Is it possible to safely downgrade to Snow leopard on a iMac 2011 ???

B

billybuxton

macrumors newbie
Hi All

I won't bore you with all the details, but iv brought a piece of hardware for my iMac and iv realised that it's not compatible with the operating system I'm running (10.7.4) :mad:

So I'm wondering if i should downgrade to snow leopard so my hardware will work, but I'm scared that i might ruin my iMac...:eek:

Is it just a matter of buying a Snow Leopard disc ?
or does it have to be a certain release (like 10.6895454 or whatever)

Also if i have to send my iMac back to apple with my applecare thing, will me having a downgraded operating system matter ?

Thanks
 
I think i might wait to see if my device ever becomes compatible.

I'm scared of messing with the technical side of computers lol

Thank you for replying
 
billybuxton said:
I think i might wait to see if my device ever becomes compatible.

I'm scared of messing with the technical side of computers lol

Thank you for replying
Click to expand...

If you have another Mac, it is quite easy.
If you have a friend or acquaintance with another Mac and knowledgable in those things, you could try the methods laid out just with an external USB HDD to which you do the procedure to and then test it with your Mac and after you see, that it works, you could clone it to the internal HDD to an extra partition maybe, thus you could dual boot between Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
 
I went though considerable pain trying to downgrade my Lion equipped refurb imac 27" 3.4GHz. I got conflicting information the most promising was that a late version snow leopard would be able to be installed. However upon further conflicting information from apple itself, it was finally sorted once and for all by an apple tech qualified to give a definitive answer.

That answer was 'no'.

But now after using Lion for 3 months, I'm very happy with it.
 
inscrewtable said:
I went though considerable pain trying to downgrade my Lion equipped refurb imac 27" 3.4GHz. I got conflicting information the most promising was that a late version snow leopard would be able to be installed. However upon further conflicting information from apple itself, it was finally sorted once and for all by an apple tech qualified to give a definitive answer.

That answer was 'no'.
Click to expand...

Apple techs might be qualified, but evident with many of their answers is that they are not always correct.
Since the 2011 iMac came with 10.6.7, there are actual working drivers for that machine on Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. You just need to work around during the install, via using another Mac for example.
I recently did so with a late 2011 MacBook Pro, which originally came with Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, but the drivers in 10.6.8 were still working with that machine (as little has changed between the early and late 2011 MBPs).

With 2012 hardware it will be totally different though, as there will be no Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard drivers for that hardware.

But now after using Lion for 3 months, I'm very happy with it.
Click to expand...
I only gave Mac OS X 10.7 Lion a week and it was an abysmal one. I could get used to the absence of Spaces, but since many don't use that feature as much as I do, Mac OS X 10.7 Lion is of course quite a good OS.

Imagine going from Spaces in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, looking like this
2012_02_05_pA2_Spaces.png
to Mission Control in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, looking like this
2012_02_05_pA1_MC_in_Lion.png
Of course, not everyone uses that many Spaces, but Mission Control seriously hampers the usefulness of more than four virtual desktops.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
If you have another Mac, it is quite easy.
If you have a friend or acquaintance with another Mac and knowledgable in those things, you could try the methods laid out just with an external USB HDD to which you do the procedure to and then test it with your Mac and after you see, that it works, you could clone it to the internal HDD to an extra partition maybe, thus you could dual boot between Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Click to expand...

Hi again simsaladimbamba
I'm still a little confused here :eek:

I don't have another Mac and i don't think any of my friends have one, but could i buy one of these discs http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261026975143?_trksid=p5197.c0.m619#ht_500wt_1413 and dual boot it with lion ?

or am i not understanding what you're saying :confused:
 
billybuxton said:
I don't know much about computers so everything is confusing lol

I might research a bit before i do anything, but your help is much appreciated.

Thank You
Click to expand...

Then try those DVDs from eBay first, if they are not to expensive.
If they do not work, report back and you can get more specific help, hopefully tailored to your computational understanding, which is often a bit hard for me, as I am not that good at simplifying things.
But then again, I don't understand combustion engines in detail.
 
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