Upgrading from all Mac OSes

[MrAndy1369]

I know this is kind of a random question, but I had a thought - would it ever be possible to upgrade through all Mac OSes (from System 1 > 2 > etc. > 9 > X10.0 > ... > Snow Leopard/Lion?

I realize different OSes have different requirements, but that would be easy to workaround by swapping the hard drive around in different computers including the Mac OS/X, meeting the requirements for each OS.

If that is even possible at all, it would be VERY interesting to see what, if any old Mac OS elements make it up to SL/Lion.

The reason I ask is because it's possible to upgrade Windows from 1.0 all the way through 7 (I know, I've done it before), and while I realize Windows is a different platform with different hardware requirements, I do understand it may be technically permitted, given the right hardware and someone who knows how to make it work. However, I could be very wrong, so if I am, correct me with facts!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

If you have a Mac with Mac OS 7, 8, 9 or Mac OS X 10.0 to 10.3/4, you can't upgrade them to 10.6 or 10.7, as they can't be run on such old Macs using PPC chips. 10.6 and 10.7 REQUIRE CPUs from Intel.

But why not look at the system requirements of those OS versions and see for yourself?

 

[MrAndy1369]

That's why I suggested swapping the hard drive to another computer that would meet the system requirements needed...in that scenario, moving the hard drive from PPC (with MacOS7-X10.5) to Intel (X10.6/7)... would that work?

If you have a Mac with Mac OS 7, 8, 9 or Mac OS X 10.0 to 10.3/4, you can't upgrade them to 10.6 or 10.7, as they can't be run on such old Macs using PPC chips. 10.6 and 10.7 REQUIRE CPUs from Intel.

But why not look at the system requirements of those OS versions and see for yourself?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

That's why I suggested swapping the hard drive to another computer that would meet the system requirements needed...in that scenario, moving the hard drive from PPC (with MacOS7-X10.5) to Intel (X10.6/7)... would that work?

It might, but I don't know, if one could simply update from OS 9 to OS X 10.0 like one can with 10.4 to 10.5 or so, as OS X is using a completely different architecture than the Mac OS versions before that.

 

[MrAndy1369]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but upgrading from OS9 to OS10.0/1 was at least possible, IIRC. After the upgrade, OSX would preserve the OS9 system folder and run it under Classic, but an upgrade was still possible. I could have minunderstood, though.

It might, but I don't know, if one could simply update from OS 9 to OS X 10.0 like one can with 10.4 to 10.5 or so, as OS X is using a completely different architecture than the Mac OS versions before that.

 

[Mal]

That's why I suggested swapping the hard drive to another computer that would meet the system requirements needed...in that scenario, moving the hard drive from PPC (with MacOS7-X10.5) to Intel (X10.6/7)... would that work?

No. PowerPC Macs required the drives to be formatted with the Apple Partition Map scheme, but Intel Macs require the drives be formatted with the GUID Partition Map. You can't pull the drive out and move it, even if you reinstall the OS.

jW