Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mountain Lion downgrade to SL

a104375

a104375

macrumors 6502
Original poster
I just got a new hdd and figured since I wasn't liking mountain lion too much that I would go back to snow leopard. I put the new drive in formatted from another computer as mac os x journaled.

When I tried booting the Snow Leopard disk it sat at the grey screen w/ apple logo and the spinning load circle for a bit then it kernel paniced, I though maybe it was a fluke, installed Mountain Lion again from the external flash drive I made, and it installed fine. Any idea what I've got to do to get snow leopard installed?

I've got access to another mac if necessary.

Andrew
 
Is the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD you used a grey Restore DVD that came with this Mac or a white Upgrade DVD? If it is the latter, it will not work with a 2010 Mac, as it lacks the drivers for those, if it is the former, you might need another approach. What OS is the other Mac running?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Is the Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard DVD you used a grey Restore DVD that came with this Mac or a white Upgrade DVD? If it is the latter, it will not work with a 2010 Mac, as it lacks the drivers for those, if it is the former, you might need another approach. What OS is the other Mac running?
Click to expand...

It's the retail install dvd, and the other mac is Snow Leopard, I'm installing SL on the drive via that computer right now, but not sure what will happen when it tries to boot the drive.
 
a104375 said:
It's the retail install dvd, and the other mac is Snow Leopard, I'm installing SL on the drive via that computer right now, but not sure what will happen when it tries to boot the drive.
Click to expand...

If that other Mac is a pre 2010 Mac, it will work, just use that configuration to update to 10.6.5 at least, then boot up the 2010 Mac.
 
a104375 said:
Oh okay so basically the white retail disks don't work on 2010 macs?
Click to expand...

Yep, as the only go to 10.6.3 or 10.6.4 and 2010 Macs came with a special build of 10.6.4 or later, thus the 10.6.4 or 10.6.3 version on the Retail DVD is not working due to missing drivers for 2010 hardware.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Yep, as the only go to 10.6.3 or 10.6.4 and 2010 Macs came with a special build of 10.6.4 or later, thus the 10.6.4 or 10.6.3 version on the Retail DVD is not working due to missing drivers for 2010 hardware.
Click to expand...

Mad props man! Giving it a try, I didn't realize that there was an issue like that! Anyway thanks a bunch!
 
Joseph Farrugia said:
May I ask you why are you asking?
Click to expand...
Defensive much? Perhaps he was hoping to help you overcome your difficulties. For instance, it is possible simply to disable some of the features, so if those are what you don't like, then there may be other options than downgrading.

There are some radical changes, like AutoSave, Versions and Resume, which some people have been the most vocal about. However, we all know that Apple frequently ditches established practices and introduces new methods and directions without regard for people's workflows. Trying to turn back the tide is a lot of work for little gain, so if you can get used to it and work with it, that's the best strategy. 😀
 
benwiggy said:
Defensive much? Perhaps he was hoping to help you overcome your difficulties. For instance, it is possible simply to disable some of the features, so if those are what you don't like, then there may be other options than downgrading.


There are some radical changes, like AutoSave, Versions and Resume, which some people have been the most vocal about. However, we all know that Apple frequently ditches established practices and introduces new methods and directions without regard for people's workflows. Trying to turn back the tide is a lot of work for little gain, so if you can get used to it and work with it, that's the best strategy. 😀
Click to expand...

Stop projecting your insecurities onto others mate 😀
The persons who are "vocal" & (get this) also very articulate in their explanations are much more knowledgeable about efficient & effective (very important difference there) workflows than you will ever be;
(no disrespect intended, but it is very evident from your wording);

pros especially are not interested in the "tide" or whatever, but what just works. Right now for many it is Snow Leopard; for others in other fields it might be ML, to each their own.

(seriously: your Freudian slip betrayed a very, very deep insecurity you have with ML vs. SL; why? is it maybe that you haven't yet decided if ML is the "right" upgrade for your mac? I don't wish to believe that you are just flame-baiting, as the other poster tried to do)
 
If you can't have a civil adult discussion, then there's really no point in trying to help you.
Good luck sorting out your Mac.
 
Wow... Glad someone was able to help me with my problem before the angry badgers got to me...

Anyway I switched back to Snow Leopard because it didn't give me enough advantages for the disadvantages what were caused by the new workflow. I'm an old fashioned Mac OS X user who likes expose, and spaces that are separate. Also after disabling autosave+versions it make textedit complain that it couldn't write to the directory (no duh it doesn't exist once you turn the feature off).

Also ML kept forgetting settings after I restarted, apps didn't start on launch as they were told, my mouse settings for controlling spaces reverted. Plus I'm going into the media field where everything works a specific way so when my mac has a slightly workflow than other macs, it makes things difficult transitionally.

So when I got a new hdd I just opted to put SL back on rather than ML. I've got ML if I ever feel like going back.
 
benwiggy said:
If you can't have a civil adult discussion, then there's really no point in trying to help you.
Good luck sorting out your Mac.
Click to expand...

You acted like the proverbial "Rescuer in search of victims", & I called you on that.
Trolling for a fight & thus potentially ruining the OP's thread & quest for answers was very uncivil of you, you just got to stop projecting 😉

To the OP: glad you got it sorted out. Lion/ML have too many unsorted issues that hinder efficient & effective workflows, even risking data loss because of poorly re-written apple software (even TM sometimes breaks up for no reason on ML).
Go with what works for you, not necessarily with what is fashionable/latest & glad to see you did your research so well.
 
a104375 said:
I just got a new hdd and figured since I wasn't liking mountain lion too much that I would go back to snow leopard. I put the new drive in formatted from another computer as mac os x journaled.

When I tried booting the Snow Leopard disk it sat at the grey screen w/ apple logo and the spinning load circle for a bit then it kernel paniced, I though maybe it was a fluke, installed Mountain Lion again from the external flash drive I made, and it installed fine. Any idea what I've got to do to get snow leopard installed?

I've got access to another mac if necessary.

Andrew
Click to expand...
Some questions to ask first:
Did your Mac come with an OS newer than Snow Leopard? If so, you will NOT be able to downgrade.
Do you have either the restore media for your Mac (usually a pair of DVDs, but some Macs use USB media or Internet Recovery, used if your Mac came with Snow Leopard) or the Snow Leopard retail DVD (used if your Mac came with Leopard or Tiger)? If not, you will NOT be able to downgrade.
Assuming you passed both of those checks, and are thus downgrade-eligible, here's the procedure I'd use if I was going to downgrade from ML to SL (which I am eligible to do, as my Mac came with SL and I have the grey restore media):
  1. Back up all your data, via a method other than Time Machine: Upgrading doesn't pose problems, but downgrading often DOES.
  2. Do a test partial restore of your backup. You do NOT want backup failure to make the process lose all your data!
  3. Format the drive and install Snow Leopard as usual.
  4. Update it, if needed.
  5. Restore your backups.
  6. Test to make sure everything still works!
 
wrldwzrd89 said:
Some questions to ask first:
Did your Mac come with an OS newer than Snow Leopard? If so, you will NOT be able to downgrade.
Do you have either the restore media for your Mac (usually a pair of DVDs, but some Macs use USB media or Internet Recovery, used if your Mac came with Snow Leopard) or the Snow Leopard retail DVD (used if your Mac came with Leopard or Tiger)? If not, you will NOT be able to downgrade.
Assuming you passed both of those checks, and are thus downgrade-eligible, here's the procedure I'd use if I was going to downgrade from ML to SL (which I am eligible to do, as my Mac came with SL and I have the grey restore media):
  1. Back up all your data, via a method other than Time Machine: Upgrading doesn't pose problems, but downgrading often DOES.
  2. Do a test partial restore of your backup. You do NOT want backup failure to make the process lose all your data!
  3. Format the drive and install Snow Leopard as usual.
  4. Update it, if needed.
  5. Restore your backups.
  6. Test to make sure everything still works!
Click to expand...

Good Sir I appreciate your attempted help, however I have already sorted everything out, and all those questions were answered further up. Also This was a brand new hdd so backups were already done previously.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back