Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
I've been running Windows using boot camp on a Mac Mini with Snow Leopard. I just got a new iMac, trying to decide if I should continue to use boot camp or if I should try Parallels. Any thoughts, ideas, etc. would be greatly appreciated.
Dennis Kulpa, greetings; First a couple of caveats/corrections. I have been awarded a title by MichaelLax that is not deserved because Grant Bennet-Alder and John Galt were the prime sources for this procedure. I was principally involved in only the 'grunt' work to see if it would succeed. Second this was done on Macbook Pros, not iMacs or Mac Mini's.
It is my understanding that your iMac model when originally issued had 10.6 as the OS. The same applies to my late 2011 MBP. (Like your iMac, when I purchased my MBP, Lion was installed).
What I did was clone (Disk Utility>Restore) 10.6.8 on a 2006 MBP to an external HDD. I connected it to my late 2011 MBP add booted it to see if it worked. It did. I then partitioned the late 2011 MBP and installed from the external HDD 10.6.8 on to the partition again using Disk Utility>Restore.
Prior to that I had used the 10.6.3 retail disk in the late 2011 MBP and it had been rejected. The 'trick' is to upgrade 10.6.3 to 10.6.8. If your iMac boots the external HDD, then you should be able to install it. If not, then there are hardware issue that I am not familiar with.
If you want to use this in a partition or as the sole OS is entirely up to you. Just make certain that you have backups. If you 'wipe' your iMac internal HDD, it will delete the recover partition.
Also I suggest that you consider making a thumb drive of Lion. I did and it is a lot simpler than using the Internet for a reinstall. Here are instructions if you are so inclined (works for both 10.7 and 10.8)
http://www.macworld.com/article/1167857/how_to_make_a_bootable_mountain_lion_ins tall_drive.html
Ciao.
Here's what I've done so far:
Had a spare external hard drive, connected it up to my Mini, used the retail version of 10.6.3 to set up the external drive. Then I applied the 10.6.8 combo update, along with a security update and a Java update. This gave me a 10.6.8 "clean-install" clone.
I connected this drive to the iMac and booted from it; everything came up fine. I even ran for about an hour using the drive, did some web surfing, some utilities stuff, shut down and re-booted a couple of times and there were no problems so it appears that this should be an acceptable clone for the iMac. I even did a software update while the drive was connected to the the iMac and I had to download a couple of Thunderbird updates for Snow Leopard.
I have the Mountain Lion install app on the iMac, downloaded it from the Apple site. I have a couple of different instruction sets to make a bootable flash drive with it - Pogue tells you how to do it in the ML Missing Manual, and the latest version of Carbon Copy Cloner has a selection in the setup menu to do it for you. I have also made some extra copies of it, to external drives as well as onto DVD's, as it's stated that once you use it, you lose it.
I've made several backups of the ML system that's on the iMac to restore if/when needed. Another feature of the new version of CCC, it copies the Recovery Partition for you as well as the drive so that you can restore that along with all of the drive stuff.
With all of the input for the people here on the forum, as well as many long days/nights in the past doing stuff like this, I think I've got all of the bases covered. Right now, I'm just too tired to do any more tonight - think I'll go grab an "adult beverage" out of the refrigerator and go finish reading the Sunday funnies, try to finish this up tomorrow.
I let you know how it goes.
Thanks for all the info,
Dennis
It sounds like you are good to go. I would appreciate a firm confirmation of your results on the installation to satisfy my own curiosity and future reference.
Ciao.
FINALLY! I connected the clean-clone to the iMac and booted from it. Went into Disk Utility and completely wiped/partitioned the internal drive in the machine so I literally started with a clean slate. I loaded the clone onto the drive and re-booted. I am now running my mid-2011 iMac with 10.6.8, been doing it since this morning and not having any problems. The iMac actually seems to be running smoother. I was up to 10.8.3 with ML and it seemed like the computer was slowing down; there's some things posted about similar issues on the discussion boards so I don't know if that was it or if just just the fact that Snow Leopard has less overhead burden for the machine to carry. DUNNO, it's working fine right now and that's all I care about.
My next step is to use Boot Camp (3.0.4 on this setup) to make a Windows partition and load XP. If that works, then I'll be able to use my older Windows apps natively without screwing around with Parallels or Win 7 XP Mode. I'll let you know how that goes when I get done, hopefully this evening sometime.
Dennis
I am very pleased to hear of your success. I am of the opinion that Snow Leopard is the most efficient Apple OS to date. That may account for the apparent 'smoother' operation. I have 10.6.8 on my other MBPs as the primary OS.
Ciao.
In addition to this iMac, I've got 10.6.8 on a Mini and a MacBook Pro, both Core 2 Duo machines. I've got two older PPC units running 10.4.11. I've been thinking about picking up a newer 2011 MacBook from the Refurb store but I've got verify whether it would be able to run Snow Leopard; I'd like to have a back-up in case my current MBP takes a dump.
Dennis
I have a late 2011 MBP and I did install Snow Leopard on it (it came with Lion installed). There should be no problem cloning 10.6.8 on a 2011 refurbished MBP.
Ciao.
That's what I'm looking at right now - a 15" 2.4GHz Quad Core i7, vintage October 2011. Add some memory and replace the hard drive with a 7200 rpm unit, I'd be ready to go. Gonna have to take some of these aluminum cans to the recycling center, see if I can come up with $1,800....
Think about replacing the HDD with a hybrid 7200rpm drive, little extra cost, lots of extra performance.
The BootCamp/XP setup isn't going very well. I can't get the XP to recognize the Apple drivers. I've tried 3 different Snow Leopard disks. I tried downloading from the website but the set that I got was for Win 7. I can find update drivers for BootCamp 3 but I can't find a base set. Looks like, if I want to run Windows on this iMac, I'll be stuck using Win 7 instead of XP.
Windows is as alien to me as Mongolia. You may wish to start another post regarding issue. I cannot assist you in this case.
Ciao.
Wasn't expecting help - just whining! Yeah, this thread is already way off-topic from where it started. Guess I've got to go back to my original question - again - and decide where I want to take this and then start a new post if needed.
Once again, thanks for the help. At least I can run Snow Leopard on the iMac now without a problem - hopefully it will stay that way.
Dennis
MichaelLAX, greetings; I am willing to assist whenever possible but you know the process just as well as I do. In the interests of efficiency and that I may not be available on short notice, you may just give the 'spiel' yourself. 🙂
Regards.
Ciao.
As you may be aware I did go to the thread you posted.
Yes, I see you posted over there and I am sure your efforts will be appreciated.
Actually I have never downgraded a Lion computer to Snow Leopard; I actually own only one: the 2011 Mac Mini. As you know, I have instead chosen to become proficient in utilizing Rosetta by means of virtualization in Parallels.
My mind is much too cluttered as it is and attempting to remember how to downgrade to SL would only serve to clutter it more, needlessly, in my case.
Unfortunately for me, I came across this Albert Einstein parable, much too late in life for me: He would never memorize anything that he could look up, because it took up too much valuable brain space!
So it is just easier for me to remember that you are the Emperor of all Things Revertible to Snow Leopard! 😁
NOTE: Actually you responded to the wrong guy, but your information was helpful, just the same!
boot camp vs. parallels
