Trying to Install Snow Leopard on External USB Drive Connected to MacBookPro

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Trying to Install Snow Leopard on External USB Drive Connected to MacBookPro

I have some legacy 3d modeling/animation software called Bryce 3D, that I need to use ASAP to work on some old files. The problem is, Bryce won't run on Lion. But it will run on Snow Leopard.

I'm currently using a MacBook Pro running Lion 10.7.5.

I was told by the legacy software company (DAZ3d) to install Snow Leopard on an external hard drive (partitioned or not), then install their software on that hard drive as well, then boot my computer from the external hard drive and run Snow Leopard and their software.

This evening I hooked up a Seagate FreeAgent Go 80GB external USB hard drive to my MacBook Pro, inserted my Snow Leopard install disk and clicked on the installer. Immediately I received a message stating, "You can't use this version of the application install Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X. You have to install Mac OS X 23.1.1."

I would imagine that would indicate some incompatibility between the OS on my internal drive (Lion), and the Snow Leopard install disk. Perhaps there is no backward compatibility or something similar. But I do not want to install it on my internal HD, but rather on the external USB drive mentioned above.

I tried clicking on "Other Installs" but when I did so it seemed the destination had already been selected -- my internal HD. The installer did not appear to "see" my external hard drive.

My next step was to boot directly from the Snow Leopard install DVD. I restarted the MacBook Pro and pressed the "C" key, but the MacBook Pro would not boot from the Snow Leopard install DVD. It did not reject or eject the install disk. It just took its time and eventually booted to the log-in window of my internal hard drive.

I checked out the external drive via disk utility and it's formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and the partition map is GUID. The partition is 70 GB -- more than large enough to comfortably install Snow Leopard and run the software.

I'm not sure what the problem is. Seems like this should be a straightforward process. Suggestions?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jul 12, 2013 6:32 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 12, 2013 6:39 PM in response to KiteSurfer

"You can't use this version of the application install Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X. You have to install Mac OS X 23.1.1."

Not sure about this one because there is no OS X 23.1.1.

Exactly which MBP model do you have? If it's a post-2010 model, then it will not run the release Snow Leopard DVD. If it precedes the Late 2011 model then it came with Snow Leopard 10.6.4 or later. You can install that onto an external drive to boot the computer. If the computer came with Lion or later pre-installed, then you cannot boot it from Snow Leopard at all.

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Answer 2

KiteSurfer Author

Level 1

25 points

Jul 12, 2013 7:56 PM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy...

Apparently, the designation "23.1.1" refers to the installer version, not the OS itself. See discussion here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3542632?start=0&tstart=0

As far as my MacBook Pro goes, the model identifier is MacBook Pro 8,3 from early 2011. I purchased it in March 2011.

As I recall, it came with Snow Leopard and I would assume that is right because Lion was not released until July 2011 -- though honestly, I don't recall. It may have come with a pre-release version of Lion because I don't recall purchasing a Lion upgrade.

I believe I purchased this Snow Leopard installer to upgrade a Mac Pro from Leopard to Snow Leopard. The install DVD is 10.6.3. (2Z691-6634-A). It's a white disk with a picture of a Snow Leopard. Product #MC573Z/A. I guess this is the 10.6.3 retail disk.

So... if this MBPro did come with Lion installed, that would explain my inability to boot from this install disk, HOWEVER, the objective here, is to install Snow Leopard (one way or another) from these disks onto an external USB hard drive with Bryce. Assuming one can do that, will I be able to boot the MBPro from that Snow Leopard OS external hard drive and run the software using my MBPro?... or will the MBPro just refuse to do anything related to Snow Leopard... even if it's running on an external drive.

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Answer 3

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 12, 2013 9:15 PM in response to KiteSurfer

Your model specifically came with 10.6.6 or 10.6.7 which means you can boot from Snow Leopard, but you cannot install from the Snow Leopard retail DVD. You must use the installed disc that came with the computer. You can boot from that disc, install Snow Leopard on your external drive then boot the computer from the external drive whenever you need to run Snow Leopard. Does that make sense?

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Answer 4

KiteSurfer Author

Level 1

25 points

Jul 13, 2013 12:29 PM in response to Kappy

Yes it makes perfect sense but I did not receive a disk with this computer. It came with the operating system installed from Apple. No disk.

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Answer 5

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 13, 2013 1:59 PM in response to KiteSurfer

If it came with Snow Leopard installed then it would have come with discs. If it came with Lion pre-installed then it would not have come with any discs. If you purchased it from Apple, then call customer support about purchasing replacement disks: Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes international calling numbers. Without those discs you will not be able to install Snow Leopard onto anything.

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Answer 6

KiteSurfer Author

Level 1

25 points

Jul 13, 2013 2:22 PM in response to Kappy

Hi Kappy,

I finally found my notes from 2011 (currently traveling on biz so don't have access to hard copies of receipts and files) and sure enough, they shipped this laptop with a pre-release version of OS X Lion which I had to update once or twice soonafter the official Lion release.

If that is indeed the case, do you think this laptop is capable of booting from Snow Leopard on an external HD? I would think not -- based on this Apple FAQ: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1948 but what do you think? I've often found that Apple's written specs and recommendations don't necessarily reflect life in the real world. I've seen so many workarounds for issues and assumptions that Apple has more or less "written in stone".

Do you think this task is possible, or, assuming this machine did indeed ship with Lion, am I SOL?

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Answer 7

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Jul 13, 2013 2:32 PM in response to KiteSurfer

If you have the model you said you have, then it will boot from Snow Leopard, but not from the retail version, 10.6.3. But you will need their discs to do that. The alternative is to find an older Mac that will boot from the retail Snow Leopard DVD. Use it to install Snow Leopard onto an external drive. Update that installation to 10.6.8 using the combo updater. Connect the external drive to your computer in order to boot from the external drive using OPTION booting.

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