trevorfromhelens bay
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Q: Can't boot snow leopard from external drive

I have a copy of snow leopard installed on a separate usb hard drive which I use to run some PowerPC programmes under rosetta. I can attach this USB drive to my Mac Pro and also to an Intel Macbook and choose to start up on this external drive without any issues. However when I try restarting my new 2011 iMac on this external usb drive the machine crashes every time with a kernal panic. Is this problem unique to me or does everyone else have this issue with new iMacs. Mine is a 27" 3.4ghz i& with 12ghb ram installed running 10.72. Is their soemthing I can do to resolve this problem?

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2), 1TB drive, 12gb Ram

Posted on Nov 5, 2011 1:21 AM

by trevorfromhelens bay,Solvedanswer
trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay
Level 1 (0 points)
A:

baltwo

 

Believe me it works and I'm delighted to be able to use MYOB again on my iMac. It is a brand new lion only iMac purchased three days ago from the local Apple Store. Why not try it as I have said and you will see that this does indeed work.

Posted on Nov 5, 2011 1:57 PM

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trevorfromhelens bay

Q: Can't boot snow leopard from external drive

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  • by baltwo,

    baltwo baltwo Nov 5, 2011 11:34 AM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 9 (62,256 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 11:34 AM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    Lion-only new machines can't boot from earlier OSs. Put that idea in the trash can and good luck with the new machine and the iOS world.

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 12:26 PM in response to baltwo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 12:26 PM in response to baltwo

    This is nt true. Seemy deatiled explanation below of how I did it.

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 12:50 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 12:50 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    I have now solved the problem of being able to boot from either Snow Leopard or Lion on a new Mid 2011 iMac. This is how I did it.

     

    1. Attach an external USB drive to an earlier Mac or borrow one from a friend. In my case I used my 2009 Unibody Macbook (which has Lion installed on it but does allow you to install Snow Leopard on an attached device) Put the Snow Leopard install disc in this machine and tell it to install Snow Leopard on your attached USB Drive.

     

    2. Start up the Macbook (or whatever machine you are using) and get it to restart on the attached USB drive so that it boots up in Snow Leopard. Then when Snow Leopard is up and running on the attached external drive, do a software update to bring it up to 10.68 (the current version). This step is important as I found that if I plugged in the external USB drive into the iMac with only operating system 10.6 installed it would cause a kernal panic on start up when I choose to start up on the external USB drive.

     

    3. With Snow Leopard updated to system 10.68 you can now plug it into your iMac and restart the iMac booting into Snow Leopard from the external USB drive. You do this by either going to System Preferences>Startup disk and choosing the external drive, or by holding down the option key when you restart your Mac and choosing the external USB drive.

     

    4. The next step is to make your iMac dual boot now that you know it can run Snow Leopard successfully from an external USB drive. To do this, go into Utilities>Disk Utility and select your main drive. Select the main disk (with Lion on it)  and then choose Partition and choose 2 Partitions. Drag the first partition bundary line down to make the second partition size as small as possible. In my case I had a stock 1TB drive and the smallest partition size it would allow me was 70gb. Create the second partition (assuming you have spare space on your drive to allow this to happen). This will then create a second hard drive icon on your desktop. I renamed mine "Snow Leopard startup".

     

    5. Download the free (and excellent) utility Carbon Copy Cloner and use it to copy your Snow Leopard operating sytem from your attached USB external drive to your new partition.

     

    6. That's it! Now you can choose to start up your iMac from either Lion or Snow Leopard using either method mentioned in 3 above.

     

    7. As a final step I suggest your install your Rosetta only programmes in your new Snow Leopard partition so that you can access them easily and keep them all together.

  • by baltwo,

    baltwo baltwo Nov 5, 2011 1:14 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 9 (62,256 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 1:14 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    If that works with your mid-2011 iMac, then it's not a Lion-only machine.

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,Solvedanswer

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 1:57 PM in response to baltwo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 1:57 PM in response to baltwo

    baltwo

     

    Believe me it works and I'm delighted to be able to use MYOB again on my iMac. It is a brand new lion only iMac purchased three days ago from the local Apple Store. Why not try it as I have said and you will see that this does indeed work.

  • by baltwo,

    baltwo baltwo Nov 5, 2011 3:03 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 9 (62,256 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 3:03 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    Like I said, yours isn't a Lion-only machine. I have no need for a newer one, since my current runs both and I prefer Snow Leopard, having no use for iOS nonsense.

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Nov 5, 2011 4:13 PM in response to baltwo
    Level 7 (30,400 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 4:13 PM in response to baltwo

     

    It is a brand new lion only iMac purchased three days ago from the local Apple Store.

     

     

    A "Lion only Mac" is one that can't be downgraded to Snow Leopard or it does, runs really slow or messed up somehow.

     

    There is a whole thread a mile long here, paste your results there people will be happy to hear your Late 2011 iMac can be downgraded to Snow Leopard.

     

    https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3264421?start=0&tstart=0

     

     

    baltwo wrote:

     

    I prefer Snow Leopard, having no use for iOS nonsense.

     

     

    HERE HERE!!!

     

     

    Screen shot 2011-09-07 at 6.59.13 AM.jpg

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 4:32 PM in response to ds store
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 4:32 PM in response to ds store

    If you read what I said in previous posts correctly you will notice I never said that I downgraded my "Lion only iMac", I simply set up a partition which gives folk the chance to run either Lion or Snow Leopard depending on what they need. My iMac is a Lion only machine. I just found a way to allow me to run either operating system of a Mid 2001 iMac thats all.

     

    You cannot downgrade a Mid 2011 iMac by putting in a snow leopard disc. It won't allow you. My way is the workaround to have the best of both worlds.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 5, 2011 5:25 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 7 (32,347 points)
    iPad
    Nov 5, 2011 5:25 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    My iMac is a Lion only machine.

     

    Since you won't believe the experienced posters here, I'd like to know what the build is on you "Lion only" machine. Would you post that please - you can find it by clicking on the Apple > About this Mac > click on the OS version until the build version is displayed.

     

    Looking forward to seeing the version.

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 5:35 PM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 5:35 PM in response to babowa

    The Lion software is 10.72 Build number is 11C74

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 5, 2011 5:47 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 7 (32,347 points)
    iPad
    Nov 5, 2011 5:47 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    Thanks - great idea except it didn't work because the Apple kb article doesn't have that build listed.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159

  • by trevorfromhelens bay,

    trevorfromhelens bay trevorfromhelens bay Nov 5, 2011 6:01 PM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 5, 2011 6:01 PM in response to babowa

    I thought the purpose of the Apple community was to offer help and support to others. In this thread I have been accussed of being a liar. Shame on you for getting off on trying to be an ill informed  smart arse when I genuinely am trying to help others who may be experiencing similar problems. for which I have got an answer.

     

    How you can accuse me of making up a build number is completely beyond comprehension! Next time you post your answer be sure of all your facts. 

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Nov 5, 2011 6:20 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 7 (32,347 points)
    iPad
    Nov 5, 2011 6:20 PM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    How you can accuse me of making up a build number is completely beyond comprehension! Next time you post your answer be sure of all your facts.

     

    Please consider what was said before accusing me of things I did not intend. There is some serious misunderstanding here.

     

    Since you did not believe that the other posters were correct (about builds vs. SL or Lion), I thought we could figure out if your Mac would support booting from SL - that information is in the kb article. However, it is also obvious that Apple has not updated the article to include the latest builds so that is why I said it didn't work. Your build is for 10.7.2; it is the latest build, but it is not on that list. It could be because Apple has not updated the list or because you updated your Mac via Software Update to the latest build. Again, looking at the information in the article is of no help in figuring out your build.

     

    Shame on you for getting off on trying to be an ill informed  smart arse

     

    I did not accuse you of anything and I am offended by your over-the-top reaction. Please refrain from personal attacks; doing so violates the ToU.

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Nov 6, 2011 6:09 AM in response to trevorfromhelens bay
    Level 7 (30,400 points)
    Nov 6, 2011 6:09 AM in response to trevorfromhelens bay

    trevorfromhelens bay wrote:

     

    My iMac is a Lion only machine.

     

     

    Correction: "My iMac only came with Lion."

     

     

    A "Lion only" Mac around here refers to a Mac that can't run Snow Leopard at all, either in a partition or the entire hard drive.

     

     

    Your Mac may have only come with Lion, but that doesn't mean it can only run Lion, which you have proven yourself by installing Snow Leopard.

     

     

    You've got Snow Leopard to run on your "factory Lion" Mac, which is the more accurate description.

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