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

Snow Leopard Install Disc Compatibility

P

phubarr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 22, 2013
6
0
Hello. First post.

So I'm trying to reformat my girlfriend's Macbook Pro (2010 - 7,1) but she doesn't have the install disc. I have the install disc for mine (2011 - 8,1) but I've read that Macbooks (maybe) have an issue reading install discs from different iterations, even if we are both on Snow Leopard. I'm planning on reformatting it this weekend before she leaves for school, so I want to make sure it will work.

So will I be able to use the install disc that came with 8,1 on her 7,1? And if I can't, what are my options? I prefer information from experience rather than speculation, please. Thanks!
 
Her machine will read the disc and even boot from it. But you won't be able to install Snow Leopard from it because the installer checks will fail for her model.
 
You can't mix and match any of the grey install discs that come with Macs. Your only option would be to buy a retail snow leopard disc, with the picture of the snow leopard on the front. I believe you can call Apple and order one, or get one off of ebay.
 
That machine is too new for a Snow Leopard retail disc. She needs the Macbook 7,1 discs if she wants Snow Leopard back on it.
 
So there's pretty much no way to reinstall the OS unless I go through Apple which will probably take longer than before weekend? Well that's a bummer. How does Apple expect their customers to do a clean reformat of their MacBooks if the disc is lost? Her Mac is pretty slow and clunky so I wanted to give it a fresh cleanup.
 
phubarr said:
So there's pretty much no way to reinstall the OS unless I go through Apple which will probably take longer than before weekend? Well that's a bummer. How does Apple expect their customers to do a clean reformat of their MacBooks if the disc is lost? Her Mac is pretty slow and clunky so I wanted to give it a fresh cleanup.
Click to expand...
For systems that came with restoration discs, you can order a replacement set from Apple. Machines more than 5 years old may not have this option.

I actually made duplicates of my System Restoration discs in case something happened to one of them.
 
phubarr said:
So there's pretty much no way to reinstall the OS unless I go through Apple which will probably take longer than before weekend? Well that's a bummer. How does Apple expect their customers to do a clean reformat of their MacBooks if the disc is lost? Her Mac is pretty slow and clunky so I wanted to give it a fresh cleanup.
Click to expand...

Here is a method that will get her up and running, but is not free. On your machine login to the App Store with her AppleID and buy Mountain Lion for $20. Download it and DO NOT install it on your machine. Now use this free app and a 8GB USB key to make a Mountain Lion USB key installer.

Then option key boot her machine to the USB key. From the installer screen use Disk Util to erase the drive then click install and wait for it to finish.

This will give her a fresh machine with Mountain Lion.

Otherwise, you will need to obtain the grey OEM or the white retail Snow Leopard disk.

I am assuming here you have her data backed up somewhere?
 
Weaselboy said:
Here is a method that will get her up and running, but is not free. On your machine login to the App Store with her AppleID and buy Mountain Lion for $20. Download it and DO NOT install it on your machine. Now use this free app and a 8GB USB key to make a Mountain Lion USB key installer.

Then option key boot her machine to the USB key. From the installer screen use Disk Util to erase the drive then click install and wait for it to finish.

This will give her a fresh machine with Mountain Lion.

Otherwise, you will need to obtain the grey OEM or the white retail Snow Leopard disk.

I am assuming here you have her data backed up somewhere?
Click to expand...

Yeah, the data is backed up. Thanks for the suggestion. I think what I'll do is do a cleanup of her mac removing junk and when Mavericks comes out, do what you suggested with a USB drive. Mavericks should be upgradable from Snow Leopard, right?
 
phubarr said:
Yeah, the data is backed up. Thanks for the suggestion. I think what I'll do is do a cleanup of her mac removing junk and when Mavericks comes out, do what you suggested with a USB drive. Mavericks should be upgradable from Snow Leopard, right?
Click to expand...

The current dev. previews can do this, so I assume that will hold true for the final release.
 
Weaselboy said:
The current dev. previews can do this, so I assume that will hold true for the final release.
Click to expand...

And I'm guessing I would need to wait until someone develops an application to build a bootable drive for Mavericks? Maybe the Lion DiskMaker author will make it compatible.
 
phubarr said:
And I'm guessing I would need to wait until someone develops an application to build a bootable drive for Mavericks? Maybe the Lion DiskMaker author will make it compatible.
Click to expand...

Not as easy as the DiskMaker app, but another forum member here figured out how to make a USB boot disk with Mavericks.
 
Weaselboy said:
Not as easy as the DiskMaker app, but another forum member here figured out how to make a USB boot disk with Mavericks.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot.

One last question: can the Lion/Mountain Lion/soon-Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store be used on a completely new drive, or does it need a Snow Leopard OS to build on top of it? I'm asking this in case in the future I want to put Mavericks on a new SSD, if I would need to use the original Snow Leopard install disc to put it on the drive before installing Mavericks.
 
phubarr said:
Thanks a lot.

One last question: can the Lion/Mountain Lion/soon-Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store be used on a completely new drive, or does it need a Snow Leopard OS to build on top of it? I'm asking this in case in the future I want to put Mavericks on a new SSD, if I would need to use the original Snow Leopard install disc to put it on the drive before installing Mavericks.
Click to expand...
Yes it will work on a new drive. You don't need to have Snow Leopard or any other OS version installed first.
 
"So there's pretty much no way to reinstall the OS unless I go through Apple which will probably take longer than before weekend?"

Jeeshh....

Do you have the install DVD from YOUR MacBook (which is newer than HERS, right?)?

Have you tried booting HER MacBook with YOUR DVD?

Does it boot? Does it present the installer app?

If it does, just use that.

Don't make things too difficult, eh?
 
Fishrrman said:
Does it boot? Does it present the installer app?

If it does, just use that.

Don't make things too difficult, eh?
Click to expand...

It will boot from his installation disc. Installer won't install. It'll give an error of "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this machine." Why? Because her machine is a Macbook7,1, not the Macbook8,1 which is needed to pass Installer's preinstall checks. That makes is pretty difficult.
 
Bruno09 said:
I think this is wrong : the Macbook Pro (Mid 2010-7,1) came with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (according to MacTracker).

Therefore, the retail disc currently sold by Apple will work : it is a 10.6.3 version.
Click to expand...

It *may* work. On the other hand, the 7,1 may have come with a "10.6.3a" with updated drivers.
 
Bruno09 said:
I think this is wrong : the Macbook Pro (Mid 2010-7,1) came with Snow Leopard 10.6.3 (according to MacTracker).

Therefore, the retail disc currently sold by Apple will work : it is a 10.6.3 version.
Click to expand...

It came with a special build of 10.6.3 that has kexts that are not present on the retail disc. The retail disc Installer won't ever allow installation because the model ID of Macbook7,1 isn't in it's compatible systems list.
 
Bruno09 said:
Ok I understand now.

Would you have a link for the "compatible systems list", I am interested in.

Thank you !
Click to expand...

It isn't a link or a site. It's a list that is part of the installer package on the Snow Leopard disc. You have to extract it to view it.
 
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