installing mountain lion on parallels desktop 9 with snow leopard

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installing mountain lion on parallels desktop 9 with snow leopard

i'm using snow leopard on my imac (late 2009). can i install mountain lion or any later os using parallels 9? how do i do it? i tried doing it but when i reach the part after 'select language' and quitting disk utilities to select the system to use to start the computer, it says 'you can't change the startup disk to the selected disk. startup disk could not gather enough info on the selected disk.' am i missing something? should i use other versions of parallels desktop or install lion instead of mountain lion? i'm doing this so i can sync my iphone 4s (ios 9) with my imac since it wouldn't sync with snow leopard. and i won't upgrade my main os because i'm using freehand mx for work w/c only runs on snow leopard. any help would be appreciated. thanks!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 13, 2015 11:40 AM

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Answer 1

Niel

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Oct 13, 2015 11:51 PM in response to dave leo

Instead of trying to use an emulator, use the Disk Utility to repartition the internal drive and install the newer OS onto the blank volume.

(134880)

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Answer 2

Kappy

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Oct 13, 2015 11:51 PM in response to dave leo

Why not partition your startup drive and install Mountain Lion or later on the new partition? A lot simpler than what you are proposing. Or you could clone the Snow Leopard system to an external drive, then upgrade the internal system to Mountain Lion or later.

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Answer 3

dave leo Author

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Oct 13, 2015 12:11 PM in response to Niel

would that affect the speed of my original os? i don't want my original os affected speed wise while i'm working. will it only affect the disk space or the ram also. thanks!

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Answer 4

Oct 13, 2015 12:14 PM in response to dave leo

It would probably effect things less.

With each operating system in its own partition, you would only be running one at a time. To change from one to the other it is necessary for you to reboot into the other one.

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Answer 5

Niel

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Oct 13, 2015 12:16 PM in response to dave leo

It won't affect the computer's speed or available RAM.

(134881)

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Answer 6

dave leo Author

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Oct 13, 2015 12:24 PM in response to dave leo

ok, thanks guys! if i partition, will i choose the amount of disk space for that or would that not matter and the imac would decide? sorry, i haven't done this thing before. thanks a lot.

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Answer 7

Oct 13, 2015 12:31 PM in response to dave leo

When you partition the disk drive, you must decide the size of the partitions.

You will want to do this correctly the first time because changing the size lately can be chore.

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Answer 8

dave leo Author

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Oct 13, 2015 12:51 PM in response to Allan Eckert

what size would you recommend for the other newer os? i'll be just using it for itunes to sync my iphone. i have 1 tb right now on my main os. thanks!

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Answer 9

Oct 13, 2015 12:58 PM in response to dave leo

That is difficult to say. It is dependent on exactly what you are going to be doing with each operating system. It would also depend on the rest of your disk configuration.

By the way, before starting any of this the best thing you could do fist is to make sure the you have tested backup solution for your data and software.

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Answer 10

dave leo Author

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Oct 14, 2015 12:01 AM in response to Allan Eckert

ok. instead of partitioning, i think i'll just install a newer os on an external HD so it wouldn't take up space on my main os. thanks allan!

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Answer 11

dave leo Author

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Oct 14, 2015 12:07 AM in response to dave leo

Thanks for all your suggestions! 🙂

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Answer 12

BobHarris

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Oct 14, 2015 6:29 AM in response to dave leo

dave leo wrote:

ok. instead of partitioning, i think i'll just install a newer os on an external HD so it wouldn't take up space on my main os. thanks allan!

Just be aware, that OS X running on an external disk will not be as fast as running on the internal disk. But it is a very good way to at least see if the new OS will support your computing needs without committing to it. Just do not allow the new OS to access and modify files on the old OS, or it might decide to change the format to a new and improved format that the old OS does not know what to do with.

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Answer 13

dave leo Author

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Oct 14, 2015 9:27 AM in response to BobHarris

ok, thanks for the tip BobHarris.

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Answer 14

dave leo Author

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Oct 14, 2015 10:22 AM in response to BobHarris

btw, i'm not sure if this is even an option or possible but, if i connect the external disk using the firewire 800 port instead of the usb, will it be faster?

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Answer 15

BobHarris

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Oct 14, 2015 12:49 PM in response to dave leo

dave leo wrote:

btw, i'm not sure if this is even an option or possible but, if i connect the external disk using the firewire 800 port instead of the usb, will it be faster?

Firewire will be slightly faster than USB 2, but I'm not sure it is worth the extra cost of a Firewire compatible external disk. USB 3 will be closer to full speed, HOWEVER, I'm assuming your Mac ONLY has USB 2 ports, so USB 3 is not an option.

Thunderbolt will also be full speed, but you are going to pay a premium, assuming you have Thunderbolt ports on your Mac, which I suspect you do not, as my Late 2009 27" iMac does NOT.

If you need full speed, then partitioning the hard disk to make room for a Mountain Lion partition will give you full speed.

Or again assuming it is a 2009 iMac, replace the DVD drive with an SSD using one of the DVD to SSD conversion kits and that will make your iMac feel like a new system (did this to my iMac and I was very happy).

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