Installing Snow Leopard on external HD for games?

Hi, I just bought a new Macbook Pro running Mountain Lion, and I have some old games (like Neverwinter Nights) that used Rosetta and won't run on this machine. I'm wondering if I could install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive, boot up my Macbook from it, and run the games that way. Would it work and how would the perfornance be, seeing as it's running from an external?

No sorry, 10.6 doesn't have the hardware drivers for your newer hardware.
However there is a unsuported hack to get 10.6 running in Parallels virtual machine software, but you will lose performance naturally.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439

Similar Messages

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

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!

Install snow leopard on external hdd using windows

My laptop logic board broke. So I wasn't able to erase the hdd. So I took it out put it into my external hdd enclosure. Now I'm stuck on how I would reinstall a fresh copy on the hdd when I only have a windows computer available. I could get a Mac one but that would be a little harder to do, since I have one and I have to go outta my friends. Anyone have a way for me??

Ummm, this is posted in the forum for help with iTunes on Mac.
Fresh copy of what? You're trying to install Snow Leopard on a Windows computer?? Or you are trying to install iTunes on a Snow Leopard drive in an external enclosure to run on a Windows computer? Need some clarity here please.

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.

After installing Snow Leopard, my external apple keyboard does not work. Any ideas?

After installing Snow Leopard (v. 10.6.3), my external Apple keyboard no longer works. Any ideas?

The laptops are called MacBooks there really is no MacPro laptop.
MacBook Pro Apple Support -
MacBook Pro specs 17-inch model
MacBook Pro

Cannot install Snow Leopard onto external drive

I'm attempting to install Snow Leopard on a second drive, an external bare drive in an Icy Dock enclosure connected to a MacPro (running 10.6.6) via serial port. Apple Disc Utility confirms that the external drive (a Seagate 325gb) has a partition map scheme GUID Partition Table. SMART Status is not supported. Connection Bus reads as SCSI but it's connected with a serial cable.
I'm able to perform the first part of the install by selecting the external drive but when I have to restart and complete the install from the original Snow Leopard disc (10.6), the external drive no longer shows up. I've tried several times and have restarted the Icy Dock external drive enclosure.
Any ideas? Thank you.

Not necessarily. Use a backup utility so that you can deselect all the data from within your Home folder as well as third-party applications in order to create a bootable disk but without some of the excess. Any of the following should be suitable:
Backup Software Recommendations
Carbon Copy Cloner
Data Backup
Deja Vu
Silver Keeper
MimMac
Retrospect
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
SuperDuper!
Synchronize Pro! X
Synk Pro
Synk Standard
Tri-Backup
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
Message was edited by: Kappy

Will the Genius Bar install Snow Leopard and Aperture 3 for me...?

I have an iMac 20" Core 2 Duo with Leopard. RAM is maxed at 3GB. All my data is backed up on a external HDD using Time Machine.
I need upgrade to Snow Leopard in order to get Aperture 3 (which I need in order to read RAW photos from my new camera).
Anyway, ever since I upgraded to Leopard I haven't been thrilled with my iMac's performance (I did the quick upgrade instead of the complete rebuild). So I want to wipe it clean this time and start over with a fresh install of Snow Leopard. The iMac is 3 years old now, so I think it's time for a fresh start.
I'm not comfortable doing this myself. Will the Genius Bar do this for me? I'm happy to buy the Snow Leopard and Aperture upgrades. But will the Genius Bar charge me? Or will they do it for free since I paid them already for the software?
Thanks for your help!

I do not know if they would do that or not; I believe there is a maximum time limit for a Genius Bar appointment and these kinds of installs may take longer than that. And, it is truly easy to do; your performance problems may not have had anything to do with the OS, but possibly some incompatible third party software or some other corruption. So, I'm not trying to change your mind, but if you want to try it yourself, there are a lot of people here who'd be able to walk you through it.
Now, another idea: did you know that iPhoto supports RAW formats? You can find many help articles like this one by going to Apple support and typing iPhoto RAW into the search field:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iPhoto/6.0/en/hlp331.html

Installing Snow Leopard Fresh or Upgrade for my setup...

Hi guys,
Just got my Snow Leopard disk... awesomely excited!
Never done this before so need to ask... what's the best way of going about the upgrade?
I currently have Leopard installed with Time Machine external HD running for backups.
Should I stick the disk in and upgrade? then restore from Time Machine?
Should I do a clean install, formatting first then installing, then restoring from Time Machine?
Or what?
I'd appreciate some direction. Just need to break the newb barrier
Thank you!

In your place, I would move to SL if, and only if, I had an external drive with a bootable clone of my internal on it and had my files backed up in some other secure place. I think that there is enough risk in going to SL that such conservatism is warranted. I would not use time machine alone for backup/restoring. This app can be problematic and, consequently, its solo use is too risky for me. You will be able to extract your settings, files, and programs from your clone if you do an erase and install.
To erase and install (upgrade is covered below), start up to your DVD and stop after selecting your language. Use the menus to start Disk Utility and erase your drive. Quit Disk Utility and proceed with your installation. At the end, you will be able to choose to reclaim your settings, files, and apps from the clone (plug in the external at the point of the last install restart).
If you do not like SL, then you can restore your internal using the clone. I would do all cloning and related restoration with SuperDuper or some other up-to-date cloning app. Your clone also will serve as an independent backup for your data.
I want to mention that upgrading is a sound process on a Mac. Still, I also would insist on having a bootable clone on an external before upgrading. An upgrade is performed by installing over your existing installation from the desktop or having started from your SL DVD. All you programs, data, and settings will be present after an upgrade, but incompatible programs will be archived.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

Install snow leopard on external HD

I have a 2013 iMac running 10.9.3. I own a snow leopard install disk & I want to install that OS on the external disk but since I'm booted into mavericks it won't let me do the installation. Any way I can do it?

You can't do that on a 2013 Mac; these Macs can't run Snow Leopard except by using Mac OS X Server inside a product such as VirtualBox, Parallels Desktop, or VMware Fusion.
(110813)

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.

How to install Snow Leopard on Macbook Pro? keep getting msg- cannot install Internal HD is used for Time Machine- this was reset to external HD and still get msg?

How to install Snow Leopard on Macbook Pro? keep getting msg- cannot install Internal HD is used for Time Machine- this was reset to external HD and still get msg?

At some point, your internal HD was selected for use as Time Machine backups, and a Backups.backupdb folder was created at the top level. So OSX thinks you're trying to install it on the same drive as your backups.
Open your internal HD with the Finder (you won't find it via a Spotlight or Finder search) and delete that folder.

I want to save important files/programs on an external hard drive, delete EVERYTHING on my computer, install snow leopard, and reload everything i saved on to a clean slate. Is this possible/practical?

I was just thinking that it would be better to wipe the entire hard drive clean and reinstall some programs rather than go through and move certain things to the trash. Basically rebuild my software and file collection from the ground up, omitting what is unnecessary. Then again, I have no idea what i'm doing.
My macbook was purchased in late 2008. 2gb RAM. OS X 10.5.6. It's been going very slow lately so i decided i would look up how to improve. Snow leopard was recommended as well as changing my RAM. And so here I am.
I don't have an external hard drive so i was going to just compress all my files and save them to my emac via ethernet. would they be harmed?
also, i have alot of projects in ableton (a music recording/writing program). Would saving and transferring them be just as simple as finding the song? or are other components of a certain song saved in other locations?
sorry this is so lengthy. i should probably stick with something simple but i just want things to run as smoothly as possible for as long as possible
thanks very much

Here's some info that may be helpful.
Installing Snow Leopard: What you need to know
http://www.macworld.com/article/1142454/install_snow_leopard.html.
You should get a Firewire connected hard drive and backup your MB's HD to it. That way, if something goes wrong during the installation, you can recover your current sytem, apps and files. After the SL install, you can use the external HD for frequent backups.
 Cheers, Tom

HT3777 I have a Window 7 HP laptop. I want to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive as the memory space on my laptop is very less. I have the original snow leopard disc and I think it's a retail version . Please guide me through the installation.

I have a Window 7 HP laptop. I want to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive as the memory space on my laptop is very less. I have the original snow leopard disc and I think it's a retail version . Please guide me through the installation in details. Can you also please let me know about this boot camp.

You cannot. From a legal standpoint, the license agreement for OS X mandates that you run OS X only on Apple hardware. HP is not (yet) owned by Apple.
From a technical standpoint, your HP laptop doesn't use EFI, but rather an early predecessor called a BIOS. Apple is the only vendor of consumer computer hardware that uses EFI; other vendors reserve EFI for use in servers.
Secondly, Apple's operating systems support a rather limited number of configurations of video hardware and mainboard chipsets directly since they need only support those systems that they manufacture. You cannot use Windows software or drivers on OS X, so prior to installation, you would need to write your own hardware drivers for your laptop, create an OS X drive image on a Mac, and then modify that image with your drivers before putting it in the HP.
It will be simpler (and legal), to simply purchase a used Mac. Apple's online store has refurbished MacBook Airs starting at $850 and Mac Minis for $700. If you go to e-bay or craigslist, you'll find used Macs for considerably less.

Installing Snow Leopard on external HD for games?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for