Instal snow leopard on a timemachine drive

I am trying to install Snow Leopard on an Intel iMac currently running Leopard, but the install cannot be done because the installer thinks that the drive is a timemachine volume. I am not using the drive to back up timemachine but the installer thinks that the drive is being used as a timemachine backup drive. Is there a way to override this condition.

Open TM preferences. Click on the Select Disk button and select None then click Use for Backup button. Then turn off TM.

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Problem installing Snow Leopard on an external drive

Having just treated myself to a shiny new iMac, I have had a change around of my supplementary drives. I wanted to create a bootable external drive for backups and emergencies. I have a 500GB internal drive leftover from my G5 Powermac, which I have put into a Macally caddy for SATA drives. I have formatted it in Disk Utility and it mounts successfully via the Firewire 800 cable. DU shows it as having the GUID Partition Table.
The problem came when I tried to install Snow Leopard. The installation starts correctly and shows the drive as being selectable. Once the installation proceeds the progress bar gets about 25% of the way across when the iMac restarts and gets no further than the grey screen. The only way I can free it is to do a PRAM reset.
I have tried a similar procedure with my Powermac and Leopard and the same thing happens, so it must be something to do with the drive and caddy. Can anyone suggest what to do next?

There is no way for the installer or the Startup Disk system preference to know if the firmware of an external drive does or doesn't support booting a Mac. In theory they all should; in reality a few do not for various reasons, generally having to do with some proprietary feature like power management or something else that isn't completely specified in USB or FireWire standards.
There is no absolutely reliable technical specification for determining this. As a rule, interfaces based on the Oxford FW chips will boot a Mac; others may or may not, depending on the chip model & revision. Unfortunately, this info is often not published by manufacturers, especially for integrated devices not intended for drive replacements, which may use proprietary interface & power management circuitry.

How to install Snow Leopard onto external hard drive.

I'm currently running on 10.5.8, and I just bought the Snow Leopard installation disc to update to 10.6.3.
My mac has been running on an external hard drive for about a year. The internal just stopped working.
I want to install Snow Leopard onto my external hard drive, but all of my files are on there, and I read that if I do the install, all of the data will be erased.
If I used time machine to back up the files before I do the install, are they at risk of being erased, since they will be back-uped on the external?
This is probably super obvious, but I want to be very careful with this.
Any help is very much appreciated!
^__^

1. The data won't be erased unless a problem occurs.
2. The Time Machine backup should be on a different drive, as drives can fail.
(92634)

Install snow leopard from external hard drive-terminal problems!

hi everybody ,
i have a big problem :s
wanted to restore and getting "Restore Failure Could not find any scan information... then i've followed some terminal commands..finished restoring and couldn't boot cause i only find Macintosh HD when i use "alt option" when i restart my macbook pro and even if i go to "startup Disk" i can find my partition of the external hard drive but when i click on it nd do retart it's can't boot ...another thing is tht m having a slow start and it's ask for my Password (i've no problem with password it just doesn't ask me to enter it before and i have internet and server failure)
Due to terminal commands?? :((
Plz help :s

"How to install Snow Leopard from an External Hard Drive"
* Launch Disk Utility
* Select the External Firewire/USB device that you want to use as the boot drive for the upgrade
* Click “Partition” from the menu options
* Select 1 Partition, then click “Options” below the partition scheme
* Select the top option for “GUID Partition Table” – it MUST be GUID to be bootable!
* Click OK to create the GUID partition (this will reformat the drive, ie: all data is lost)
* Next, click the “Restore” tab within Disk Utility
* Select your newly made Snow Leopard 10.6 Install DVD image and restore this image to the GUID partition you just created OR…
* Alternatively, you can select the Snow Leopard Install DVD and restore directly from the DVD to the GUID partition
* After the restoration is complete, your GUID partition will now be bootable by Mac OS X!
* Reboot the Mac holding down the “Option” key to pull up the boot loader, select the Snow Leopard install drive you just created rather than your default Mac OS hard drive
* Install Snow Leopard as usual!
Hope this helps!

Why can't I install Snow Leopard on an external drive?

In order to open applications which have been rendered useless when I installed Lion, I have been trying to install Snow Leopard from the Install DVD on an external drive. For some reason, it either hangs up and stalls during the installation or, when it does finish the process, I am unable to boot from it. It hangs up and the gear rotates forever. Is it not possible to do what I am attempting to do, whih is to get some use out of my now useless applications, or is there some way to accomplish this with which I am unfamiliar?

I see.
BTW have you considered abandoning Quicken? I was a long time (at least 10 years) Quicken user however it's clear Intuit does not consider the OS X market an important one or not important enough to come out with a true Quicken replacement that will run on the most contemporary version of OS X. Personally I (along with thousands of others) decided the time was right to begin looking at alternatives to Quicken. I chose iBank for it's similarities to Quicken, it's ability to import my Quicken data and it's support. I began using it several months ago now and have been very happy. IMHO it's a better solution than what you're attempting and staying with "dead" software is simply postponing the innevitable which will only become more difficult the longer you postpone it.

Install Snow Leopard on External FW Drive

Snow Leopard will only install on a GUID partition. I usually have two or three separate volumes on my external drive. If I partition my drive prior to Snow Leopard installation, the scheme is Apple partition map and I cannot install Snow Leopard on any volume. So I assume in order to do an install of Leopard, I must install to a single GUID partition because it seems there is no option to make any of the volumes a GUID partition. Am I correct? On this particular drive, I wanted to have a bootable clone
of my MacBook Pro HD, a bootable disk image of my Snow Leopard Install Disk, and a third scratch volume for temporary video storage. What would be my strategy be to accomplish this?

Tom Dignam wrote:
Snow Leopard will only install on a GUID partition. I usually have two or three separate volumes on my external drive. If I partition my drive prior to Snow Leopard installation, the scheme is Apple partition map and I cannot install Snow Leopard on any volume. So I assume in order to do an install of Leopard, I must install to a single GUID partition because it seems there is no option to make any of the volumes a GUID partition. Am I correct?
no you can have any number of volumes on a GUID partitioned drive.
select the whole drive (model, not name) in disk utility. click on the partition tab. set the number of partitions to 3 (or whatever), click on options and select GUID. set the formats for each partition, adjust the relative sizes and hit "apply".
On this particular drive, I wanted to have a bootable clone
of my MacBook Pro HD, a bootable disk image of my Snow Leopard Install Disk, and a third scratch volume for temporary video storage. What would be my strategy be to accomplish this?
this will work just fine once you reformat the drive as above.

I am installing snow leopard on a new drive unformatted but it does not show the disk to install it on.? do i need to format first with one partition?

I have installed a new drive on my mac book and more ram but the snow leopard install asks which to install the system on but then does not show the drive.
do I have to partition it and name it first. -- if so just one partition?

Do this:
Drive Preparation
1. 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 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 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.
When formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the OS X installation.

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.

Installing snow leopard on new hard drive - disc not seen or found

I can't provide too many details right now as my hard drive is out, and I'm trying to reinstall an operating system.
Problem: Installed a new hard drive purchased from reputable repair store. Last installation disc I have is OS X Snow Leopard. When I get to the point to choose where to install it, it is not seeing the new hard drive. I've double checked that the wires/bar connecting the actual hard drive are snug. Could there be another problem? Something to do with Lion? I've read several forums, but to no avail....
Computer: Macbook Pro unibody. Probably mid 2009.
OS X: The last one before Maverick... 10.8.5
The reason I am putting in a new hard drive is that my computer was having trouble starting up or unexpectedly crashing, although I could do a Safe start or Diagnostic (d). So, on the old hard drive, I did PRAM reset, and Disk Utility, but could not run the Apple Hardware Test, so I took it in. There is a little issue with battery not being full, but they did not think that was causing the problem, and that it was probably a hard drive issue. With the new harddrive... they suggested trying to download an OS from linking to another computer by firewire.... The other computer, (Macbook 2 GHx intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 10067 MHZ DDR3, OS 10.8.5) does not have a firewire, but does have thunderport, so I tried doing a Target start to reboot... but Macbook Pro did not read the 2nd computer (Macbook). Then I found my old Snow Leopard disk and here I am...

If the repair store installed the drive, I'd take it back and let them make it work. Take your Snow Leopard DVD also.

MBP Unable to Install Snow Leopard on New Hard Drive

I recently had a hardware failure on a my MBP drive and had to purchase a new one for replacement. I purchased a 320GB Western Digital Scorpio Blue and installed it. I booted from the Snow Leopard disc, and proceeded to do a clean install.
I tried several times, but I continue to receive a "Install Failed" message right as it seems to be completing. I've formatted with Disk Utility from the boot CD as well as via target disk mode. I created a GUID partition, Mac OS Extended Journaled. Didn't work. I also ran Disk Warrior on it via target disk mode. Nothing.
Although it took several hours, I was able to run the Snow Leopard install disc from my MacPro and install it on my MBP with was connected via target disk mode. The install completed successfully, but the MBP will not boot now. I've held the "D" key to force booting from the startup disk, but it either freezes or gives me a kernel panic. Ideas?

From the date you joined the Discussions, (June 2009), I'm wondering if your computer shipped with Leopard (10.5.x) or Snow Leopard (10.6.x)?
If it came with Leopard, you need to boot from the original OS disk(s) that shipped with your computer and do the hard drive install from that version, then do the upgrade.

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.

After installing snow leopard my external hard drive won't show up on screen or backup

Afer installing leopard my external hard drive won't show up on my desk top. It also won't backup my hard drive with time machine. I need help.

Try going to finder preferences, general, make sure show these items on desktop external disks is clicked. You can also go to sidebar (same pane) and click it there so it will show when you open your HD. Time Machine>system preferences>time machine>turn it off click select disk, make sure the correct disk is selected, the turn TM back on. Hope this helps.

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

Why can't I install Snow Leopard on my videos hard drive?

I have a Mac Pro with four hard drives. Lion is on the primary drive but I need Snow Leopard for a legacy app. My plan is to install Snow Leopard on a hard drive that I use for video projects, and then restart from that drive when I need to use the old app. The problem is that the Snow Leopard installation disk says that it can't install onto the videos hard drive unless I partition the hard drive, which will erase all the data. Why can't it install onto the videos hard drive? There's no operating system on that hard drive. The hard drive has folders for Final Cut Express Projects, iMovie Events, iMovie Projects, DVDs movies I've ripped, a folder of music, and an iDVD project. What do I need to remove to enable installing Snow Leopard?

If I understand what you are saying you have a drive with "stuff" already on it and you want to install a version of OSX on to it while still retaining that "stuff". If that's what you want to do you cannot do that mainly because there's already "stuff" on that drive.
The only way you can do this is to either of the following:
a. Copy the "stuff" off that drive to another drive. Install the OS. Copy the "stuff" back on to the newly created boot drive.
b. Copy the "stuff" off that drive on to another drive. Partition the drive into at least 2 partitions; one for the boot and one for the "stuff". Install the OS into one of the partitions. Copy the "stuff" back to the other partition.
Either way, if you want to use that disk for a boot disk, you got to get that "stuff" out of the way to do the OSX install on to that disk.

Instal snow leopard on a timemachine drive

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