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Need Advice Before Moving Forward!

O

Omega Centurion

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 1, 2012
5
0
Hey guys, first time poster but this site has proved invaluable to me in the past.

I'll first explain my situation:

I hate using Lion, so much so that I exhausted the web trying to figure out how to revert back to SL. I did not originally back up my MBP (Early 2011) when I first got it, and about a week later I updated to Lion, so reverting via Time Machine was not an option. I managed to create a new partition with SL using FireWire and an older Mac of mine. Currently I have 2 partitions on my computer and I am happily running SL, but I wanted to make use of Bootcamp on this partition. It may be clear to you now that I'm running into a lot of problems.

Bootcamp won't work with 2 partitions already installed. I am unable to delete the Lion partition because the computer says I need a newer version of Mac OSX (meaning Lion). I found a site that suggested I delete the Lion Partition and merge it with the recovery partition while running SL by using Terminal commands, then delete this merged partition but I'm scared of ruining my computer (I'm not very well informed). As of now, I'm unable to delete any partition and I'm unable to change the size of my new SL partition. Ideally I want one partition containing my entire HDD, like when I first received the computer. Just to be clear, this is one of the Macbook Pros delivered with SL installed and a free upgrade to Lion (I got it about a week before Lion was launched).

If anyone could give me advice I would very much appreciate it. Thanks
 
Since your Mace came with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, which is also included on the original grey Restore DVDs, why not make a Clean Install of 10.6? If you have backed up your data already, you can use Setup Assistant or Migrate Assistant to transfer your data back.
Or if you have a space external HDD, you could use CarbonCopyCloner to clone Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard from your internal HDD to that external HDD, format and partition your internal HDD while booted from the external HDD, and then clone everything back and then run Boot Camp Assistant.

To create a Clean Install (formerly known as Erase & Install) of Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard (the 29 USD Upgrade DVD is a fully working retail version of Mac OS X and does not need a prior installation of Mac OS X on the Mac), follow one of the following guides:
Migration Assistant / Setup Assistant information:

____________________________________________________________

Links to guides on how to use Disk Utility, the application Mac OS X provides for managing internal and external HDD/SSDs and its formats.
____________________________________________________________​

To format the internal HDD correctly:
 
Fantastic. Thank you for the reply I'll go through that right away. The problem is that the laptop did not come with install discs. This was why I had to use an old SL install disc and old mac, and basically run the laptop through the old mac to get the proper updates before booting the MBP. Will this be a problem? I do have an external HDD, I've been using Time Machine ever since I realized my original mistake!
 
Omega Centurion said:
Fantastic. Thank you for the reply I'll go through that right away. The problem is that the laptop did not come with install discs. This was why I had to use an old SL install disc and old mac, and basically run the laptop the old mac to get the proper updates before booting the MBP. Will this be a problem? I do have an external HDD, I've been using Time Machine ever since I realized my original mistake!
Click to expand...

You can get replacement DVDs from Apple for 15 to 30 USD, maybe more depending on your location, but if they did not come with your Mac, they might provide them for free, if you bought the Mac via Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller.

But you can use the older DVD via your older Mac the same way, just make sure you format it correctly, my last link explains how, though I don't know about firmware issues with the Lion recovery Partition, as I don't run Lion as main OS, only as a VM for testing purposes.

If the TM HDD has enough free space, you could use that, to clone to, as it is already properly formatted. Just make sure, to set CCC not to delete something on the target HDD that is not on the source.
 
simsaladimbamba said:
You can get replacement DVDs from Apple for 15 to 30 USD, maybe more depending on your location, but if they did not come with your Mac, they might provide them for free, if you bought the Mac via Apple or an Apple Authorised Reseller.

But you can use the older DVD via your older Mac the same way, just make sure you format it correctly, my last link explains how, though I don't know about firmware issues with the Lion recovery Partition, as I don't run Lion as main OS, only as a VM for testing purposes.

If the TM HDD has enough free space, you could use that, to clone to, as it is already properly formatted. Just make sure, to set CCC not to delete something on the target HDD that is not on the source.
Click to expand...

Okay, just to clarify you suggest that I first clone the SL partition to an external HDD, wipe the internal HDD and put the clone back onto the internal HDD?
 
simsaladimbamba said:
Yep, if you don't want to go via the installation route.
Click to expand...

Okay, one more thing, sorry.

I think the installation route seems easier, but I want to be clear about it first. I know that if I pop the SL install disc and try to run the clean install, it won't work because the laptop requires the newest software update. So, my question is will this work:

Pop the disc, reboot and erase the drive/ partitions as it explains in the clean install, then hook up the laptop to my old mac via firewire, run the install through the old mac and update that way, will this essentially give me a lion free system?

ALso, if this all goes horribly wrong, will I have some way of restoring my computer after wiping the partitions via time machine or something?
 
Omega Centurion said:
Okay, one more thing, sorry.

I think the installation route seems easier, but I want to be clear about it first. I know that if I pop the SL install disc and try to run the clean install, it won't work because the laptop requires the newest software update. So, my question is will this work:

Pop the disc, reboot and erase the drive/ partitions as it explains in the clean install, then hook up the laptop to my old mac via firewire, run the install through the old mac and update that way, will this essentially give me a lion free system?
Click to expand...
Yes, that will work.

ALso, if this all goes horribly wrong, will I have some way of restoring my computer after wiping the partitions via time machine or something?
Click to expand...
You have a Time Machine backup, you can restore from that, except the partitions.
 
Okay so I just finished successfully getting rid of Lion. I don't know how many people this will help, but I'll explain what I did so hopefully if anyone else is wondering they will gain something from it:

Basically using Firewire you can run your Mac like an external HDD (albeit quite expensive) by holding the T key at startup. I booted an old mac, hooked up the firewire to my newer mac and inserted the install disc and restarted, then held the option key when it booted up and ran the install disc.

This took a while, and when I say a while I mean I thought the computer froze. Anyways, from the install disc you are able to run disc utility on the firewire connected mac. From here I was able to erase everything on the HDD, any partition even the hidden recovery partition, which scared the hell out of me.

But thats what I did. Unfortunately was unable to straight up reinstall SL onto the empty computer, but thankfully running a time machine backup of my previously installed SL partition worked. no recovery disc, no lion partition, nothing.

So I'm now able to run Bootcamp. I was hoping that I could use an older version of bootcamp, but apparently I need windows 7 which means I'll have to find a copy somewhere, but thats irrelevant. Bottom line, it is very possible to downgrade to Lion completely without even having the right install discs. Hope this helped.

Thanks for the help
 
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