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possible to use working 10.6.8 boot drive from my mini?

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Is there any reason I couldn't just take a working 10.6.8 boot drive from my 2009 mini and use that in a hack instead of all the extra of building it the pc? It seems all the info is for people who don't already have a mac. Since it is already working couldn't I just patch the few things needed for whichever board I get? Are there any existing instructions for this or has anyone done it?

I want to stay on 10.6.8 but later have a 10.7/8 drive also. Is it right that sandy bridge technology can host both of these or do I have to stay with the previous generation? Since 10.6.8 is end of life is there a final consensus on the best parts/best working machines?

thanks
 
Is there any reason I couldn't just take a working 10.6.8 boot drive from my 2009 mini and use that in a hack instead of all the extra of building it the pc? It seems all the info is for people who don't already have a mac. Since it is already working couldn't I just patch the few things needed for whichever board I get? Are there any existing instructions for this or has anyone done it?

I want to stay on 10.6.8 but later have a 10.7/8 drive also. Is it right that sandy bridge technology can host both of these or do I have to stay with the previous generation? Since 10.6.8 is end of life is there a final consensus on the best parts/best working machines?

thanks

Sandy Bridge is the last hardware supported by 10.6.x. If you want to stay with 10.6.8 then you need socket 775 or socket 1155 mainboard with a CPU to match either, the 1155 CPU to be i3/i5/i7 2xxx series or one of the SB Pentium CPUs. So far, 10.7.x and 10.8.x support Sandy Bridge as well as Ivy Bridge.

For the boot drive from the mini, some people have had success by cloning the Mac HDD/SSD, installing the cloned drive in their build, booting with UniBeast and running MultiBeast to install needed files. Might work for you, might not, but you can try it. If cloning SL, then you would need to boot with iBoot instead of UniBeast.
 
Is there any reason I couldn't just take a working 10.6.8 boot drive from my 2009 mini and use that in a hack instead of all the extra of building it the pc? It seems all the info is for people who don't already have a mac. Since it is already working couldn't I just patch the few things needed for whichever board I get? Are there any existing instructions for this or has anyone done it?

I want to stay on 10.6.8 but later have a 10.7/8 drive also. Is it right that sandy bridge technology can host both of these or do I have to stay with the previous generation? Since 10.6.8 is end of life is there a final consensus on the best parts/best working machines?

thanks

A1mixer

As GB has pointed out it should be possible.

Others have posted this similar question in the SL Desktop Forum

Suggest a search for it.

In fact we have one that Going Bald replied to w similar info and the user replied back w some success I believe. Was about 6 weeks ago in the Sl forum.

The one item is that you clone the Hard Disk as you don't want to break the working drive while doing this.

Also you should be very careful about what hardware you use to make a Hack that will run on Snow Leopard. None of the Ivy Bridge Motherboard or CPU's will work. Only the Sandy Bridge and down.
Also You should have a DSDT file for it ...

You may have to search some auction sites to find the components for this as Intel has stopped manufacturing the once great Sandy Bridge i7 and i5 that have the HD3000 onboard Graphics which Snow Leo will use if you have no video card. (You will need HD3000 or HD4000 internal GFX)

Which brings up another item - Video cards - if you need to use one you should find one that is supported by Snow Leopard. New ones are not.

If you have potential hardware see if you can find success stories for them so that you have some knowledge and guides that can help.
 
Thanks for the info. I did a search for all Snow related posts but didn't come across anything similar. Maybe you have a link? I looked at GB's posts - maybe there are more than I found.

Does Updatehelper enter this picture? And would i use an older version of the "Beasts" or are they like a combo updater - all in the latest?

I'm looking the other way round - for success stories so I can see the hardware. The search engine is a bit limited and the post titles are cryptic to me. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos which are making things clearer.

thanks
 
Thanks for the info. I did a search for all Snow related posts but didn't come across anything similar. Maybe you have a link? I looked at GB's posts - maybe there are more than I found.

Does Updatehelper enter this picture? And would i use an older version of the "Beasts" or are they like a combo updater - all in the latest?

I'm looking the other way round - for success stories so I can see the hardware. The search engine is a bit limited and the post titles are cryptic to me. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos which are making things clearer.

thanks

One of the reasons to use a clone instead of the original drive from the Mac is that once you install the drivers (kexts in Apple speak) needed to run the OS on PC hardware it is a PITA to remove them one by one so you can put the drive back in the Mac and boot it if you need to. Otherwise you could just use the Mac drive.

UpdateHelper is to help you get Sandy Bridge systems to run 10.6.8 without the update combo causing a KP. Not needed if you stay below 10.6.7.

For hardware, Gigabyte P41, P45 socket 775 or P55, H55, H57 socket 1156, or Z68, Q67, P67, H67, H61 socket 1155 boards and the CPUs that go with them will work. Also the socket 1366 boards.

This site started with the socket 1156 boards and the socket 1366 boards:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/06/building-customac-three-complete-pc.html
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/08/building-customac-customac-pro-2010.html
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2010/12/building-customac-customac-mini.html

http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/02/building-customac-three-updated-lga.html

Then came the socket 1155 Sandy Bridge builds:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/06/building-sandy-bridge-customac.html
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/09/building-sandy-bridge-customac-customac.html
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2011/11/building-sandy-bridge-customac-buyers.html

Then Ivy Bridge:
http://tonymacx86.blogspot.com/2012/08/building-customac-buyers-guide-2012.html
http://www.tonymacx86.com/333-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-february-2013.html

Any board listed with a DSDT in the database will work - http://www.tonymacx86.com/11-dsdt-database.html

Older boards with the old non-UEFI BIOS need a DSDT to work correctly and to get the audio and LAN working.

You can use the board model number in the search engine to come up with builds from the User builds, or just go to the earliest posts in the user builds forum.
 
Thanks for the info. I did a search for all Snow related posts but didn't come across anything similar. Maybe you have a link? I looked at GB's posts - maybe there are more than I found.

Does Updatehelper enter this picture? And would i use an older version of the "Beasts" or are they like a combo updater - all in the latest?

I'm looking the other way round - for success stories so I can see the hardware. The search engine is a bit limited and the post titles are cryptic to me. I've been watching a lot of youtube videos which are making things clearer.

thanks

a1mixer

I found this person on You Tube had a very interesting bunch of videos that well done (presentation wise) and help in my early days.

He has more than these three but start w these and then do more.
"But before you do this please look for some YOUtube vids under the name deanwrayUK
of these shortcuts."

His vid on Best Practice - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZl1Gv3J7bg
His vid on Basic Overview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIOJB3EVHaw
His vid on Bootloader flags http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDw3RhLWAjE

DO note that some of the YouTubers who make videos leave out important bits that are needed (omitted by design) - these are the people / persons that make hacks for sale (custom build systems) and if you watch their videos you would thing its "easy peezy" until you try and follow their steps and get stumped. FYI
 
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