Goal
Install Mac OS X 10.6.* on its own disk partition, while preserving your current unmodified 10.5.* partition as a fallback. Important: This is for systems running the Gigabyte EP45UD3P only, although it might work with other Gigabyte motherboards. Revision History: 16-June-2010: Now covers OSX 10.6.4 11-June-2010: Now covers OSX 10.6.3 Questions/Comments are welcome. Summary of installation
We used Lifehacker's snow-leopard-start-to-finish method. Compared to upgrading-in-place, this method safely preserves a parallel 10.5.* instance. In this guide, we use Chameleon to multi-boot (e.g. Linux, OSX 10.5, OSX 10.6, Windows). We also review data migration and hardware redundancy. We describe only our own experience with this hardware environment: Hardware and BIOS Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P F5 CPU: Intel Q6600 @ 2.4GHz x 4 (not overclocked) RAM: 6Gb (DDR2 SDRAM 800 MHz 2Gb x 3 pieces) GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT in PCIe slot; 512Mb USB: Kensington DataTraveller 8Gb
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG 2008, PnP 1.0a, DMI 2.0, SM BIOS 2.4, ACPI 1.0b Prerequisites
Step 1: Prepare existing OSX 10.5 disk partition
(Use OSX
Disk Utility for next s tep)
Step 3: Prepare bootable USB memstick
Step 4: Install 10.6 to new target disk
Tip: Donations help with future guides. Hardware Overview: Model Name: Mac Pro Model Identifier: MacPro3,1 Processor Speed: 2.43 GHz Number Of Processors: 1 Total Number Of Cores: 4 L2 Cache: 8 MB Memory: 6 GB Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz Boot ROM Version: MP31.00C1.B00 SMC Version (system): 1.13f3 Serial Number (system):W87234JHYA4 NVIDIA Graphics Engine: Chipset Model: NVIDIA Graphics Engine Type: GPU Bus: PCIe Slot: PCI PCIe Lane Width: x16 VRAM (Total): 512 MB Vendor: NVIDIA (0x10de) Device ID: 0x0640 Revision ID: 0x00a1 ROM Revision: NVIDIA Graphics Engine DSDT Displays: VX2235wm: Resolution: 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz Pixel Depth: 32-Bit Color (ARGB8888) Main Display: Yes Mirror: Off Online: Yes Rotation: Supported Display Connector: Status: No Display Connected
Migration (from 10.5 to 10.6.*) To avoid reinstalling non-vanilla applications (with all their associated settings/cookies/etc), we used Migration Assistant to import from a 10.5 Time Machine backup all except "Machine settings". This brought over everything except the eSATA host card driver from Silicon Image. Post-migration, all system components are working well, including sound and video. The key is using a supported motherboard and video card, as referenced at OSX86 Hardware Compatibility List for 10.6.
Pros/Cons of other guides:
ep45-ud3p
Further investigation
Referenced from OSX86 Hardware Compatibility List 10.6, under motherboard vendor Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P. |