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is it possible to run two OS X on one macbook pro?

I just bought a new MacBook Pro with OS X Lion on it and discovered it would not read the plugins of an oline, text based, MUD I play. I cannot afford to, nor do I wish to, run Windows on my laptop.


My game ran perfectly well on the previous laptop I was using, which I do not have access to now, and I was wondering if it is possible to run both Lion and Snow Leopard on the same HD.


Okay if that is doable, for the previous laptop I bought the Snow Leopard upgrade but will that be sufficient to get OS X 6 up and running in what would concievably be a non apple space?


I hope I am making enough sense here. I am not an IT technician and just thinking about doing this makes my brain fizz.


Btw I have been informed by other mac players in my game that Lion does not support the plugins of the Front End I use and the people who have upgraded and run into this problem have gone out and bought windows which they run on BootCamp or a parallel program and gone with a windows based Front End. I do not have the money to go this root and am looking for a solution which will is cheaper and will have nothing to do with windows.


I hope someone out there can help thanks.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 7, 2012 10:37 PM

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20 replies

May 7, 2012 11:10 PM in response to KeaCrazy

It's possible to install Snow Leopard on the MBP, but the process to do so is a bit complicated. You will need access to a Mac that does run Snow Leopard.


The simplest solution is to clone a Snow Leopard 10.6.8 system to your MBP. First, add a new partition to your MBP:


Step One: Put the MBP into Target Disk Mode:


You need a Firewire cable to connect the two computers. Then follow these instructions: Transferring files between two computers using FireWire. You will boot the MBP into Target Disk Mode and boot the other computer normally.


Step Two: To resize the drive do the following:


1. Restart the MBP 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.


User uploaded file


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 Three: Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility


  1. Boot the MBP into Target Disk Mode.
  2. Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
  3. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
  4. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
  5. Check the box labeled Erase destination.
  6. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
  7. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
  8. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

Destination means the new partition on the MBP's drive. Source means the Snow Leopard computer's drive.


Alternatively, you can clone the Snow Leopard system to an external drive, then restore the clone after connecting the external drive to the MBP.


A more complicated process involves using a 16 GB USB flash drive to which you would install Snow Leopard using the Mac that runs Snow Leopard. The Snow Leopard DVD installs 10.6.3, so after installing Snow Leopard onto the USB flash drive you need to update the system to 10.6.8 using the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. Now, boot your MBP from the USB flash drive and clone the Snow Leopard system to the new partition on your MBP's hard drive.

May 8, 2012 2:40 AM in response to X423424X

X423424X wrote:


I thought that with the exception of the current mac pros, you could not run a version of the OS older than the one that came with the machine, no matter how you get it on that machine.

Since the newest MBP models, that are currently being produced, are very close to the early 2011 models that did come with Snow Leopard it is possible mlto install SL on the new models. But you need a specific build, Point release, of SL for it to install. That is either 10.6.7 or 10.6.8 and if you use 10.6.7 you must update to 10.6.8 for all the hardware to work correctly. Earlier builds will not install on the newest MBPs.

May 8, 2012 11:17 AM in response to X423424X

With the exception of new MBAs and Minis extant models originally ran Snow Leopard but versions 10.6.4 and above. Unfortunately, the retail disc is 10.6.3 so it cannot be installed on these machines except by using the original discs with which they shipped before Lion was being pre-installed. So unless the newest models are hardware dependent on Lion they should be able to run Snow Leopard 10.6.8.

May 8, 2012 4:01 PM in response to Kappy

I really appreciate all the effort you guys have taken to respond to my plea but I have no idea what a MBP or MBA is and it seems to be getting way too technical for me.


It does seem to be an awful lot of work for a text game that doesnt even support Macs and I have no wish to start down a road that might end up compromising the OS on my new MacBook.


And Softwater I did go ahead an look at what that other guy wrote and it makes Kappy's instructions look like a toddle.


I have neither the money or IT know-how to do what is recommended. Thanks again for your input.

May 8, 2012 5:44 PM in response to KeaCrazy

KeaCrazy wrote:



And Softwater I did go ahead an look at what that other guy wrote and it makes Kappy's instructions look like a toddle.



Yes, certainly not a recommended approach by any means. I would second Kappys advice on installing Parallels and running windows in virtual mode that way, if your Mac does not support Snow Leopard.


Good Luck


Pete

May 9, 2012 1:58 AM in response to etresoft

Thanks again for being so supportive, at the moment I cannot afford to purchase a windows OS.


etresoft the game is DragonRealms run by Simultronics. A guy who was a player I think used to update the plugins as new mac OS's came out but he left about two years ago hence my dilemma. I am not very impressed that this company charges me to play the game while not supporting mac players beyond making available a front end which is very clunky and slow to play without plugins.


Is it Intel that is the problem? Is intel new to macs?


Oh and thanks for the explanation of the abreviations, it was a real *duh* moment 🙂

May 9, 2012 2:04 AM in response to KeaCrazy

KeaCrazy wrote:


Is it Intel that is the problem? Is intel new to macs?



No, Intel has been around for many years now in Mac, but with Lion, the older PPC coding that was included up until 10.5 and then could also be run in a Rosetta emulator in 10.6 is no longer supported after all these years. Updates may be useless for the game if it is a PPC program.


Good Luck


Pete

is it possible to run two OS X on one macbook pro?

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