Install older OSX from disc to external drive under Mojave?

[dawindmg08]

Long story short: I need to reinstall FCP 7 so I can help a client while they transition to Premiere Pro (and need to refresh my memory of that software), but I've upgraded almost every Mac at my disposal to Mojave!

I was planning on installing one of the older versions of OSX I have on disc to an external drive that I've partitioned, then boot from that and use FCP7 that way; I have Leopard and Snow Leopard (upgrade) on DVD. Unfortunately I've run into these issues:

1. The Leopard installer demands a restart, and no matter if I set the startup disk to the Leopard DVD my MacBook Pro (2014) will default to Mojave on restart.
2. None of the other OSX versions will show up in my previous purchases in the Mojave app store.
3. The version of El Capitan on the App Store will not download; it tries to connect to the Software Update panel in System Prefs instead. Seems like it's only going to work with Macs that don't already have Mojave installed.

I'd like to find a way – perhaps using Terminal – to manually run the Leopard installer without restarting so I can get it onto the disk. HOWEVER, I'm now worried that Mojave won't even let me boot into that external OSX drive so maybe this whole exercise is moot.

**EDIT** I realized that my Mac probably came with El Cap or later so Leopard will not work. Can I use Recovery Disk mode to install the original software on an external drive?

D

 

[chrfr]

Long story short: I need to reinstall FCP 7 so I can help a client while they transition to Premiere Pro (and need to refresh my memory of that software), but I've upgraded almost every Mac at my disposal to Mojave!

I was planning on installing one of the older versions of OSX I have on disc to an external drive that I've partitioned, then boot from that and use FCP7 that way; I have Leopard and Snow Leopard (upgrade) on DVD. Unfortunately I've run into these issues:

1. The Leopard installer demands a restart, and no matter if I set the startup disk to the Leopard DVD my MacBook Pro (2014) will default to Mojave on restart.
2. None of the other OSX versions will show up in my previous purchases in the Mojave app store.
3. The version of El Capitan on the App Store will not download; it tries to connect to the Software Update panel in System Prefs instead. Seems like it's only going to work with Macs that don't already have Mojave installed.

I'd like to find a way – perhaps using Terminal – to manually run the Leopard installer without restarting so I can get it onto the disk. HOWEVER, I'm now worried that Mojave won't even let me boot into that external OSX drive so maybe this whole exercise is moot.

Am I essentially screwed here?

D

You can’t run Leopard on a 2014 MacBook Pro.

 

[dawindmg08]

You can’t run Leopard on a 2014 MacBook Pro.

LOL, just came here to edit my post. I realized it must have come with El Cap or possibly Yosemite. If I boot into Recovery Disk do you think it will let me install the original OS onto an external disc? I've never checked for that option before, just the main boot disc.

 

[chrfr]

LOL, just came here to edit my post. I realized it must have come with El Cap or possibly Yosemite. If I boot into Recovery Disk do you think it will let me install the original OS onto an external disc? I've never checked for that option before, just the main boot disc.

Yes, you can use internet recovery to install the computer’s original operating system. Start up the computer holding command-option-shift-r. Be sure that you don’t accidentally erase the internal disk when you start the installation; you’ll need to change the install destination to your external disk.

 

[dawindmg08]

Internet Recovery worked, I now have Mavericks on an external drive. Thanks for the advice!

 

[LeChat]

Hi folks, I actually have the same need that @dawindmg08 had in the first place, except that I want to do this on a MacPro 3,1 (from 2008). (which I am trying to revive, maybe try to fudge some things to update it to a newer OS in the future, upgrade the GPU which the fan is tired, etc. It has 18Gb ram, and turns on but has no HD installed so I cannot know the processor it has, not that it would matter here I am guessing...)

• I have a Mac OSX Snow Leopard install disc (DVD), and an external hard drive (actually an SSD).

• On my MacBook Pro 13-inch retina 2012 under Mojave (FYI which runs awesomely smoothly!), I formatted the external SSD (that I put in a USB interfaced enclosure) in MacOS Extended Journalized and named it MacPro_SSD.

Is it the right thing to do? It seems that I cannot format it in APFS... Should I? If so, what is the Terminal command line for this?

What shall I do next?

Thank you for your help and advice!