Getting SL onto an 2010 MB Pro

[Speed38]

I am going to try to keep this as simple as possible.

• I collect old Macs from seniors in an aging-in-place community, erase their drives, reinstall a macOS, and pass them on to a charity.

• On very old Macs, specifically a 2010 MB Pro with an optical drive, I have learned that I need to boot from the Install DVD, erase the HD, and then install the macOS. It can't be done by booting in Recovery Mode and erasing and reinstalling a macOS.

• A senior myself, I forgot the above, restarted yet another donated 2010 MB Pro in Recovery Mode, erased the HD, then tried and failed to reinstall the macOS.

• The 2010 MB Pro originally came with Snow Leopard and I have a Snow Leopard install disk.

• I booted with the SL install disk holding down the C key. Got the spinning gear wheel and Apple logo but after a minute or so it went straight to kernel panic (screen in 5 different languages.).

• The computer will boot in Target Disk Mode plus, fortunately, I have another 2010 MB Pro ready for donation and both these computers have an ethernet port.

• Would it be possible to link them together using Target Disk Mode and get a macOS onto the one giving me problems or can anyone suggest any other methods for getting a macOS onto this computer?

 

[ojfd]

Target Disk Mode only works over Firewire. For MPB 2010 you will need 10.6.3 retail disc. Plain 10.6 won't work - that's for MBP 2009.
Take a trip to https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-osx-snow-leopard
Download the appropriate image and either burn it to DVD or make a bootable USB stick using Disk Utility. At startup hold down option key, boot from USB, install. After that apply 10.6.8 update over internet. That should be it.

If you have Firewire cable at hand, then you can use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone contents of your working MBP to the other one in target disk mode.
For SL, use this direct link to download v3. It should work in trial mode for 30 days.

https://bombich.com/software/download_ccc.php?v=ccc3

 

[chrfr]

Target Disk Mode only works over Firewire. For MPB 2010 you will need 10.6.3 retail disc. Plain 10.6 won't work.
Take a trip to https://macintoshgarden.org/apps/apple-osx-snow-leopard
Download the appropriate image and either burn it to DVD or make a bootable USB stick using Disk Utility. At startup hold down option key, boot from USB, install. After that apply 10.6.8 update over internet. That should be it.

The 10.6.3 retail disc also won't work on the 2010 MBP- they all shipped with a later build of 10.6.3 than came on that disc, unfortunately.

 

[Speed38]

Thanks so much for the feedback.

I connected them via FW cable with problematic mbp booted in TDM and the Snow Leopard Install DVD in its optical drive.

Went to DU on mbp1, chose Restore, chose mac OS X Install DVD as the Restore from choice and got:

Validating target…
Validating source…
Validating sizes…
Restoring

About 40' or so I got a [Restore process is complete, click Done to continue].

I ejected the problematic MBP icon from the desktop of the good MBP, disconnected the FW cables, shut down and restarted the problematic MBP, got the apple logo, the gearwheel, and once again the kernel panic screen.
BTW, when started in TDM, I ran First Aid on the problematic MBP and it passed.
I just downloaded SuperDuper. I'll try cloning next...unless someone says this is a bad idea.

As to the Install DVD: it is the "official" Apple Install DVD with the Apple and Snow Leopard logo...the exact same one as appears when I click on the link ojfd provided.

 

[Speed38]

Just in case, went to the site ojfd provided and am downloading the 2nd Download: Full DVD install for Snow Leopard 10.6.3. Will burn it to a DVD, pop it into the optical drive of the "bad" MBP and see if that works...if a Super Duper does not.

 

[ojfd]

Why don't you just use Carbon Copy Cloner or Super Duper on your working MBP2010 and clone its internal drive contents over to the "bad" MBP? It will be much faster.

Also, I would check the internal drive of the "bad" MBP with DriveDx for any potential faults. Bad sectors sometimes might produce errors during installation.

DriveDx - the most advanced drive health diagnostics and monitoring utility

DriveDx - the most advanced drive health (S.M.A.R.T.) diagnostics and monitoring utility. Save yourself the data loss and downtime that is associated with unexpected SSD and HDD failures. Don't worry about losing your important data, music, and photographs.

binaryfruit.com

 

[Speed38]

I am trying SuperDuper right now, cloning the HD from another 2010 MB Pro which was also donated to an external SSD. My plan is to connect the external SSD to the problematic MB Pro and boot holding down the Option key. What do you think; is that the correct way to do that? Once I can get a macOS onto the 2010, I'll run DriveDX.

 

[Speed38]

Cloned the good MBP to an external HDD then connected that external HDD to the bad MBP and booted holding down the Option key and that external HDD failed to appear as one of the choices from which to boot.

As I write this, I connected the two via FW, booted the bad MBP in TDM, and am cloning the good MBP HDD to the bad MBP. We shall see.

 

[Speed38]

Well, the good advice provided by you all and some perseverance on my part paid off.
Cloning the HDD from the good MBP to the bad MBP worked. I disconnected the FW cable after SD had run, shut down the bad MBP, booted it by simply turning it on, and after a bit of a long wait...it worked.
I d/l'ed and ran DriveDX and got:
Advanced S.M.A.R.T. Status: OK & 0 issued found
Overall Health Rating: Good; 100%
Overall Performance Rating: Good; 100%

Of the 22 Health Indicators, all were at or above 100% save these:
Start Stop Count = 82%
Power on Hours = 86%
Power Cycle Count = 86%
Power-Off retract Count = 98%
Load Cycle Count = 44%
Temperature = 78%

Under Pre-Fail tab = all at 100%

Thank you one and all for hanging in there while I sorted this one out.

 

[ojfd]

Glad it worked out for you! 👍

 

[Speed38]

Glad it worked out for you! 👍

Not home free yet. 😩

The HD that I cloned to the "bad" MBP has my data on it. Before I donate it, I have to erase the HD and re-install a macOS onto it. I believe my best bet for doing that is to do as you recommended: "Download the appropriate image and either burn it to DVD". I went to that Macintosh Garden site to which you gave me the URL and downloaded #2 [Snow Leopard 10.6.3.dmg].

It has been a very long time since I have burned a DVD and I am uncertain what exactly to do. On the Mac to which I d/l'ed that SL 10.6.3, I double-clicked on the .dmg and got a [madOS X install DVD]. I presume it is that [macOS X install DVD] that I burn to the DVD. Is that right?

And having done that, do I insert that DVD into the optical drive, boot the MBP from it, erase the HD, and then install a clean copy of Snow Leopard?

 

[ojfd]

Let me start with my personal opinion.

Being a big fan and avid user of SL , I must say that running a SL these days requires a lot of passion and courage. If you donate your MBPs to charity, these MBPs will be almost useless to next owner, who probably will be an average user, especially considering that Safari that comes with SL doesn't really work. Even if you install InterWeb, SpiderWeb or any other adopted to SL Mozilla project, YouTube, Twitter and a lot of other will be slow and problematic.
Instead of waisting your time hunting down model specific disc images, burning DVDs, installing browsers, configuring stuff etc., I would suggest a legal download of something more modern:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Sierra, for example, doesn't require trip to App Store, so I personally would go with it.
In that way, the next owner will be able to get online in no time.

Also, instead of direct install, I would use USB thumb drive and dosdude's excellent tool:

http://dosdude1.com/apps/Mac%20OS%20X%20USB%20Drive%20Creator.zip

to create bootable USB installer that's always at hand. I think, separate partition on external HD should work too.

If you insist on installing SL on those MBPs, wait for my next post.

P.S. For High Sierra download without App Store and bootable drive creation you can use http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/ Just don't apply Post Install for MBP 2010 !

 

[Speed38]

I am learning so much from this thread...it's just wonderful. (I am, btw, 83 yoa but reasonably technically competent with Mac computers, iPads, iPhones, etc., which I have owned since purchasing my first Mac in 1995.)

I guess the limits of my competence were tested (and I failed) when on one of these old, donated computers I tried to use dosdude and totally bungled it. As I recall, I was using dosdude to enable a computer to run an unsupported macOS.

So some thoughts:
• Since I will be getting more of these old computers, should I try to master dosdude so I can use it in the future to enable those computers to run more recent macOS?
• If I can master dosdude and enable these old Macs to run macOS for which they were not designed, is this going to create problems down the road for the recipients of these computers when they try to update their OS?
• Finally, and I have only passing familiarity with this, what do you think about simply turning these older computers - if possible - into Chromebooks?

Many thanks for hanging in there with me on this. Your input is greatly appreciated and valued, I can assure you.

 

[ojfd]

I'm exclusively on a Mac from 1997

... I tried to use dosdude and totally bungled it. As I recall, I was using dosdude to enable a computer to run an unsupported macOS.

IMO, that's a risky path. I might use it on my own computer, if I absolutely have to, but never on a machine that I'm giving away. In fact, one of the used MBP2011s, that I bought, had Catalina installed that way and I totally freaked out when I saw black/yellow startup log prior to regular startup screen for the first time. Also, I would never purchase a Mac that has modified (for APFS) bootrom. Never!

• Since I will be getting more of these old computers, should I try to master dosdude so I can use it in the future to enable those computers to run more recent macOS?

There's not much to master. Those are simple utilities for creating bootable installers, unless you use 'Post Install' option on High Sierra and later patchers.

• If I can master dosdude and enable these old Macs to run macOS for which they were not designed, is this going to create problems down the road for the recipients of these computers when they try to update their OS?

Most probably.
If you know the person that's getting computer from you and are prepared to baby it (computer, that is) on a regular basis, you might try it. Otherwise, I'd recommend to stay away from such experiments.
I'd go as follows:
1. Check what's the maximum OS that some specific MB/MBP model can run:

Apple MacBook Pro Specs (All MacBook Pro Tech Specs): EveryMac.com

Tech specs for all Apple MacBook Pro models from the original to the current. Dates sold, processor type, memory info, storage details, prices and more.

everymac.com

It's listed at the bottom part of the page of each particular model.
2. Based on that information decide what MB/MBP models you are prepared to deal with. (One can't save every Mac on this planet, a line has to be drawn somewhere...)
3. Install latest possible OS on that computer.
4. Done. Give it away. The next owner will be greeted with first time startup registration screen. The rest is up to him/her.

• Finally, and I have only passing familiarity with this, what do you think about simply turning these older computers - if possible - into Chromebooks?

This question should go to long haired, bearded guys in raindeer sweatshirts. I'm a Mac user.

-----------------------------

PS. On any Mac that originally came with 10.7.x or later pre-installed (check everymac link above), the OS can be installed in one of the following ways. No need to fiddle with USB sticks/external drives.

Restart your Mac.
Immediately press and hold one of the following key combinations:
1. Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac.
2. Option-Shift-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall the version of macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version that’s still available.

PPS. It is always a good idea to completely erase internal drive prior to doing clean install. Best way to do it is to connect particular Mac over Firewire to a Mac with older OS installed - the one that doesn't know anything about recovery partition. Simple erase will do. If you want, format it for FAT first, then back to HFS+.
I remember running into problems when some OS installer didn't liked the remains of recovery partition of previous install.

 

[ojfd]

Getting back to Snow Leopard install.

There are many ways to skin.. do it. I think, this one should work in your case.

1. Boot MBP in target mode and connect it to your Mac (MBP?) using Firewire cable.

2. Check if internal drive of target MBP is recognized by Drive Utility. If so, erase/initialize it.

3. Download Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update v.1.1 https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1400?locale=en_US

4. Mount the image and copy the .pkg file to the Desktop or any other place. For some strange reason, installing this update directly from dmg image never worked for me.

5. Mount the 10.6.3 installer image and install OS onto target MBPs drive. Do not disconnect/reboot target MBP.

6. Double click on updater .pkg (on the Desktop) and install 10.6.8 update onto target MBP.

7. That should be it. You can leave the MBP in this state. Next owner will be greeted with SL "Welcome" tune at start-up.

8. If you wish to apply all other SL updates, prior to giving MBP away, you can take the direct Apple download links, listed under Round 1 and Round 2, from here:

Install Snow Leopard on a 2011 Mac Mini

Apply them directly after 10.6.8 update in the same way as update - i.e. without rebooting target MBP. Work preferably with .pkg files, not .dmg's.

 

[Speed38]

Good morning. Just got up and saw your detailed response which requires careful reading on my part before responding.

I have one of those rare (for a retiree) busy days in front of me: a men's coffee (which I arrange each week for a group of seniors); then lunch and some grocery shopping with two of those seniors; then have to fulfill a promise I made to the aging-in-place community where I volunteer to sharpen knives (one of my hobbies). Thanksgiving is upon us and one panicked lady has asked can I possibly do her knives today...to which I responded that I would. So, I did not want you to think that I had not read your comments.

Very briefly - I have used doseduse1 to install Catalina on another donated 2010 MBP which I own just to try it out and while it is slow, it does work. I will however follow your guidance/advice not to do that with any donated Mac computers which pass through my hands. I will update them to the most recent macOS they can handle (I find MacTracker a good source of such info) and pass them along.

Get back to you later...and thank you once more for all the info in your reply.

 

[ojfd]

Good morning! Take you time, there's no hurry

 

[Speed38]

OK - I finally got all the gear destined for the charity cleaned up and ready for pickup today.

So, starting with your response on Sunday at 11:24

I have two 2010 MB Pros; one I got last week for onward passage to the charity and another I got some time ago from someone who was going to toss it. I kept it because it has a FW port, an ethernet port, and an optical drive, all three of which have proved useful when dealing with old donated gear.

So, since I was messing with my own gear (the old 2010 MBP), by the time I got your Sunday response I had already gone ahead and updated my 2010 MBP to Catalina. It is running a bit slow, but it is definitely still useable. This is how I sometimes learn…by taking risks which, if they totally fail, do not have serious consequences. But, I do plan on following your advice and not doing that on not using dosdude1 on any computers I forward to the charity. I will install on them the latest macOS they can handle and leave it at that.

Love it when you say about dosdude- There's not much to master. Those are simple utilities for creating bootable installers, unless you use 'Post Install' option on High Sierra and later patchers. Hah, I made a hash out of it on the first try but when I found a great video and worked along with it, step by step, it worked perfectly.

Some quick answers:
• Don’t know who the recipients of the gear will be and am absolutely not prepared to baby the gear. Way too busy for that.
• You recommended Everymac.com; I had forgotten about them and have been using the wonderful MacTracker.app. I have bookmarked Everymac.com.
• As you suggested: the computers on which I have worked are set to open to a registration screen when they leave my hands.
• I was going to experiment with ChromeOS Flex, but it would not run on a 2010 MB Pro.

You stated that “On any Mac that originally came with 10.7.x or later pre-installed (check everymac link above), the OS can be installed in one of the following ways. No need to fiddle with USB sticks/external drives.”

I have had one experience where this did not work but this was perhaps because when I rebooted into Recovery Mode, I first erased the HDD, then attempted to reinstall a macOS and it absolutely would not work. I kept notes and here is what I found:
My notes (from a post I made)

********
A kind senior gave me a very old laptop (a 13” 2009 MBP, which came with 10.5 Leopard installed) which looks to be in great condition, for donation to a non-profit helping refugees resettle into the WDC metro area.

While MacTracker says the maximum OS that this MB Pro will work with is OS 10.11.6, El Capitan, after booting in Recovery Mode and wiping all the data from the HD, I ran [Restore the macOS] and it downloaded Yosemite, so I guess MacTracker was wrong.

And that’s where I hit a brick wall.

Considerable research - trust me here- led to the discovery that on MB Pros of this generation you cannot reinstall the macOS following a Recovery Mode boot. You must be able to log into the App Store with the Apple ID associated with your purchase of the computer in question (the donee has gone through multiple Apple IDs since and could not remember the necessary one) or you must have the Leopard Install CDs which came with the machine, which of course are long gone.

If I click on [Install] when I get the Yosemite install page that leads to a drop-down log in asking for your Apple ID. In the multiple times I tried this, I somehow got by that request for an Apple ID (I forget how) and got what everyone who posted about this problem gets when they try to do what did: [This item not available. Try again later.]

I tried [Forgot Password] - it hung, in perpetuity on [Signing in to the App Store]

Here was the solution:
• Boot the 2009 from a Snow Leopard Install DVD.
• Once booted up, choose English as your language.
• Next go to Disk Utility (in the desktop menubar) and erase the HDD, completely - including the Recovery Partition.
•Restart from the SL Install DVD a second time and install SL.

It worked perfectly.
***************
And so the end of a very long thread with lots of lessons learned and lots of input cut and pasted to docs for future reference when dealing with old, donated Macs.

All of you who contributed: I cannot thank you enough.

All the best and if you are in the US, Happy Thanksgiving

 

[seanmccoye]

Love this thread because I acquired my 2009 pretty alu but low budget MPB from a senior who had OS upgraded a bridge too far. I wiped and down graded to SL with orig DVD's. Never used a mac before, but my work enviroment was unix sooo potato pootaatoe. When I wanted to run a kinda modern IDE instead using light weight text editors I upgraded to high sierra (dosdude1) AFTER MAXING out the ram (8gig).
Note: "spotlight" was terminated with extream prejudice due single-handedly try to destroy the poor old spindle drive.

 

[Aii]

PPS. It is always a good idea to completely erase internal drive prior to doing clean install. Best way to do it is to connect particular Mac over Firewire to a Mac with older OS installed - the one that doesn't know anything about recovery partition. Simple erase will do. If you want, format it for FAT first, then back to HFS+.
I remember running into problems when some OS installer didn't liked the remains of recovery partition of previous install.

What if someone doesn't have another (working) Mac?

 

[ojfd]

Depends on the OS that someone wants to install. And on the Mac model too.

 

[Aii]

Mac model = 21.5" iMac Mid-2011 i5-2400s 2.5 Ghz

MacOS = 10.6.7 minimum to 10.13 maximum (any OS version within that range)

 

[ojfd]

Which OS do you really want to install?

 

[Aii]

Great question.

I would like to know that too.

In fact, getting an answer to that very question is the principle reason why I joined the MacRumors forum.

I do not know enough about pros, cons, and caveats between that range of OS's to know what I "really" want.

That is the exact guidance I am looking for... to learn from the advice and experience of regular Mac users which legacy OS is best for the Mid-2011 iMac in my signature.

To help you help me make that determination, I do not need the iMac for browsing the internet or daily driven tasks.

I want the iMac to run the legacy perpetual license software (such as Adobe CS3, that I bought new in 2008 with books and discs) that was in my Mid 2008 MacBook Pro 15", that died from a failed GPU. I recall paying the $29 to Apple years ago to upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion, and then may have taken advantage of the free upgrade from Lion to Mountain Lion, so the latest MacOS that I have any meaningful experience with is 10.8.5.

The 2011 iMac that I was given had been upgraded to Yosemite 10.10.5, but I have only briefly logged into it as a guest, just to see if the machine worked. It does, and I used Disk Utility to "repair" the drive, which reports 0 faults.

What I REALLY REALLY want is reliability, in a machine that will be mostly used offline, to continue the photo projects that I had to abandon when my MBP died.

I've read a lot of threads where folks have said one MUST upgrade to at least 10.11, if not 10.13.

I've read a lot of other threads where folks talk about reverting BACK to 10.6.8.

What I really DON'T want is to have to constantly fiddle and fuss and tweak and find work arounds for quirks that don't work because I've selected an OS that is out of reach of the hardware I'm running it on.

So... which OS do I really want?

I am open to suggestion and advice.

 

[ojfd]

So... which OS do I really want?

I am open to suggestion and advice.

Then you better start a new thread. But be prepared to get a lot of different opinions.

My own 'workhorse' machine is 2011 MBP, running Snow Leopard. CS6 works like a charm there. And more that 50 other apps/utilities, PPC included.
Identical machine is used with Yosemite to browse and for a few apps that require 10.9+. But I hate the original fugly GUI (which I partly fixed) and broken Finder (which I can't fix). If some app requires 10.11+, I simply ignore it.