Moving 10.6.8 system disk around?

[cube]

Is it possible to just move a 10.6.8 system disk from a 2008 unibody to an early 2011 MBP (they are SL compatible).

I know with Leopard it worked from a Cube to the unibody.

I need this because those refurbs don't come with SL restore disks, just Lion, and the SL retail disks won't work.

 

[Dave Braine]

No. The disks are machine specific. Also you can't install SL on a computer that came with Lion.

 

[\-V-/]

Also you can't install SL on a computer that came with Lion.

You can if the hardware is supported.

 

[Bear]

Is it possible to just move a 10.6.8 system disk from a 2008 unibody to an early 2011 MBP (they are SL compatible).
...

In short for the combination of systems you list, it should work. Worst case is you need to reinstall Lion.

My suggestion would be to put the 2011 MBP in target disk mode and clone the installation from the old system.

 

[Dave Braine]

You can if the hardware is supported.

True, but as I understand it, a Mac that is built for 10.7 won't run the various drivers and such that come with, say, 10.6.

 

[Bear]

True, but as I understand it, a Mac that is built for 10.7 won't run the various drivers and such that come with, say, 10.6.

In this case, the early 2011 MBP originally shipped with Snow Leopard. Apple updated what OS version it shipped with it to Lion without changing any of the hardware in the system.

There are a few other 2011 systems this is true for.

 

[\-V-/]

True, but as I understand it, a Mac that is built for 10.7 won't run the various drivers and such that come with, say, 10.6.

10.6 still runs on new Macs... drivers and all.