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.

Similar Messages

  • Why Can't I install Snow Leopard on an external HD

    I am currently running 10.7.1 on my MacBook Pro which I have had for a week or two lees than 12 months.
    Firstly, why I want a bootable Snow Leopard HD doesn't matter.
    Secondly, the Snow Leopard Install Disc is 10.6.3. The external HD is a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Partitioned GUID HD.
    When I inserted the SL Install Disc I received the following rebuke.
    Tried a Leopard Install disc, Same thing.
    Tried the Snow Leopard Install disc that came with the computer, Same thing.
    Consulted the local Apple expert and she brought her SL bootable HD around and it booted okay.
    I was able to get her to install a bootable copy of SL on 2 of my old HDs and they booted from her computer without problems. I don't know what model her computer was. When I connect either of the HDs using FW 800, Startup Manager admits that it exists. When I selected it as my boot disc all that happens is a hanging Apple and no sign of a gear, rotating or otherwise.
    I have tried various remedies, connecting with USB instead of FW, sacrificing one of my newer backup discs (I have 4) and cloning onto one of them, and swearing a lot.
    Everything I have tried has been a failure.
    Any suggestions? I am assuming it must be something to do with my computer because the same discs boot from my friends' computer. Of course that does not explain why her HD boots okay. The fact that the disc that came with the computer won't boot is a worrying conundrum.

    I have a Mac that originally came with 10.5, then upgraded to 10.6 with 10.6.3 retail disk then to 10.7 online.
    I was able to BOOTCAMP partition, change the BOOTCAMP partition from MSDOS to HFS+ journaled and renamed Snow Leopard.
    I was able to hold c and boot off the 10.6.3 installer disk and install 10.6.3 into the Snow Leopard Partition. The computer booted and worked fine in either OS.
    I was also even able to erase the whole drive from a Lion boot DVD...
    http://eggfreckles.net/notes/burning-a-lion-boot-disc/
    ...create 7 partitions and install Lion, Snow, Windows and Linux in four bootable partiitons with a liitle help from rEFIt firmware software.
    In all times I was able to boot off the 10.6.3 install disk, even with Lion installed. But Lion's Disk Utility had to format the entire drive to update the partition map first to update it.
    The only thing I can think of is your disk is dirty enough or has a flaw small enough that her machine doesn't catch it and yours does. Since she booted fine off the disk and you didn't, despite both having Lion right?
    You can clean and polish the bottom of the disk with a very soft cloth and a bit of rubbing alcohol.
    You can also create a new bootable OS X 10.6 installer disk following these directions, it might cure the bad spot with error checking that occurs.
    http://www.walterjessen.com/make-a-bootable-backup-snow-leopard-install-disc/

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • Why can't i install snow leopard as a virtualisation

    I want to upgrade to lion (actually I don't, but I will lose my mobile me email account if I dont) but I don't know why I can't still run snow leapord through vmfusion. There are still several non lion compatible apps I need to use!!!!
    does anyone know a workaround

    You don't have to lose the email account. Just migrate it to iCloud, and tell it you have Lion installed even if you don't. You can still use your email through Snow Leopard.

  • Why can't I install Snow Leopard in my MB Pro?

    I have Leopard in my Macbook Pro (Intel) and would like to upgrade to Mountain Lion.  I have it on the disk that came with my husband's Mac Pro, but if I insert the disk it says it can't be installed on my MBP.  Is that because it's only licensed for the Mac Pro or is there another reason?

    It's because the 10.6 your attempting to use is machine  specific with hardware drivers for that model of Mac only.
    You will need the 10.6.3 white retail disks, call Apple via phone to order.
    BTW, a 10.5 era machine may not run 10.7 or 10.8, or may only run 10.7, or if it does run either may do so slowely and wont' run your older PPC based software and hardware drivers.
    You might even have to upgrade RAM, so be sure of your hardware requirements and expect to replace some software with new copies.
    IMO it's best to stick with 10.6.8 on most pre 2010 issue Macs.
    Things to consider before upgrading OS X

  • 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.

  • Is it possible to install Snow Leopard on an external hard disk?

    I was wondering if it is possible to install Snow Leopard on an external drive that I use as a backup start up disk. Can I then boot up off of either disk? I would like to test Snow Leopard with my applications before I install it on my internal drive.
    Thanks

    You can install from your install disk and migrate from your internal during Setup Assistant.
    If all is well you can then use SuperDuper or CarbonCopy Cloner both free for cloning to clone the system on your external to your internal.
    This is what I do when testing upgrades/updates.
    -mj

  • 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.)

  • So why can't I get snow leopard to work?

    early 2008 mac pro.
    32 GB ram test fine.
    1.5 TB drive runs leopard-no problems.
    have installed snow leopard on a blank drive and after about 4 hours, i get the black box shutdown error message. cloned existing drive into a new hitachi drive, shuts down after about 4 hours.
    thought it might be the APC, replaced it, still shutting down. (got APC beeping on start up and overuse)
    the only hardware remaining is video card: ATI Radeon HD 2600
    is there some software conflict that can cause this issue? it shuts down regarless of multiple programs running or none.
    have had the problem since i bought the snow leopard disk last summer, but snow leopard would not install on any of my existing hard drives, so replaced drives to accommodate the OS. running out of options.

    Hi Sam,
    Sorry about the problems you are having. You and I have the same system except the video card, therefore I can say with certainty that you should be able to run OS 10.6.4 at least.
    I have not been able to get OS 10.6.5 to work at all though. The system hangs at the grey apple load screen for me every time. I have been in contact with Apple, who says no one else is having problems running this OS on our systems. They also advocate erasing and reformatting the hard drive and installing the OS. I am not certain how that would be different from installing it on a brand new hard drive, fresh out of the box, as wehave both tried without success.
    I have one suggestion for you that I have not had time to try yet myself. Try removing all but one hard drive from the case (make sure the one remaining is in the first bay). Then try installing the OS and see if it works. This suggestion worked for me when I was trying, unsuccessfully, to install Boot Camp on a drive and it worked.
    Maybe our model does not like certain system changes with multiple hard drives installed. Maybe I just trying to find a solution. Either way, best of luck! Hope you get things to work.

  • Can be possible install snow leopard on my PowerPC G5 PowerMac 4x2.5GHz PowerPc G5

    can be possible install snow leopard on my PowerPC G5 PowerMac 4x2.5GHz PowerPc G5 QUAD 8GB RAM

    Be sure to read
    https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-2295
    If you decide to get an Intel Mac.  As migrating data is not straight forward.

  • Can I re-install snow leopard instead of Lion

    Can I re-install snow leopard instead of Lion

    Downgrade Lion/Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard
      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 then click on the OK button. Click on
          the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
      4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
    This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner.
    If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups, do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions.  If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion files.

  • How can I re-install Snow leopard having installed Lion? The disk supplied states that I cannot use the version of 'Install Mac OS X'...HELP!

    How can I re-install Snow leopard having installed Lion? The disk supplied states that I cannot use the version of 'Install Mac OS X'...HELP!

    None of the instructions usually given for downgrading seems to mention the fact that you will lose some data in built-in applications, including at least Mail. When you installed Lion, your Mail database was converted from the format used by Snow Leopard's Mail to that used by Lion's Mail. There is no way to reverse that conversion. Therefore, you will lose your entire Mail database. If your messages are all stored on a remote server, that may not be an insurmountable problem, but otherwise you'll have to restore from the last backup you made before the upgrade, and then you'll still lose all changes to the database made since that time.
    Another fact not often mentioned is that downgrading is usually the worst possible solution to a problem with Lion. But that's the answer to a question you didn't ask.

  • I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive.

    I have a 2007 Macbook Pro that is running 10.7.5 and I am trying to use a 10.6.3 DVD to install Snow Leopard to an external hard drive. I've followed every possible instruction on every which website. The problem is when I boot to Install disc, I am unable to choose which hard drive I'd like to install the OS on. It says that it is unable to Install and automatically takes me to Restore and suggests that I restore to Time Machine backups. Any and all help is appreciated.

    lovinlife5959,
    have you tried booting from the grey Mac OS X Install DVD that originally came in the box with your MacBook Pro? See if you can install its version of Mac OS X (either 10.4.9, 10.4.10, or 10.5.0, depending upon when it shipped from the factory) onto your external hard drive. If that works, boot from your external hard drive, run Software Update on it, and then try updating your external drive to 10.6.3 via the white Snow Leopard DVD.

  • 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.

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