Can I dual boot Late-2009 iMac so that it runs High Sierra (newest for that computer) and Snow Leopard (its original operating system)? My main reason for asking is because I know High Sierra switched the internals to the Apple File System (from whatever it was before…), and I also am unsure if I can install an older version since the iMac is currently running High Sierra and I am wanting to add Snow Leopard on top of it.
iMac, macOS 10.13
BringBackiPod182 wrote:
Can I dual boot Late-2009 iMac so that it runs High Sierra (newest for that computer) and Snow Leopard (its original operating system)? My main reason for asking is because I know High Sierra switched the internals to the Apple File System (from whatever it was before…), and I also am unsure if I can install an older version since the iMac is currently running High Sierra and I am wanting to add Snow Leopard on top of it.
Yes, you can do that.
High Sierra can be booted from a drive formatted HFS+, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It is not required that the drive be APFS formatted.
You'll need to use a drive that has multiple partitions, at least one for each OS version that you wish to install to boot from.
Both of those Mac OS versions should work on that iMac.
BringBackiPod182 wrote:
Can I dual boot Late-2009 iMac so that it runs High Sierra (newest for that computer) and Snow Leopard (its original operating system)? My main reason for asking is because I know High Sierra switched the internals to the Apple File System (from whatever it was before…), and I also am unsure if I can install an older version since the iMac is currently running High Sierra and I am wanting to add Snow Leopard on top of it.
Yes, you can do that.
High Sierra can be booted from a drive formatted HFS+, a.k.a. Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It is not required that the drive be APFS formatted.
You'll need to use a drive that has multiple partitions, at least one for each OS version that you wish to install to boot from.
Both of those Mac OS versions should work on that iMac.
D.I. Johnson wrote:
You'll need to use a drive that has multiple partitions, at least one for each OS version that you wish to install to boot from.
Two drives, each containing a single operating system, would work, too.
However, the USB ports on those Macs are USB 2.0 ports, and it's impossible to get new FireWire 800 drives or enclosures any more (even OWC stopped carrying them). So running from an external drive could be a bit slow.
Truth.
All good points, my friend. 👍🏽
Thank you! I’ll definitely try and do this in a little bit :)
Can I Dual-Boot Late ‘09 iMac?
