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Level 4

2,264 points

Install Snow Leopard into partition on system running Lion

Lion will not allow install. Reboot, hold down C key, Snow Leopard disk ejects.

MacPro 3 GHz, G4 400, Intel iMac, MacBook, Pismo PB, 1G iPod, Mac OS X (10.6.1), Alienware Aurora, Trek Y66, Ludwig Vistalites, Birth. Drums. Dea

Posted on Jan 5, 2012 7:12 PM

35 replies

Feb 21, 2012 7:36 PM in response to Mike on Maui

I'm back after some experiments.

I don't think this is Firmware doing this. I think Recovery HD is working hard to protect itself. I got out the Lion Installer 10.7.2 DVD I made at download, and used its Disk Utility. It appeared to be perfectly happy to wipe out the Hard Drive with 10.7.2 on it, in its entirety (overwriting Recovery HD).

I think you can move the world, but you need a place to put your lever. If you do not have a Lion DVD, you may need to create a Lion Recovery partition on an external HD, boot from that, and use it to fully erase the hard drive you want for Snow leopard.

I initially wrote "the target drive" and that reminded me that possibly Firewire Target Disk Mode could be called in to help this situation.

If my theory is correct, with Recovery HD gone off your only Hard Drive, you will again be able to boot from the Snow Leopard DVD

Mike on Maui Author

Level 4

2,264 points

Feb 21, 2012 7:55 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

That's a well thought out plan. I'll get a spare disk to work with and see what happens.

Thank you for all your help.

Mike on Maui Author

Level 4

2,264 points

Feb 22, 2012 12:00 PM in response to Mike on Maui

I pulled a drive out of the graveyard, added it to the MacPro, and discovered it had 10.6.3 on it. I restarted in SL, updated to 10.6.8, and I'm good to go. My orphan app is running again.

Thank you everyone for all your help.

Feb 22, 2012 12:33 PM in response to Mike on Maui

So the firmware did not preclude your booting into an established 10.6.3 from a Hard Drive..

Can you now boot the 10.6.3 DVD?

What do you think is/was keeping you from being able to boot from the 10.6.3 DVD and install?

Mike on Maui Author

Level 4

2,264 points

Feb 22, 2012 2:07 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

System boots up in either 10.6.8 or 10.7.3 with no drama.

Still can't boot from the 10.6.0 DVD. See grey Apple, then disk ejects and see the following:

I believe your theory about the Recovery HD is probably the reason. Maybe someone from Apple that knows the secret ninja commands will chime in.

Thanks again.

Install Snow Leopard into partition on system running Lion