Greetings,

Hi, my name is Testudo and this is my first visit and post here. I have a few questions about installing Snow Leopard on my PC, or more to the point an external HDD. I just sold my iMac to upgrade my PC. I was wondering if it is at all possible to install Snow Leopard on an external HDD, using a SATA port. I though about instead of installing a second HDD, I would try to use the external one that I already have. It has a SATA port on it and I have one on my PC. Is this at all possible? I hope that made some sort of sense.

My specs are:
ASUS P6T
5 GB RAM
i7 920

Thank you in advance for all of your help, comments and suggestions.

Take care,
Testduo

Hi Testudo, I do not see any reason why that would not work. If you perform the install to the external drive and then select which drive you would like to boot from when the system starts, you can toggle between Mac and Windows.

I helped a friend build a Hackintosh on a P6T mobo using the following thread from the InsanelyMac forum. This thread will provide everything that you need (except a retail copy of Snow Leopard). I followed the procedure to install with "No Mac Required".

[GUIDE] *NEW* Snow Leopard Retail on ASUS P6T Deluxe V1&V2 - InsanelyMac Forum

I would suggest that you read through this and give it a try.

Regards...

Actually once you get setup, if you point your BIOS to boot from the external SATA drive first it will hit the Chameleon loader which will then offer you the selection to boot from either operating system.

Thank you so much for your response and help! I will definitely read through that and see if I am able to pull it off. How is the difficulty level on something like this? Oh yeah, and I copied my Snow Leopard onto a bootable HDD. Is that going to be a problem?

Thanks again for your time and help.

Testudo

It is not very difficult at all. If you follow the step by step instructions and have everything prepared and ready to go it should work first time. The installer package that they include has a custom built DSDT for your mobo, you just select the correct processor when you run the package (and yours is the same as the other install that I did for a friend).

I had problems with the install DVD copied to a bootable HDD, I tried that same thing and it would not boot. I switched back to a retail DVD and it worked like a charm.

Cool. I will give it a go. Thanks!

Testudo

Edit: I tried to download the files, but it will not allow me to. I registered, but it still will not let me download anything, even the screen shots that are on there. Are there any other locations where those files are stored?

Thanks

I can't seem to find anything that I can wrap my head around. I guess I am just dense, or I am reading too much into this. What exactly do I need to do? Do I have to do anything to the 2nd HDD to prepare for the Snow Leopard installation? I would certainly appreciate any and all help.

Thanks,
Testudo

Okay.....

Download one of the packages that are listed near the top of the thread, I used the 1.13 version. Burn the ISO to a CD.
Make sure your BIOS settings are as indicated in the JPG's also near the top of the thread.
Re-Start your system with the CD inserted and re-direct your BIOS to boot from the CD.
Swap the CD for a retail Snow Leopard DVD and hit F5 to re-scan the drive.
Chameleon should then show you the option to boot from the install DVD.
Once the DVD is loaded go to the Disk Utility from the menu and partition the drive that you wish to install to.
If you follow the step by step instructions starting at the point (see next):

Asus P6T Deluxe V1 & V2 boot-132 Install Method No Mac Required!

Start at the point that begins with operating system install and do exactly what it says.

More specifically to prep. the drive:

When Disk Utility is open click on the drive on the left (make sure you choose the right one) - likely the first in the list will be your Windows drive that has a System Reserved partition along with it.
Once you have the drive selected, on the right side click partition
Under Volume Scheme drop down the box and select 1 partition
Name it Snow_Leopard (or anything you want)
Default format is Mac OS Extended Journaled (leave it like this)
In the lower left click the options box and select GUUID or GPT (NOT MBR)
Click APPLY
Should be done very quickly
Now proceed with the regular installation

Thank you so much for your time and help. I cannot download the files that are located in your first post. I registered, but that didn't work either. I have obtained a copy of iBoot. Will that work instead of 1.13? I just cannot find those files anywhere.

I have another question. If I plan to use a second HDD for a separate Snow Leopard install, can I just switch that HDD with my main one, install SL, unhook it, put the main HDD back in and use the other HDD with an external case via eSata with SL installed on it? Or, would it be easier just to hook up the external to the eSata port and go from there? I hope that made some sort of sense.

Again, I really appreciate that you are taking the time to help me out.

Testudo

I do not understand why you cannot download those files, I just logged back into the site and I was able to get them, no problem. iBoot is a different procedure altogether, I am sure that it will also work, but I am not familiar with it. If you intend to go that route I would suggest that you follow the guide on the TonyMac site.

If you want you can send me a personal message with your email address and I can send them to you.

With regard to your other question....I thought it was your plan to install to a separate disk, this is most definitely the easiest approach. I do not see any need for you to switch the drive to an inside SATA port if you do not want to. Using the eSATA connection should work fine. Once your installation is complete you will need to point your BIOS to boot from the new Snow Leopard drive first. When your system boots this way it will hit the Chameleon loader first which will offer you a selection of which operating system you would like to boot, either Snow Leopard or Windows.

Thanks for your response and offering to email me the files. I will send you a PM woth my email address.

I was just wondering about the drive thing. I definitely want two separate drives with both operation systems on each. I have to wait to get an eSata cable because non of the stores around me carry and in-store, only online. I just wanted to try it out to see if it would work, and if it did I would just stick the SN HDD in the external case when i got the eSata cable.

I do have another concern. What exactly is kernel and kext? Will I be needing any of those files?

Thanks again for being readily available and for you help.

Testudo