Q: I have a refurb early 2011 macbook pro that came with OS X Lion, can I go back to Snow Leopard 10.6.8?

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The Early 2011 MacBook Pro came with Mac OS X Snow Leopard. This computer can run Snow Leopard, but as Lion came preinstalled, you can't install Snow Leopard legally. Also, note that you need a special Snow Leopard version only compatible with this computer

How To Run Snow Leopard On A New Mac

This does not apply to new Mac Minis or MacBook Airs. When newer models are introduced that also require Lion for hardware support, the techniques described below will no longer work with the possible exception of using Parallels 7.

What has to be done:

  1. Create a new partition on the hard drive.

  2. Get a clone of a 10.6.8 Snow Leopard system. Put the cloned Snow Leopard

        system onto the new partition.

Step One: Create a new partition on the hard drive

To resize the drive and create a new partition do the following:

  1. Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the

               COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart

               the  computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until

               the boot  manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the

               downward  pointing arrow button.

          After the main menu appears select Disk Utility and click on the Continue button. Select the hard drive's main entry then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. 

2. 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.

Step Two: Obtain a clone of a Snow Leopard system:

You will need access to a Mac already running Snow Leopard. You will need a 16 GB USB flash drive or an external hard drive to which you can clone the Snow Leopard system from the Mac that has Snow Leopard installed. Alternatives are:

Option One:

Install a new Snow Leopard system onto a USB flash drive. Boot the Mac used for installing with the USB flash drive. Update the flash drive system to 10.6.8 using the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard. Verify that you can boot the Mac with the USB flash drive.

Take the USB flash drive to your new Mac and try booting from it. If it works then clone the system from the flash drive to the newly made partition:

          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 Restore tab in the DU main window.

  4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.

  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 new partition on the internal drive. Source means the USB

flash drive.

Option Two:

If you have a large enough external drive you can erase and use, then it would be easier to just clone the entire Snow Leopard system from the source Mac computer to the external drive.

          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 Restore tab in the DU main window.

  4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.

  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 drive. Source means the Snow Leopard Mac's

internal drive.

After cloning verify that it will boot the source Mac. If so then take the external drive to your new Mac boot with it. If all is well then restore the clone to the new partition on your new Mac:

          Restore the clone using Disk Utility

  1. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.

  2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.

  3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.

  4. Check the box labeled Erase destination.

  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 new partition on the internal drive. Source means the external drive.

You will need a retail copy of Snow Leopard. If you need to purchase Snow Leopard contact Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service. The price is $29.00 plus tax. You will receive physical media - DVD - by mail.

Apple doesn't allow users to install an older Mac OS X version than the one that comes installed on your Mac.

The Snow Leopard disc that you can order at the Apple Online Store comes with 10.6.3, and the Early 2011 MacBook Pro came with a special 10.6.6 version. This means that you can't use the Snow Leopard DVD to install it on an Early 2011 MacBook Pro. As Kappy said, you can access to another Mac with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, updated to the latest version, and use the Restore feature to install Snow Leopard on it. However, it's a complete mess, so I think that the best thing you can do is to keep Lion

You are welcome

Well, that's essentially what this procedure requires if you don't already have a Snow Leopard DVD installter.

The last "Full Retail" Snow Leopard DVD contained 10.6.3, which cannot boot that MacBook Pro, so you will need a procedure like the one Kappy has provided.

from:

Mac OS X versions (builds) for computers

You MAY be able to buy a DVD-R of the basic software for that Mac from Apple support for a nominal fee. You need to push past the "first responders" who will tell you this is impossible, and talk to a product specialist in your product. Have your serial number ready when you call.

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