Customise or return Mavericks into SnowLeopard?

[198Tato Müller Villanueva]

hello everyone. I would like to know how i find in my macbook pro 13' middle 2009 4 ram memory, What was the original version when i bought it, i am on maverick now and i still have the originals installations dvd and applicactions never used, but i have double because this is my second macbook same year the first got stolen, but i had the box at home., so i got a new one, the one i have now. Anyways in one of them the dvd version number is 10.5.7 i think leopard? and the other one is 10.6 snow leopard for sure because i rembember the style was like more blue water drops or something, and under the last years i dont know i just appdated it for security reasons and so on. I just want to have the leopard style again, personaly SL was one of the best versions apple made, fast performance and fresh as well. So i want to get start somewhere and i havent done anything yet before i doble check here with some serious respond im not so good in tech things, it scares me to look for ex: disc utility and the erase tab i really dont want to there and do wrong, i try to learn how watching videos at youtube but is too much kind of differents ways on how from the original questions like options when mac starts up press C or R or D,. Others say you have to downgrade from maverick until you comeback to the original. and i actually think that somewhere in the background i still have the version macbook had when i bought it, i want to find where in the system i can take a look of it before i use the installation dvd in the drive, and wich one i choose? 10.5.7 or 10.6 ?.... Does someone know if i can find it in disc utility? and how to do it?... and how to cancel if im not sure, can i re use the dvd installations again after?
The other and last question is if its better to just download snow leopard aqua theme or skin to mavericks?, like tweeting customise like DevianArt? What is your reomendation.
Thank super much for your answer guys, i will be humble thankfull of that. Peace.

 

[gimchess]

Err....well here is how to download a clean copy of 10.6 if i remember

1) download the iso file from internet archive https://archive.org/details/SnowLeopardInstall (donated by apple)
2) plug in your USB flash drive (oh yea, format the usb flash drive to "mac- os journaled using disk utility found in applications under utilities) to change the iso file to a flash compatible format using the app found here. https://www.balena.io/etcher/.
3) back up ur hard drive to something external
5) wipe hard drive using disk utility, you may need to click the "show all" above the left pain in disk utility to find the disk.
6) shut down mac
7) insert the USB flash drive u just made
6) turn on mac and hit the "option" key. If nothing is showing up click the "c" key.
7) click the orange file thingy and go through the installation process

 

[198Tato Müller Villanueva]

Err....well here is how to download a clean copy of 10.6 if i remember

1) download the iso file from internet archive https://archive.org/details/SnowLeopardInstall (donated by apple)
2) plug in your USB flash drive (oh yea, format the usb flash drive to "mac- os journaled using disk utility found in applications under utilities) to change the iso file to a flash compatible format using the app found here. https://www.balena.io/etcher/.
3) back up ur hard drive to something external
5) wipe hard drive using disk utility, you may need to click the "show all" above the left pain in disk utility to find the disk.
6) shut down mac
7) insert the USB flash drive u just made
6) turn on mac and hit the "option" key. If nothing is showing up click the "c" key.
7) click the orange file thingy and go through the installation process

Thank you so much for answering, i will try to do this too advanced for me, Thank you.

 

[gimchess]

Thank you so much for answering, i will try to do this too advanced for me, Thank you.

Tell us how it turns out, u have any issues post the problem here and I'll try to help u out

 

[Wowfunhappy]

1) download the iso file from internet archive https://archive.org/details/SnowLeopardInstall (donated by apple)

Not saying you shouldn't use it, since Snow Leopard can effectively be considered abandonware at this point, but I don't think it was donated by Apple. It says:

 

[B S Magnet]

Not saying you shouldn't use it, since Snow Leopard can effectively be considered abandonware at this point, but I don't think it was donated by Apple. It says:

View attachment 949522

We can’t buy it from Apple any longer, and Apple doesn’t support anything related to it.

It’s de facto abandonware now.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

We can’t buy it from Apple any longer, and Apple doesn’t support anything related to it.

We agree with each other, but this actually isn't quite true. Apple updated a lot of their software update downloads relatively recently with new certificates, because the old ones had expired.

 

[BrianBaughn]

I don't think you'd be comfortable doing it but be aware that there are methods that aren't too complicated that will allow the mid-2009 MBP (5,2) to run more current versions of macOS and would actually make it useful. However, you would definitely need to put 8GB of RAM and an SSD drive in it.

In most user situations, having Leopard or Snow Leopard on that machine would make it a historical paperweight.

 

[B S Magnet]

We agree with each other, but this actually isn't quite true. Apple updated a lot of their software update downloads relatively recently with new certificates, because the old ones had expired.

I remember (for my Mac running High Sierra). Those October 2019 renewals applied only to Yosemite and up. The last (surprise) update for Snow Leopard happened in early 2016. Sending system crash reports to Apple from anything as old as Snow Leopard and below get met with an error that the servers cannot be reached.

So no, Apple de facto do not support Snow Leopard any longer.

 

[Taz Mangus]

You can purchase the Snow Leopard DVD off eBay for $19.99 and it is advertised as new. Plus it has free shipping.

That is what I would do instead of downloading it off the internet from a unknown source.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Disc 10.6 system Install Installation DVD 10.6.3 | eBay

For fresh new install, reinstall, upgrade, recovery or reset to default settings etc. Apple X Snow Leopard Mac OS X OSX 10.6 Install DVD osx disk for Macs. List of compatible models for os x snow leopard.

www.ebay.com

 

[gimchess]

You can purchase the Snow Leopard DVD off eBay for $19.99 and it is advertised as new. Plus it has free shipping.

That is what I would do instead of downloading it off the internet from a unknown source.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Disc 10.6 system Install Installation DVD 10.6.3 | eBay

For fresh new install, reinstall, upgrade, recovery or reset to default settings etc. Apple X Snow Leopard Mac OS X OSX 10.6 Install DVD osx disk for Macs. List of compatible models for os x snow leopard.

www.ebay.com

t. I have been using the copy from the internet archive and have run into no issues.

I have run into no problems with my copy from the internet archive.

 

[gimchess]

I use 10.6.8 on my personal computer, a lot of old software the works with it you just need to know where to look. If you need specific legit/newer programs that u need for school/work I would dosdude ur machine.

 

[B S Magnet]

You can purchase the Snow Leopard DVD off eBay for $19.99 and it is advertised as new. Plus it has free shipping.

That is what I would do instead of downloading it off the internet from a unknown source.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard Disc 10.6 system Install Installation DVD 10.6.3 | eBay

For fresh new install, reinstall, upgrade, recovery or reset to default settings etc. Apple X Snow Leopard Mac OS X OSX 10.6 Install DVD osx disk for Macs. List of compatible models for os x snow leopard.

www.ebay.com

You may also obtain images of the OS X Snow Leopard Retail Discs (and some OEM builds which came with specific Macs) on Archive-dot-org.