Older OS/systems

I upgraded my system a couple of years ago and I was never satisfied with it (10.9.5) However I am getting to know it and have purchased software that I use on it.

I have software that I had purchased previous to upgrading that will no longer work with this system, I don't wish to repurchase to work with 10.9.5.

I am going to purchase another computer, I want to wipe the drive on my current computer and install something like Leopard... would this work? and is Leopard/Snow Leopard still available?

My current Mac is iMac 21.5 " all in one 4GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 , 2.5 GHz Intel Core 15

gus

Welcome to the forum.

You cannot install an OS older than the one the system shipped with originally. So the simple answer is "No, that won't work." Now, if you buy an older computer that shipped with Leopard, then it would accept that OS, but you'd need the original installation disks.

A warm welcome free me too.

I think most people who still recall the older OSs would agree that Snow Leopard was the better and far more robust.

The initial release date for Snow Leopard was June 2009. You would therefore have to find a Mac of this or earlier vintage in order to run Snow Leopard. (Even earlier for Leopard).

Not only would that Mac, even if in tip-top condition - (a hard task in itself!) - have poorer specs than you are currently accustomed to, the OS would be 7 versions behind the current and has not been supported by Apple for some years.

In other words, excursions on to the Internet would be at your own risk.

You say you are "going to purchase another computer" - presumably new or newer?? We've determined that you cannot run Leopard/Snow Leopard on your present Mac. You may find that some of the software on the your present Mac will not run on the new one.

Apologies for being so negative, but these are the realities of the modern digital era.

Ian

Thank you for that information, I appreciate it. Would it be possible to run Mountain Lion on this computer?.
I would be buying a new Mac
I would like to wipe the drive on this older Mac, put in an older OS so I can still run some older software that I had previous to upgrading the OS on this older machine.. 21.5-inch, Mid 2011

I think I looked up the right specs that machine can take anything from 10.6.6 / 10.6.7 up to the current OS (High Sierra). Look at the requirements of the software you want to use and choose the OS accordingly.

The Mid 2011 21.5" iMac came with Snow Leopard 10.6.6 preinstalled. I know, because I purchased one brand new from our local Apple Store back in 2011.

chscag said:

The Mid 2011 21.5" iMac came with Snow Leopard 10.6.6 preinstalled. I know, because I purchased one brand new from our local Apple Store back in 2011.

Click to expand...

Couldn't remember what it came with, upgraded a few times. So I will try to get that 10.6, I think I have to have that installed before I upgrade to 10.7 which may be where I want to be.

Thank you all very much for the info.

If you purchased Lion, it should be listed in the App Store, under the Purchased page. If it is not listed there, it could be hidden, see this Apple Support document to restore these items, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201322.

Edit: You can then download Lion and make a bootable USB installer.

Stay with Snow Leopard as Lion was a much inferior operating system. The second of all these series was always the better.

E.G. Snow Leopard over Leopard, Mountain lion over Lion, Yosemite over Mavericks, High Sierra over Sierra etc.

And another vote for running Snow Leopard (10.6.6 minimum) if the earlier software is to be used.

As for a newer iMac, none after 2011 can run SL, or probably the software that won't currently work.

See here for specs:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/index-imac.html

Your existing iMac is capable of:
Pre-Installed MacOS: X 10.6.6 to Maximum MacOS: Current* (HS)

Full specs here:
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/...inch-aluminum-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html

But don't forget that you can have and use multiple different OS X versions using partitions or another bootable drive.
Then boot and use whichever one you need to use at the time.





- Patrick
======