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

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HT4904 Help. I have an older 20 inch iMac and had Lion running on it but the internal hard drive died. I'm trying to install Lion on an external drive but it doesn't look like Lion Recovery is supported. I have Leopard installed but am stuck.

Hello,
My 20inch iMac's internal drive died and I'm trying to re-install Lion on an external drive. If I could get the Lion DMG file I think I'd be all set but am not sure how to do this. It doesn't look like the Lion Recovery feature is supported in my older iMac. And I have Leopard installed on the external drive but there's no AppStore to download the Lion DMG file.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Lee

Without a bootable backup/clone or a Time Machine backup of your previous Snow Leopard installation or a saved copy of Lion's install app, you'll have to upgrade your Leopard volume to Snow Leopard (10.6.6+) so you can waste another hour or more DLing the Lion thing again.

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.

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.

Cannot proceed with installing Lion on an external drive

Hi everyone,
I have a late 2008 MacBook Pro, 10.6.8 installed. I'm trying to install Lion on an external HDD connected via an ExpressCard/SATA adapter. The target HDD has GUID table with a single partition containing a couple of regular folders (no OS installed). I boot up my Snow Leopard OS, run the Lion installation, choose the external HDD and it starts the installation with no warnings.
Then when the progress bar reaches the end, I'm told to close all applications and restart. After the restart I'm suddenly booted to my old Snow Leo. I see a Mac OS Install Data folder on the external drive, but I cannot boot off it and cannot continue the installation.
I have a suspicion that the problem might be that I haven't formatted the drive and it contained some data when I started the installation, but I doubt this is the cause. I don't want to format the drive because it contains some necessary data.
If anyone encountered anything like that, please describe your cases.
Thanks a lot

Hi. Thanks a lot for the quick response. I bought Lion on the App Store but it's not downloading. It says "Waiting..." and has now for ten minutes. It's also trying to download the update to another app and it's saying "Waiting..." for that one too. Not sure what to do or what is going wrong.
Okay, just now the download started working. I would delete this reply but I don't see how to do it.

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/

Install Lion on an external drive?

I have read the discussions on making a bootable backup of Lion on external hard drive or a USB drive. I am not clear on whether I can purchase Lion from the App Store and have it download on an external drive so that my Macbook with 10.6.8 will remain as is. I want to test drive Lion before giving up Snow Leopard. I use SuperDuper and have a bootable Snow Leopoard on an external hard drive. Addendum: It looks like I may need to upgrade from 2GB of ram to 4GB before using Lion. My question still stands though. Thanks.

It will download onto the computer from which you run the App Store. After it downloads do not install:
Make Your Own Lion Installer
1. After downloading Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Lion application. After Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the Lion installer. Move the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes installing Lion.
2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
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.
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 then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
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.
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.
Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
3. Locate the saved Lion installer in your Downloads folder. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the installer and select Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. Double-click on the Contents folder to open it. Double-click on the SharedSupport folder. In this folder you will see a disc image named InstallESD.dmg.
4. Plug in your freshly prepared USB flash drive. You are going to clone the InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:
Open Disk Utility.
Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Drag the InstallESD.dmg disc image file into the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
When the clone is completed you have a fully bootable Lion installer that you can use without having to re-download Lion.

I think I messed up by not installing Lion on an external drive when my install didn't work

I purchased Lion but was unable to install (just read other threads on Lion installation problems!). I was unable to repair my drive so after many days of putsing around I erased hard drive so I could repair it and then I reset my pram. All is well with my Imac and everything is running smoothly. Problem is that I was never able to install Lion (didn't think about usb drive), so can I get Lion from Itunes, or was that a wasted purchase since my drive was erased?

I don't think you understand. When I was unable to install I went to disk utility and try to repair my disk, that was unsuccessful and all other measures were as well. I had already purchased Lion. I did not save it to anything or copy it. I ended up having to erase my hard drive though and now I obviously don't have the prompt to install. When I go to the app store it is saying I have to purchase Lion again. I am asking if I do have to or is there a way that I didn't just throw away $19.99

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 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

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 safari 4 on external drive to try it out?

This is probably a dumb question, but hey, I have asked dumb ones before, what's one more?
I have Safari 3. Would like to try Safari 4, but from what I have read, I am not sure I will love it. I have an external hard drive. Would it be possible to install Safari 4 on the external and keep Safari 3 on my internal until I decide which I like better?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Jane:
In addition to the good feedback from It, if you want to clone your system, I like SuperDuper ($28 at www.shirt-pocket.com). If you use Time Machine, you could also restore to a previous copy if you did not like Safari 4.
FYI, I have found a couple of small issues with Safari 4(that I have reported), but no "show-stoppers." I use Firefox as a workaround if I ever have a Safari-specific issue.
Barry
P.S. There are no dumb questions - answers, yes, but not questions.

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

Please help.. I have just tried to install lion on my iMac and it can't complete because of 'disk error'.. can i delete lion and go back to leopard as there was no problem there?? can't get past grey screen

Please help.. I have just tried to install lion on my iMac and it can't complete because of 'disk error'.. can i delete lion and go back to leopard as there was no problem there?? can't get past grey screen

Just restore your bootable backup/clone or Time Machine backup.

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

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