Forums | MacLife

DavidTrpt · 2009-08-26 3:26 pm

This question is partly legal and partly one of practicality. I have a G5 iMac with OS 10.4.11 (Panther), and a MacPro with OS 10.5.8 (Leopard) which I purchased separately a year ago. If I purchase Snow Leopard and install it on my MacPro, is it then legal (or even sensible) to reinstall my old copy of OS 10.5.8 (Leopard) on my G5 iMac?

My thought is that if I remove Leopard from my MacPro and replace it with Snow Leopard, then I should be able to legally reinstall my old copy of Leopard wherever I please. Does this make sense?

Thanks for any advice.

Dave

SomeOneOrOther · 2009-08-26 4:36 pm

I personally don't see why not.

But being a relatively new Mac user, I'm not sure if the OS install disk (which came with your Mac Pro) is linked with the machine's registration number, and therefore would look for it when you install. Maybe others can shed some light.

robco · 2009-08-26 4:43 pm

It isn't. Apple uses the honor system. You could technically install a single-user copy of the OS on many machines without buying the family pack. OS X does no license check and requires no key. The up-to-date versions do require an existing install, so you can't use those without installing Tiger on the machine first.

DavidTrpt · 2009-08-26 5:23 pm

Apparently I didn't make myself clear, and also made an error when I referred to OS 10.4 as Panther, when in actuality it is Tiger.

My MacPro install disk which I received with my MacPro is for OS 10.4 (Tiger). I purchased the OS 10.5 Leopard separately a year ago.

So, read my question this way: Original OS was 10.4 (Tiger). Purchased OS 10.5 (Leopard), and upgraded. Would like to purchase OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and install in place of OS 10.5 (Leopard). To my way of thinking this leaves an uncommitted unused legal copy of OS 10.5 which I could now install in my G5 iMac which currently has OS 10.4 (Tiger). Does this make more sense?

Practically, I'm not sure whether or not my G5 iMac will run as well with Leopard. It currently is the family workhorse with Tiger - I wouldn't want it to be handicapped by running an operating system that would be too much for the hardware.

Dave

robco · 2009-08-26 5:28 pm

Leopard should run OK on a G5 provided you have at least 1GB of RAM, preferably 2.

jerwin · 2009-08-26 6:27 pm

If you buy a full version, sure. But why would you, when the upgrade is so much cheaper.

DavidTrpt · 2009-08-29 10:33 am

Results:

Snow Leopard runs great on my Intel MacPro, although I am still sorting out the correct drivers for my Epson printers (Stylus Color 740 and Stylus Photo R1800). With Lightroom 2.4 I finally was able to print to the R1800, but didn't have as many print options as I did with the "old" driver. I had hoped that Rosetta would have made it possible to use the old driver, but so far not so much. Still, a great upgrade for $29!

I attempted running my G5 iMac with Leopard 10.5.8, but it seemed to be pushing the CPU as far as it could go, and then some. I use iStat to show a graphical representation of CPU activity, and it was maxed out at 100% most of the time. So, I did a Restore from my backup drive, and am back with Tiger 10.4.11 on the iMac.

Dave

jerwin · 2009-08-30 10:45 pm

Time Machine really kills the PowerPC (well, at least the G4, in my experience). A shame, since it's so useful.

Jasoco · 2009-08-31 2:21 am

If you try to install an upgrade onto all 5 of your Tiger running Macs, your boot up Apple logo will turn into a picture of Steve Jobs shedding a tear like the Indian in that commercial from the 80's.

macnuke · 2009-08-31 9:31 am

just outa curiosity, when you say CPU was maxed, was this early on or did you check and see if Spotlight decided to re-index the drive again. that may have been the CPU usage and would have went back to a more "normal" usage once that completed. took about a day on my old G5 DP with 2 HD's in it.

DavidTrpt · 2009-09-02 1:38 pm

macnuke wrote:
just outa curiosity, when you say CPU was maxed, was this early on or did you check and see if Spotlight decided to re-index the drive again. that may have been the CPU usage and would have went back to a more "normal" usage once that completed. took about a day on my old G5 DP with 2 HD's in it.

Good question! This was early on - I guess I should have let Spotlight re-index the drive. I forgot all about that!

10.4.11 Tiger is perking just fine, but to satisfy my own curiosity I might try installing 10.5.8 Leopard once again when I have a few hours to spare.

Thanks for your nudge!

Dave

Pariah · 2009-09-02 4:07 pm

jerwin wrote:
If you buy a full version, sure. But why would you, when the upgrade is so much cheaper.

The Snow Leopard "upgrade" DVD is actually a full installer. It will update an install of 10.5 or you can also install 10.6 onto a blank HDD.

In other words it works just like every other OSX version.

mrreet2001 · 2009-09-02 4:28 pm

Pariah wrote:
In other words it works just like every other OSX version.

well this one wont install on to a PPC computer wink

Forums | MacLife

#1 2009-08-26 3:26 pm

Re-installing Leopard?

#2 2009-08-26 4:36 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#3 2009-08-26 4:43 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#4 2009-08-26 5:23 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#5 2009-08-26 5:28 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#6 2009-08-26 6:27 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#7 2009-08-29 10:33 am

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#8 2009-08-30 10:45 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#9 2009-08-31 2:21 am

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#10 2009-08-31 9:31 am

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

#11 2009-09-02 1:38 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

macnuke wrote:

#12 2009-09-02 4:07 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

jerwin wrote:

#13 2009-09-02 4:28 pm

Re: Re-installing Leopard?

Pariah wrote:

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