How partition a new Mac Mini (and install Leopard)

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I have to buy a refurbished Mac Mini i7 from Apple. it is going to come with Mountain Lion. but I run ProTools 8 and it will not run on Mountain Lion. Can I partition the Mini when it comes from Apple and put Leopard or Snow Leopard on it? Does this mean I will have to wipe the drive clean when it comes from Apple and then use the hidden Mountain Lion on it to begin fresh from zero formattted drive? Help! Really affects my buying decision - I am not about to spend $700 just to get ProTools 10!
 

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Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
If you want 10.5, don't buy any Mac made after the release of 10.6

If you want 10.6, don't buy any Mac made after the release of 10.7

"Unless" you can verify the particular machine you want will run the older OS first.

The older versions of the OS do not have all the drivers for the new hardware.
Things may or may not work.
Nor does Apple develop drivers to enable older OS versions to run on new hardware.
 
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I hate how Apple has been forcing us to upgrade our OS so often. Apple could have stopped at Snow Leopard and that would have been fine by me - I have an iPhone 5 and can't use it on my iMac because my iMac won't support the newest iTunes. And I am furious that ProTools LE software used to cost about $200 and now they want $700 for PTLE10 or $400 for an upgrade for 8. I even bought their crappy new MBox3 which has never worked right. I have never had a piece of Digidesign or Avid hardware that was trouble free....except for the original MBox. Well, the MBox3 is cross-platform. I think it is time to dump ProTools.
 
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Geez - I could still make this work if I could install Leopard on Mac Mini October 2012 (latest) machine. So, HarryB and BobT (and thanks for answering) you are saying I can't Leopard on this hardware? Or that at least, this is uncertain due to the chance that firmware or drivers may not be available?
 

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Using an OS that predates the release of your machine usually does not work due to driver issues the guys have mentioned. Whether it will work or not depends on how different your hardware is from the hardware that had Lion drivers. If you want to try going backwards here's what I would do assuming that your current Mac installation is stable and working well:

1. Clone your current installation to another hard drive. You will need a drive slightly larger than your Mac's current drive. I suggest using Carbon Copy Cloner because it copies the recovery partition correctly.
2. If the clone does not include your data back that up as well if it is on the main drive.
3. Clone your Mac to the second hard drive. When that's done boot from the clone and log in to see that things are ok.
4. Install Lion and test to see if things boot properly. If not you can use your clone to restart and clone things back to the internal drive to get back to normal.
 
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thanks, SlyD - but the problems is that my iMac went down (I took it apart, there is a burn mark on the Power Supply circuit board) so I was going to try to use a new, fast Mac Mini i7 with a large HDATV because the Mini also has HDMI-out and it would be real joy to edit sound waveforms on a very large screen. Problem is I have to order the Mini in and once I have it I don't know if Apple Refurb will let me return it - and if they do it is a pretty big hassle. Wish I could find someone who has tried to install Leopard on a new Mini and been successful. Is there another portion of this Forum I should post to to find such a person? Or is this the best thread for that?
 

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You have two weeks to return your refurbished purchase to Apple for a full refund. The return policy is the same as when purchasing new products from Apple. But, you're not going to be able to install Leopard or Snow Leopard on that Mini since it's not supported.

However, if you're willing to purchase VM software, there may be a legal way to run Snow Leopard on that new Mini. Read the following thread in the Apple Discussions Forum and proceed at your own risk.... ;)
 

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I hate how Apple has been forcing us to upgrade our OS so often. Apple could have stopped at Snow Leopard and that would have been fine by me...

In case you didn't know:

- OS 10.6 Snow Leopard was released August, 2009
- OS 10.7 Lion was released July, 2011
- OS 10.8 Mountain Lion was released July, 2012

And why would Apple stop updating the Mac OS back in 2009 (3.5 years ago) with the release of Snow Leopard?? That would be a pretty silly thing for a computer company to stop updating & improving their OS.;)

I'm not sure if you told us exactly what model iMac you have...but if you really really want/need to run Leopard (OS 10.5)...you could purchase a used Mac with the best specs possible that will still run OS 10.5 (Leopard). I'm guessing this computer would probably be faster than your current iMac (which of course if it's busted...won't be very hard).

You would probably be VERY surprised how inexpensively you could buy an older Mac capable of running Leopard.:) Thus you could buy an older Mac to run Leopard (so you can run Pro Tools 8)...and still buy a new Mac-Mini...so you can run the latest version of iTunes so you can have better compatibility with your iPhone 5.:)

HTH,:)

- Nick
 
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Nick
My hard drive on the iMac would not spin up sometimes and my screen would stay white. If I messed with the connectors I could get (sometimes) it to work. Unfortunately I let the silver shielding on the back of my screen touch the top of the power supply circuit board and had a mini explosion. I can replace the power supply for $125.00. I think I will give up on the Mac Mini idea and try to fix my iMac. it is a late year 2007. the specs on the new Mac mini are much better and since I already have a keyboard, mouse, monitor I thought the Mini would be a potent replacement for not a lot of money. OR i will get the mini and buy the upgrade to Protools. Thanks everybody for your help.
 

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I own a late 2007 iMac. If you need a service manual I have one.

It will run Leopard and Snow Leopard just fine.
 

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I think I will give up on the Mac Mini idea and try to fix my iMac.

You mentioned that you have two computer needs:

1. You need a Macintosh computer that is capable of running ProTools 8.
2. You need a Macintosh computer that is able to run a version of iTunes that is compatible with your iPhone 5.

Here is a solution that meets both of these needs.

- Firstly...you need a Macintosh computer that is capable of running OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard)...so that you can run ProTools 8 (ProTools 8 is compatible with Snow Leopard)...and even if it wasn't...you do the optional install of "Rosetta" which allows you to run PPC apps within Snow Leopard.
- Second...your iPhone 5 requires at least iTunes 10.7...which it just so happens is compatible with OS 10.6!:)

Apple - iPhone 5 - View all the technical specifications.
iTunes 10.7

So the BEST & newest Macintosh computer you want is one that is/was capable of running OS 10.6.8. Which would be:

- Early 2011 MacBook Pro's
- Mid-2011 iMac's
- Mid-2010 Mac-Mini's

Let me repeat...these are the NEWEST model of each of these computer lines that is still capable of running Snow Leopard (OS 10.6).

I just checked the Apple refurb. Store...and currently you can still get a couple MacBook Pro's, and 1 iMac model that meets the requirements I mentioned above (no Mac-Mini's at this time). Of course you can still buy a used computer that meets the above requirements.

Now also consider this. All of the Mac models I mentioned above also can run the most recent Mac OS (10.8.3). If you got one of these computers...you could partition the hard drive into two partitions:

- one partition you could install OS 10.6.8 (for primarily running ProTools 8)...and you could still do things with your iPhone 5 as well.
- the second partition you could install OS 10.8.3...and have all of the latest & greatest Mac OS features & compatibility.

This is what I would do if I was in your shoes...and wanted a newer Macintosh computer...but at the same time didn't want to spend $700 for the latest version of ProTools.

HTH,:)

- Nick

p.s. Sorry for the long post...but I wanted to convey as much detail as possible.:)
 
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First, this is a great Forum. Very responsive with excellent posts. Dtrvs - yes, i am running PT 8 (was) on my blown up 2207. If I decide to order the part and take a chance that it might work I might need to reference that manual.

Nick - thank for taking the time to repy at length. I tried installing Snow Leopard on my iMac that was running Leopard. Used the Apple install disc. It would get halfway through installing and then spit the disc out. Tried off and on for two weeks - it always got hung up about 49 minutes into the install - rejected the disk and restarted by itself. So the deal is that Leopard is Rosetta enabled but Rosettta support stopped at Snow Leopard? I thought it stopped at Lion. good to know. Also did not know you could install a bridge to rosetta in Snow L.
After I figure out whether I am going to buy the part for my iMac or buy a used one that has more processing power I will know how much of what you wrote that I need. I really don't need to sync my iPhone with the mac anyway - I don't listen to music anymore and songs just take up space on the phone so that is really the only thing I needed. Photos will still download with Apple's ImageCapture app.
 

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Rossetta support stopped in Lion and not Snow Leopard. Snow Leopard Rosetta ran. I used it on a few things.

On your iMac not going through the SL install. Either your optical drive has issues of the DVD was dirty or scratched. Was it a new Snow Leopard DVD from Apple and not a copy? My late 2007 20" iMac with Intel 2.4Ghz C2D runs Snow Leopard, Lion and even Mountain Lion. I upped the RAM to 4GB for Lion and Mountain Lion. I still have Snow Leopard on a 2nd partition on the hard drive for use with a few old Apps and Games that need Rosetta.

If you do get the power supply and need the manual let me know.
 
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chas_m

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If you're a serious user of Pro Tools, it would be a better investment to buy a newer machine and Pro Tools 10 than it would be to buy a "new-to-you" older machine and stick with Pro Tools 8 -- budget permitting, obviously.
 
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dtravis - it was a new Apple disc - not a copy. It was clean. I cant figure it.
Chas....I am a fairly serious user but I rarely exceed 16 tracks so 8 worked quite well for me. It is a budget issue right now. Cost of a new Mac and a ProTools upgrade is not a good decision for me now.
Here is another scenario - upgrading to PTLE10 and getting the new Mac Mini i5 instead of the i7. But for the savings of 4130 or so would I be sacrificing a lot of performance? That would be going from a quad core to a dual core. My 2007 iMac ran 8 quite well - but maybe PT10 would benefit from the Quad core more?
 

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Kevin, I am thinking it might be the optical drive. If you fix the machine, try a can of compressed air into the drive and see if it then installs. We have had many users here with that issue. If you are Really a brave person, when you have it apart to put in the new power supply, take the drives cover off and clean the lens. I have done that on many of the thin drives in iMacs and Minis and they worked like new. Better than paying $100 for a new drive! Either that or if you have an external USB drive, try the SL DVD in that and boot and try to install.

Most times I have seen an OSX install not complete it was either the Disc or the optical drive.
 
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I have this Mac in about as many pieces as i can get. So I will surely try getting to the lens.
Since you know a lot about the goings on inside these things, this is what happened to mine.

First problem was that the iMac factory drive failed. The 1TB.
Then the new drive I put in would sometimes not power up. I'd mess with the connections going in and then it would.
Next the drive was powering up and the Mac chime came on when the machine started but this screen would stay white - drive was spinning but nothing showed. I mess with the cords and connections inside long enough and it would come back.
Then about every 4 days the sceen would stay white. This last time I bumped the foil on the back of the LCD against the circuit board of the power supply and it cracked and popped and left a burn trail on the power supply.

This unit had a totally detachable powersupply except for one little wire leading to a soldered on connection - I cut the wire. The replacement board looks just like mine but does not have that tiny piece with the wire coming out. I am thinking that is a heat sensor;
 

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@kevinlamb...a few points:

1. Realize that for the most part...repairing old non-working Mac's is not as "financially efficient" as it is with Windows computers...unless you can get the parts really really cheap (which is not easy). Sounds like you have multiple issues with your iMac (power supply, hard drive, optical drive). When you add up all of these costs (even doing the work yourself)...that's a good bit of change that could be put towards a new (or new to you) faster/newer computer.

2. Chas_m has a point that investing in a newer version of ProTools (even if it is expensive). If you use ProTools professionally (or are a serious hobbyist)...you're eventually going to want a newer version simply due to newer features...and of course compatibility with newer Mac computers & OS versions.

3. As far as the quad-core question...you need to make sure that ProTools is written to take advantage of multicore cpu's. If it is...then ProTools would definitely fly on a quad-core cpu.:)

Just some stuff to think about.:)

- Nick

p.s. Of course budgets are always important...and I realize that new computers and newer versions of major software packages are not cheap!
 
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Yes, with three major issues it is not wise to try to fix the iMac.

Anybody out there using a regular HDTV as a monitor? I have a 40inch Samsung 1080P TV that sure would make it easier to edit waveforms - I know it would not look as good as a Retina display but isn't the resolution the same as a regular iMac monitor? Might go with the Mac Mini and the Samsung and bite the bullet on the ProTools software. I don't know whether it is legal for people to resell Avid software on Ebay - I'll take a look.
 

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