Snow Leopard Hardware Compatibility

Save your headaches by booting into 32-bit kernel mode, the default. You won’t lose anything by doing this, and it will minimize any driver issues.

Boot mode

Snow Leopard can boot into 32-bit or 64-bit mode, though the form the final release will take is unclear.

Expect issues in 64-bit mode with hardware devices and related software.

NEC 30" LCD PERMALINK

The NEC 30" LCD 3090WQXi is my favorite monitor of all time.

I had no problems calibrating the monitor with the Spectra View II software on Snow Leoaprd.

Thunderbolt Cables
Red or green or blue or black!


Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C cables

Sonnet Tempo E4P PERMALINK

I use this 4-port eSATA card frequently. Operation with driver version 2.1.9 has been problem-free in Snow Leopard (in the 32-bit kernel).

I am testing the beta version of the 64-bit driver; the 32-bit driver does not load if Snow Leopard is booted into the 64-bit kernel, which means that attached drives simply don’t show up on the desktop. Rebooting into the 32-bit kernel is your solution.

Sonnet Tempo SATA Pro ExpressCard/34 PERMALINK

Using version 2.1.9 of the Sonnet driver, I created a 2-drive RAID stripe (using Disk Utility) which worked in 32-bit kernel mode. Booting into 64-bit kernel mode the RAID stripe would simply not appear on the desktop, because the 32-bit driver does not load in 64-bit mode. See notes above on the 64-bit driver.

Dual Hard Drives or SSDs
OWC Drive Dock for backup drives or extra storage.
USB-C about $119
USB 3.1 about $75
Thunderbolt 2 + USB about $180

MPG review of OWC Drive Dock

Fast and cost effective way to backup!

Hard drives and SSDs PERMALINK

No issues found on either my 2.66GHz quad-core Mac Pro Nehalem or 2.93GHz 8-core Mac Pro Nehalem.

External enclosures PERMALINK

External drives should be unaffected. However, any specialized software or drivers associated with specialized enclosures could be a source of concern in 64-bit mode.

See Recommended Enclosures.