somapop

Q: Cloning Snow Leopard from old iMac onto New iMac with Mountain Lion.

Hi all.

 

My old late 2006 intel iMac (2.1Ghz, 24" white) packed in a few weeks back (most likely GPU fail, but that's another topic!).

I've picked up a good deal on a second hand machine (funds wouldn't stretch to brand new model, but iMac definitely required):

 

2.7Ghz, 2011 i5, 1TB, 4gb RAM (will increase that) running mountain lion.

 

Ran a few tests on the old machine and the Hard Drive looked absolutely fine (was new just over 18 months ago) and could be accessed via another machine.

That was running Snow Leopard (upgrade from original OSX back in 2006) and easily ran FCP and Logic Pro post upgrade to SL.

What I would like to do really is clone my old hard drive (and I have a time machine back up on an external drive) onto this new machine.  However, I'm not quite sure whether I'd lose Mountain Lion (if my old s/w such as Logic Pro 7 and FCP suite will run ok on ML I'd like to keep it as I quite like it.

 

Not having any discs with this iMac (Mountain Lion not requiring them), would I be able to re install Mountain Lion if I'd cloned a Snow Leopard drive onto it?

Apologies if this is an obvious question!!  If I could still run FCP and Logic successfully on Mavericks, I might even upgrade to that also (not sure yet!).

 

Given the price of the thunderbird cables I'll be using a FW800-FW400 (cost 4x as less) to transfer.  I'll probably use 'super duper' to clone.

 

Am I along the righ lines folks?

 

Many thanks.

 

somapop.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Feb 26, 2014 8:45 AM

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Q: Cloning Snow Leopard from old iMac onto New iMac with Mountain Lion.

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 26, 2014 9:13 AM in response to somapop
    Level 9 (53,710 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 26, 2014 9:13 AM in response to somapop

    What was the version of OS X that iMac shipped with originally?

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 9:18 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 9:18 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    Hi Allan,

     

    It was 10.4.7 (still have original discs).

     

    Many thanks.

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 9:30 AM in response to somapop
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 9:30 AM in response to somapop

    I've just looked around these boards on the Logic Pro query and it appears I'd have to upgrade (at a cost) in order to run logic on Mountain Lion (not actually a bad price, but not an option at the moment).  So I'd have to stick with Snow Leopard for the time being.

     

    That being said, I'd still like to know an answer to my query above.

     

    Many thanks.

  • by Frank Caggiano,

    Frank Caggiano Frank Caggiano Feb 26, 2014 10:34 AM in response to somapop
    Level 7 (25,796 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 10:34 AM in response to somapop

    You can not run an OS older thne the system. That is if the new iMac was shipped with Mountain Lion you can not run Snow Leopard (or Lion) on it.

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 10:46 AM in response to Frank Caggiano
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 10:46 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

    ^^ Just realised the previous reply may have been referring to current iMac not the 2006 model (which was 10.4.7).

     

    As for this one, I'm not too sure - purchased second hand, shipped with Mountain Lion.

     

    I'd no idea I couldn't run an older version of OSX on a new machine, so I guess that answers a few of my questions.  Entirely possible Snow Leopard was the original OSX on that machine (2011) in which case I might be ok (as mentioned above, my old machine was upgraded to Snow Leopard over the last 18 months or so).  Is there a way to determine which version the machine was originally shipped with?

     

    I'll pick up a FW800 - FW400 cable in preperation for a clone via super duper (I presume it will not 'attempt' to clone the OSX on the older machine and just the files/docs/apps et al?).

     

    Many thanks.

     

    somapop.

  • by Frank Caggiano,

    Frank Caggiano Frank Caggiano Feb 26, 2014 10:59 AM in response to somapop
    Level 7 (25,796 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 10:59 AM in response to somapop

    A bit confusing hard to keep track of which machine you are asking about.

     

    As I understand it you have two iMacs, a 2006 model and one you just picked up used. The old one is running SL so I'm assuming you are asking about the second one.

     

    If you bought it used from other then Apple it should have been sold with the original OS but not everyone holds to that. The easiest thing to do is to open About this Mac, press More Info, and see what is reported. You can take the serial number to the Apple site and see what the system was shipped with.

     

    Or else go to System Information and look for the Model Identifier (something like iMac 10,1) and use that to get the exact year and the OS that was shipped with it.

     

    Everymac.com is a ood place to get the info

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 11:14 AM in response to Frank Caggiano
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 11:14 AM in response to Frank Caggiano

    Sorry Frank - my fault - thought you were asking about the original iMac (White 2006 24" model).

     

    I'd got that info a few moments ago and was about to post, so here goes:

     

    iMac 21.5 inch, Mid 2011

     

    According to the chart the s/w shipped would be from 10.6.6 to 10.7.3 - which would be from Snow Leopard (which would be ideal for my Logic Pro 7 s/w as it ran happily on Snow Leopard) to Lion.

     

    *Update - also on System Information box is the Support Tab - Specifications - clicking on this opens a webpage up relating to this Mid 2011 iMac:

     

    Included Software

    OS X Lion

    Not sure how definite that is, but it looks like this was originally shipped with Lion.

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 11:25 AM in response to somapop
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 11:25 AM in response to somapop

    Also reading up on placing an older OS (Snow Leopard in this case) on either a parition or on a spare drive.  This is mainly so I can still run Logic Pro 7 without having to upgrade (at least £130 and I have the studio suite so possibly a fair bit more). I haven't even looked into FCP upgrades on Mountain Lion yet.

     

    I'm afraid my knowledge runs a little dry at this stage however...almost convinced myself I could merely clone both the data and old OS - now know that's not the case!

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 26, 2014 11:46 AM in response to somapop
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 11:46 AM in response to somapop

    somapop wrote:

     

    What I would like to do really is clone my old hard drive (and I have a time machine back up on an external drive) onto this new machine. 

    So long as you had previously upgraded your dead iMac to at least 10.6.6 (preferably to 10.6.8) you can clone it, install it into a partition and use it to boot  or even "dual-boot" your 2011 iMac.

     

    Retail Snow Leopard Install DVDs are either 10.6 or 10.6.3 and will not work with the 2011 iMac.

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 12:10 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 12:10 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    Hi MichaelLAX - I'm almost certain the old machine was kept up to date with s/w updates (and 10.6.8 rings a bell).

    I guess I could log in via the 2011 iMac once I pick up that FW800-FW400 cable and determine fully, but 99% sure it's up to date. That would be good news.

     

    With regard to the partioning - I'll have to do a bit of homework on that front.  I'll admit I'm not fully up on partitioning and such - I tend to update and back up s/w and use the machine for a myriad of things. To my eternal shame I've no idea how dual booting would benefit me or indeed what it's for!

  • by MlchaelLAX,

    MlchaelLAX MlchaelLAX Feb 26, 2014 12:50 PM in response to somapop
    Level 4 (2,256 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 12:50 PM in response to somapop

    I only mentioned partitioning because you indicated that you wanted both Snow Leopard and Mavericks capability on the newly acquired iMac.  Of course, you cannot have both flavors of OS X on the same hard drive unless it is partitioned to keep them separate.

     

    Once you have Snow Leopard in one partition and Mavericks in the other, "dual-booting" is simply the process of determining which flavor or OS X will be operating by using the Startup  Manager in System Preferences before you reboot, or holding down the OPTION key while you do reboot.

     

    The disadvantage to this approach is that you cannot have both Snow Leopard and Mavericks running concurrently.  To have that capability, you must install Snow Leopard Server into a virtualization program such as Parallels running in Mavericks and then they can run concurrently:

     

    Coherence.jpg

                                  [click on image to enlarge]

     

    More information on this approach here:

     

    http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 1:12 PM in response to MlchaelLAX
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 1:12 PM in response to MlchaelLAX

    Ah, ok - I see what you mean.  Using the old machine as a kind of external hard drive essentially, but running the Snow Leopard (if required) as if running on the new machine.  That might be an option too.

     

    Before that however (and once I've cloned the drive (super-duper recommened btw?), I'm going to take the machine apart as a last gasp option of saving it and attempt the GPU 'toasting' method.  The GPU went on this iMac (ended up constantly stuck on grey/white screen) and replacements are far too expensive.  Another option was to sell on as spare parts, but I'm slowly warming to this dual boot method.

     

    Huge thanks for all the tips and help - I've learned a bit this evening

     

    Cheers.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Feb 26, 2014 1:39 PM in response to somapop
    Level 7 (32,078 points)
    iPad
    Feb 26, 2014 1:39 PM in response to somapop

    And, just to add a cautionary note regarding your new iMac: if it is a 2011 and came with Lion - and now had Mountain lion on it - the seller was obliged to wipe the drive and reinstall the original system as the ML install is tied to the seller's Apple ID and you will not be able to reinstall. So, before you start porting over files, etc. it might be best to do what the seller should have done:

     

    Boot with Internet Recovery - Command + Option + R keys -  go to Disk Utility and wipe the drive. Then hit reinstall Mac OS X. That method should reinstall the originally installed OS version, which appears to have been Lion. You can then purchase Mountain Lion or download Mavericks (free) - either way, you will use your own Apple ID for it. If this does not work, then the machine came with Snow leopard installed. In that case, call Apple, give them your serial number, and ask for replacement disks - they will send them for a nominal charge. When you get them, boot with it, and proceed as above.

     

    It'd be easier to do this now - and have it right - before you start putting all your files on it, etc.

  • by somapop,

    somapop somapop Feb 26, 2014 1:48 PM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 26, 2014 1:48 PM in response to babowa

    ^^ Brilliant - thanks.  Seeing as the aforementioned s/w (Logic etc) will not run on Mountain Lion anyway, it might be better to run straight to Mavericks (again, I'll read up on the pros and cons first).  Wondering why I'd have to purchase ML but Mavericks is free?

     

    I'll hopefully do that this weekend - fortunately I've not added any files to this iMac yet and my old files are retained on the old iMac, Time Machine ext drive and a couple of other ext drives.

    Pretty sure (going off the serial number) it was originally installed with Lion.

     

    Many thanks.

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