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OSX Install Disks - Snow Leopard

AZhappyjack

AZhappyjack

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Jul 3, 2011
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Happy Jack, AZ
I found an old Mac mini (mid-2010 model) in my storage closet, and would like to restore it to Snow Leopard. However, there is no internet recovery option, and I cannot locate the install disks.

Anybody have a set that they're willing to part with, or have a recommendation on where to find them?
 
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You COULD do this with a Snow Leopard commercial installer. The problem is that your 2010 mini originally shipped with version 10.6.3 -- but was a special build. The commercial installer with the same 10.6.3 version won't boot or install on your mini. BUT, you can do this, with the commercial 10.6.3 installer, if you have another Mac that is slightly older than your 2010 mini. For example, a 2009 mini. Connect the two Macs with a FireWire cable. Boot your 2010 mini to Target Disk Mode. Then, with a Snow Leopard installer DVD in the older Mac, boot the older Mac to the Snow Leopard installer. Install Snow Leopard on the drive in the older Mac. Let the installer complete, set a user up, and then run Software Update, so it will then be updated to 10.6.8. That updated system will now boot the 2010 successfully in 10.6.8 (or it should)
The 10.6.7 version that startergo suggested might work, but would be a copy of the special build of Snow Leopard used on a different Mac, and may not work in every case on another Mac. Apple never sold a full installer later than version 10.6.3, so unknown if that 10.6.7 will work correctly on a Mac that is not part of that specific install set. So, might be worth a try. I wish you luck with that version.
 
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You can build a never booted 10.6.8 DMG ready for restore from any retail Snow Leopard Version using instaDMG.
The only caveat is that you need Snow Leopard to create the image. You can use QEMU or UTM to create a Snow Leopard macOS and create the image inside for deployment.
 
I have found several .iso and .dmg files from the links and info provided above. Thanks to all for that. However, all attempts at restoring/installing Snow Leopard have failed.

I've created a couple USB boot disks (flash drives), but not been able to restore successfully from any. And absolutely no clue what to do with the .dmg files, as the Mac mini is already running High Sierra and will not install an older version.

Can some one nudge me in the right direction here?
 
Try setting the mini's date back to 2010ish and see if that works. I had to do that an iMac when I wanted to regress back from High Sierra, iirc.
 
8a7a266b4e0792fb4ae1b15a08826caa.jpg
 

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  • Installer Log 28-May-2024-full.txt
    120.6 KB · Views: 51
AZhappyjack said:
Will run it again and try to capture the errors.
Click to expand...
Hopefully you will get a response from somebody who knows what is wrong. I can only guess. What I can see from the log is:

It doesn't get past checking your internal disk called "Mini2 HD" at 20:07:45 to 58.
The "2024-05-28 20:07:45.858 Mac OS X Installer[150:6413] staging failure request 'crash on OSVolumeFsckQueueElement at 0." is first sign something is not right.

So maybe something wrong with your Mini2 HD disk. Did you erase and format the disk after booting from the USB immediately before starting the install?
 
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gilby101 said:
Hopefully you will get a response from somebody who knows what is wrong. I can only guess. What I can see from the log is:

It doesn't get past checking your internal disk called "Mini2 HD" at 20:07:45 to 58.
The "2024-05-28 20:07:45.858 Mac OS X Installer[150:6413] staging failure request 'crash on OSVolumeFsckQueueElement at 0." is first sign something is not right.

So maybe something wrong with your Mini2 HD disk. Did you erase and format the disk after booting from the USB immediately before starting the install?
Click to expand...
I have not wiped the hard drive on the mini... that Mini2 HD disk is the only disk in the mini... not sure who/what/why it is... also noticed this when I created the USB boot disk... not sure if the circle-slash on the install icon is significant:
Screen Shot 2024-05-28 at 8.42.40 PM.png
 
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AZhappyjack said:
I have not wiped the hard drive on the mini... that Mini2 HD disk is the only disk in the mini... not sure who/what/why it is... also noticed this when I created the USB boot disk... not sure if the circle-slash on the install icon is significant:
Click to expand...
I am surmising that you are having trouble because the HFS+ format on the internal disk is more recent than Snow Leopard. I can't remember how much HFS+ changed between OS X versions. You should erase the whole disk and format it with the Snow Leopard boot USB. (Save anything important on another disk.)

The icon with the circle-slash is because you are viewing it on a more recent version of OS X (or macOS) which can't run that installer.
 
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Did you do as goodthymes suggested and reset the date – to a time shortly before Snow Leopard was released? Before you reset the date though, you must disconnect the wifi connection otherwise it will merely reset the date and you’ll be no further forward. Keep it disconnected while you try to boot up now. It’s a simple way to troubleshoot and may not be your answer but it certainly won’t be very troublesome to try it anyway. No wifi connection before you reset the date, remember.
 
OP:

Think long and hard: do you really REALLY need to install Snow Leopard?
Not "want to", but "need to".

Having said that...
Go back to reply 5 above
Download Snow Leopard 10.6.4 from the link provided.
It's an ISO file.
Learn how to burn an ISO file to DVD.
Burn a Snow Leopard install DVD.
then...
Boot from the install DVD.
Open disk utility
ERASE your ENTIRE internal drive.
Try installing SL now.

YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A BACKUP OF THE INTERNAL HDD.

If that doesn't work...
I'd try installing Snow Leopard onto an EXTERNAL drive (either HDD or SSD).
If that works,
Download an old version of CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper and try CLONING from the external to internal, to see if you can get a bootable drive that way.

IF NONE OF THIS WORKS,
Go back and read the first paragraph of this post.

What is the compelling reason why you NEED Snow Leopard?
(and yes, it was a very good version of the Mac OS)
 
Fishrrman said:
OP:

Think long and hard: do you really REALLY need to install Snow Leopard?
Not "want to", but "need to".

Having said that...
Go back to reply 5 above
Download Snow Leopard 10.6.4 from the link provided.
It's an ISO file.
Learn how to burn an ISO file to DVD.
Burn a Snow Leopard install DVD.
then...
Boot from the install DVD.
Open disk utility
ERASE your ENTIRE internal drive.
Try installing SL now.

YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A BACKUP OF THE INTERNAL HDD.

If that doesn't work...
I'd try installing Snow Leopard onto an EXTERNAL drive (either HDD or SSD).
If that works,
Download an old version of CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper and try CLONING from the external to internal, to see if you can get a bootable drive that way.

IF NONE OF THIS WORKS,
Go back and read the first paragraph of this post.

What is the compelling reason why you NEED Snow Leopard?
(and yes, it was a very good version of the Mac OS)
Click to expand...

No, I don’t have to. Like I said, I found it in storage. I just want to restore it to as close to original as possible. Just to see if I can do it.

I’ll pick up some dual layer DVDs and give it a go with a DVD instead of a USB boot disk.
 
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