Installing old Leopard alternate boot with Snow Leopard

[indianiec]

Hello,

I have a tower Mac Pro with Snow Leopard running on it.
Unfortunately one of the software that I use doesn't have yet a Snow Leopard update. So I am thinking maybe I can install older version of Leopard on one of the internal drives (i have 3 additional internal drives), so I can boot my computer from either Leopard or Snow Leopard, depending on needs (i don't want to get rid of Snow Leopard).

I never installed OS X system before, so I am a bit scared.
The internal drive is ready, I have the old Leopard on disks, what are the next steps to take? And is it doable at all?

Thank you.
Indianiec

[wmprice1240]

Hi, welcome to the forums.

Even though I have never personally tried this, I can't see where it would an issue. You have the original Leopard install disks so your covered there. Just boot from the Leopard CD by restarting your machine and hold down the 'c' key. When the installer begins to run, you will just pick one of your other internal drives. Then, once installed you should be able to just select either SL or Leopard as your startup disk. Also, I believe you should be able to hit the option key on startup and pick between the two systems.

Again, I have never done this personally but I can't see any technical scenario where this would be an issue

After the install report back and let us know how it goes.

[indianiec]

Thank you so much.
I am a bit hesitating since i remember five years ago going through a similar process on my old iMac when I tried to change the lost admin password (the computer had both Jaguar and OS 9 installed) . Following the instructions I rebooted from the disk, pressed C and then the computer got into a kernell panic mode and i could never use it again.
This was many years ago, so I wonder what is the risk with the current systems.

[wmprice1240]

That sounds like a pretty extreme case especially since, if I am reading it right, you never even made any modifications to the system before having hardware issues.

As with any significant computer task I would recommend at least backing up your critical personal files before attempting it. If you run into any issues you can of course post them here. Plenty of helpful folks on this forum more than a few who probably have a similar setup to what you are trying to accomplish.

[indianiec]

That sounds like a pretty extreme case especially since, if I am reading it right, you never even made any modifications to the system before having hardware issues.

Yes, since that episode I'd never dared to mess with system disks again. But thanks for the words of encouragement.

[dbrooke]

I can't seem to boot from my old leopard CD after installing SL... so was wondering how this went for you.

Donovan