I was going to install the OS using the original disks then update to Mac OS Snow Leopard. This leads me to three questions: Can I erase/install the OS while in Target Disk Mode by inserting the Mac OS CDs into my desktop then selecting my laptop as the disk to install on.
Easy solution is this: Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery. Update your firmware if needed. Then:
Install OS X Using Internet Recovery
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
- Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
- After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
- Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
To answer the question about Target Disk Mode, the answer is if you can connect two Macs that both have Firewire ports, then you can treat your MBP to TDM so its drive will mount on the other Mac's Desktop. If you can boot the other drive from your Leopard disc, then you can do a clean install of Leopard on your MBP from the other computer.
![Disk Disk](http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/install-mac-os-x-lion-target-disk-mode.jpg)
Mar 19, 2015 2:31 PM
Marari Network Solutions is an IT service provider.
Couple of things.
Make sure that the 10.6 media is retail media. If it's not (i.e. it came with a Mac) then it's specific to -that- mac only. The retail media has all of the kernel extensions for all of the macs, the 'comes with the mac' version has only the kernel extensions for that one product.
Second, if you want to do a clean install, reformat with a single partition using the OSX Snow Leopard retail media, make sure the drive is in GUID mode, and when you format the single partition (OS X Journaled), do it securely in a single pass.
Now you -should- be able to install OS X Snow Leopard.
Barring that, you can always use Oracle's VirtualBox and create a VM partition.