Install 10.5 to external hard drive

Hi, I would like to install Leopard 10.5 onto an external hard drive and use it as a boot disk (I will be using a MacBook Pro). I need it to run software that is only compatible with 10.5 or lower. However, the only 10.5 disks are the disks that came with some older Macs. Will those work (can I install the OS onto the external hard drive), or wil I need to buy 10.5 disks that can be used on any computer?

Thanks.

cjc182 said:

Hi, I would like to install Leopard 10.5 onto an external hard drive and use it as a boot disk (I will be using a MacBook Pro). I need it to run software that is only compatible with 10.5 or lower. However, the only 10.5 disks are the disks that came with some older Macs. Will those work (can I install the OS onto the external hard drive), or wil I need to buy 10.5 disks that can be used on any computer?

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Which model MacBook Pro? If it's one made in… oh… the last 2-3 years, then it won't be able to run 10.5. At all. If it can run 10.5, then the discs that shipped with another Mac won't cut it. Those are machine-specific. You'd need the retail version.

Hi,

I have a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7. I suppose that is not good news for my situation?

If you have 10.5 on your current Mac, just use CCC to clone the drive to an external drive. The external drive needs to have its own power source.

You can then plug it in and go to settings and select your boot disk, the external drive.

Reboot and you're done.

cjc182 said:

Hi,

I have a 2.66 GHz Intel Core i7. I suppose that is not good news for my situation?

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Correct. Ignore the advice from microsnook. Or try it for kicks. Mac OS 10.5 most likely doesn't have the drivers to support your hardware.

EDIT: Just to elaborate: That MBP was released mid 2010 and came preinstalled with 10.6.3. The last update to 10.5 was 10.5.8 in August 2009. The hardware at the time was Core 2 Duo. The "i" series came first in the iMac in October 2009, which itself shipped with 10.6.1. Apple would never have had a reason to include driver support in 10.5.8 or earlier for such a significant hardware revision that 10.5 never even shipped on, had already been superseded by 10.6, and even required an update to 10.6.1.

Again ignore micronook's advice.

You cannot go backwards with operating systems released prior to the manufacture of your MacBook Pro. You can install Leopard on an external drive however the silver/grey discs will not install as they are extremely model specific however you will probably have to pay over $100 for OS X.5 black retail install DVD.

Make sure you know what you are doing in formatting the external and installing Leopard on it.