic setup information for your computer. 
    Update your system software to ensure that you have the most recent operating system components.  From the Apple menu, select Software Update... , and then follow the instructions on the screen. Often, you will have to restart your computer, and you may have to run Software Update multiple times before it can completely update your system.

    That's why you need to back it up. You won't need to restore the backup immediately afterwards unless something goes wrong during the upgrade, but you'll need it later; the drive will eventually fail.
    (105428)

  • Re-installing Snow Leopard

    My computer's been giving me a series of problems (repeatedly unsuccessful software updates, irregular/now non-existent iphone sync, issues with VMware, etc) so I now want to re-install Snow Leopard and start fresh. I've been using Time Machine to back up my files and applications on an external hard drive.
    If I re-install Snow Leopard from the boot disc and choose to not restore from Time Machine backup (i.e., just install a clean copy of OS X), will I still be able to retrieve my files from time machine onto the newly installed OS? I've already tried the "restore from Time Machine" option (from a backup well before the problems arose) and that didn't resolve the issues I was having so I don't want to just restore and have the same problems come up again. Any thoughts?? thanks!

    kezeench wrote:
    ... I'd have to go through my time machine backup drive and select folders one at a time to restore (music, applications, etc)?
    yes. if you want to bypass either +setup assistant+ or +migration assistant+, that's the way to go.
    however, it is not recommendable to migrate applications that way. especially apps that come by way of an installer put files in various locations of your HD. unless you know exactly where those files are, you are better off reinstalling apps the usual way.
    in fact, what i would do is this:
    once the new OS is installed, i would migrate account(s), network settings, and documents using the setup assistant. then i would reinstall apps manually.
    i did this not too long ago when i migrated from my old powerbook G4 to my new mini. since i migrated everything but apps, the pref files for the applications came over and i didn't even have to re-enter serial numbers.
    JGG

  • 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.
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