MacBook Pro :: New Hard Drive - How To Install Snow Leopard Without Disk
May 10, 2012
My Macbook pro has just had a new 500gb hard drive in it and osx snow leopard had not been put on it because i never got a disk when i bought it. It still comes up with the grey screen with the flashing folder which i think would be normal because there is nothing on the hard drive. How do i install OSX Snow Leopard back on it the cheapest way possible?
My Macbook pro has just had a new 500gb hard drive in it and osx snow leopard had not been put on it because i never got a disk when i bought it. It still comes up with the grey screen with the flashing folder which i think would be normal because there is nothing on the hard drive. How do i install OSX Snow Leopard back on it the cheapest way possible? and easiest.
"In addition, it is possible to completely erase a hard drive and install Snow Leopard without a pre-existing operating system in place, enabling users to bypass the possible headaches of an upgrade and go with a clean install instead."
I'm a newbie here but wonder if the above AppleInsider statement is true. I installed Snow Leopard over my existing Leopard w/out a hitch. Earlier OS X retail DVD versions clearly distinguished between "Install" and "Upgrade" - correct?. I'm confused where I read Snow Leopard required an existing OS (Leopard or Tiger) to install. It appears Snow Leopard is a "full install" DVD?
I've been a long time lurker on these forums and you've helped me out numerous times when my computers decided to stop working.
I got my Snow Leopard disk in the post today but unfortunately my disk drive in my Macbook Pro seems to finally be well and truly knackered.
I should be able to borrow a usb/firewire disk drive from a friend, so would I be able to install ok from this external drive, and is there anything I would need to mess around with to make it work?
1. To grab all the files I need/don't want to lose (photos, music, documents, etc.)2. Then completely erase the 500GB HD so I can then install it into the new Macbook Pro and install Leopard.(I'll then externally connect the 160GB HD that came w/ my Macbook Pro and add the files I've already copied into that 160GB HD into the 500GB Leopard installed HD in the new Macbook Pro)So, currently my 500GB HD is connected to my Macbook pro and I want to completely erase everything so I'll then have a completely clean hard drive, to then install into the Macbook Pro, add the installation discs and install Leopard into the 500GB HD.
I have a Snow Leopard Install Disk for the 13-inch Macbook Pro model.I also have a 21-inch iMac. I have OS X Lion installed on both. I have Snow Leopard installed as a partition on my Macbook Pro, which I installed via the install disk. I want to do the same thing for my iMac but I am unable due to (seemingly) my install disk is for a Macbook Pro and not for an iMac.
I have an old Macbook via 2007 and I'm trying to update my operating system (currently OS 10.5.8) to Snow Leopard, but the disk is not reading in the disk drive. And unfortunately, Snow Leopard is only on a DVD, it can't be downloaded.I figure I have 2 choices:
1) take it in and spend $49 to have them do diagnostics and then tell me they probably need to replace the superdriveÂ
2) I could buy an external optical drive. But I would need to know which one would be compatable with my old *** Macbook.
I'm using a iMac PowerPC G5 that I've received from my brother. He gave it to me with a fresh install of Leopard on it, but he unfortunately no longer has the disc that came with the computer that he also used to format it before handing it to me. With that said, I ordered a new internal hard drive. Naturally, I'll need to re-install Leopard, but I don't have an install disc anywhere. How is this going to be possible? Or will it not be? Do I have to buy a new Leopard install disc? If so where and how much?
I work in an office where we've picked up a few new MBPs. These machines have Snow Leopard and I'd like to install it on my machine running Leopard. Is there any way that I can install 10.6 on my machine using the Disks that came with the new machines?
While upgrading from Tiger 10.4 to Snow Leopard 10.6 (Mac Box Set purchased from apple store) on my macbook pro the installation process froze up. Tried several times with same outcome. Even wiped the disk & reinstalled original software (tiger 10.4). No disk repairs necessary. So starting with a clean slate snow leopard still wont make it through the installation process.
My HDD died recently and I cannot get booted into OS X. It just hangs on the grey screen with the apple. I am (was) running 10.6.8
I am having a lot of trouble trying to boot from my install DVD. First of all I purchased a new HDD which came with Lion pre-installed on it. This worked fine, except when I tried to restore my latest time machine back up it used up 200GB of my disk space but nothing is restored? No doucments or music anywhere, photos, nothing. There is no change at all except half my storage has disappeared. I had posted another question on here and the reply said to use setup assistant, which I could not locate in Lion? I then tried to install Snow Leopard back over Lion but it would not let me. I tried to boot to the install disk but it just hung at the apple screen again.
I gave up and bought another brand new HDD but it won't recognise it on boot up. I just get a flashing folder with a ? in it. I tried to boot into the install DVD and again it wouldn't do it.
I then went back to my original HDD, and tried to boot to the install DVD from that (I hadn't tried this first off as my install disk was elsewhere and I purchased the Lion HDD as a stop gap measure) and it STILL wouldn't do it? This is now the original disk with the original install DVD (10.6) issued with my macbook pro when I purchased it and it will not boot to the DVD. Why why why?! It is almost enough to make me bin the lot and switch to windows.
The internal hard drive on my early 2009 iMac is being replaced but I have to reinstall Snow Leopard myself.I did search in MRoogle and at Apple and cannot seem to find instructions on how to perform a clean Snow Leopard install on an iMac internal HD.
Can I do this? And if so how? Or do you think I should try and install Leopard on the existing Hd in the iMac? I still have these discs but have to get the SL applications install disc out of my drive (it's stuck and the iMac won't boot past the blue screen).
this isn't an isolated issue - there are threads about this over at Apple and InsanelyMac: I'm unable to install Snow Leopard. When I run the installer, it'll tell me that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer" (Macintosh HD being my OS X volume, obviously). I'm seeing this issue on a relatively new 1.8ghz Macbook Air with a 128gb SSD - however, as far as I can tell from the other threads, the problem also affects iMacs and Macbooks.
Some people apparently attributed the issue to a PGP installation they had on their harddrive. Others found a file called backup.backupdb in their root - deleting it fixed the problem. However, most people don't have any of that installed on their computers and the upgrade still won't work. - if anyone has found a solution to the issue, please let me know :-( I'm stuck here. I don't have an external drive for the MBA and booting from a network drive has never worked on this particular machine - so I can't do a clean install, either.
I have a Macbook Pro with an inoperative slot-loading Superdrive. I purchased Snow Leopard today, planning to use my Mac Pro w/working Superdrive in Firewire Target Disk Mode to install the OS on my Macbook Pro. I can mount the Snow Leopard install via TDM, but the installer informs me that I cannot install Snow Leopard from "this volume" (presumably because the Target Disk Mode connection isn't recognized as an optical drive?). I've also tried to use "Remote Install OS X," but because my MBP is not an Air, it doesn't have the necessary firmware to select a network boot on startup by holding Option. Am I out of luck until I get access to a firewire external DVD drive?
I have an early 08 MBP that shipped with Leopard. I upgraded it to Snow Leopard quite a long time ago. I feel like doing a clean reinstallation but my Leopard disk is spoilt.
Is it possible for me to do a brand new clean installation just using that Snow Leopard upgrade disk?
I am trying to upgrade from leopard to snow leopard on my MacBook Pro. However, every time I insert the install disk, the machine whirs for a moment, and then ejects the disk with no error message. I tested my drive with a different dvd and it works just fine. All of my other software is up to date.
Info: MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009), Mac OS X (10.5.8)
Hey guys, I was just wondering if its possible for me to upgrade to snow leopard using the 10.6.7 grey install disk? A friend of mine is willing to lend me his but I'm not quite sure if it can. So my question is, can I use his grey install disk with version 10.6.7 to upgrade to snow leopard or do I need the retail snow leopard disk?
I have cracked my OS X 10.6.4 install disk, (which, it seems to mean that my iLife application disk wont work either). Is there any way to get a replacement? I don't always live near internet access, so Lion isn't really an option.
I've been searching but I can't find anywhere where my specific problem is answered. Short version: Does Remote Disc work in Tiger (10.4.11)? Long version: I have the following:
Macbook running 10.4.11; busted DVD drive PC running Win7 w/ Firewire port Snow Leopard install disc
I'd like to get Remote Disc running on my laptop and install over the network (using my Win7 PC). I've done the terminal hack which is supposed to enable Remote Disc on MacBooks. However, Remote disc doesn't show up in my finder (not sure that 10.4.11 has a place for it to show). Does Remote disc work with Tiger-Macbooks? Or do you need Leopard? If Remote Disc won't work, can a Win7 PC install Snow Leopard via firewire to a Mac? If possible, I'd like to avoid buying an external DVD drive, as it appears Remote Disc will work in Snow Leopard. Don't have a firewire cable on me but I could buy one -- just want to be sure it will work before I waste the money.
How can I install snow leopard without an optical drive? Could I take it to an apple store to get it installed or can I copy the cd over to a usb pen drive?
I have replaced may Snow Leopard Family pack and have found that the replacement disk is also faulty. It stalls at around 40 minute mark and does not install. I have confirmed a general problem from two store sources. I also have similar problem with copies i bought from US. There is a noticeable defect along the outside edge of disk and swirling to a coma form of about a centimeter. Seems like a quality control issue at the disk creation instead of information burning. I have had no problems with the single versions of the OS.
I was upgrading from Tiger to Snow Leopard (I asked a worker in the Apple store and he assured me it was okay to do so) and about 15 minutes into the installation I got a message saying "Unable to install. Please retry". Then when I retried it says "The contents of this disk can't be changed. Mac OS X couldn't be installed on this disk."
I have a black MBP and it is Intel based and I fit the system requirements
Clearly there must be a way to do this, right? Can I install off an external hard drive? Off a USB drive? Share my macbook pro's DVD drive somehow? If the hard drive on the mac mini is completely reformatted and I plug it into the USB port on the external hard drive which I partition and install the Leopard DMG would it be able to boot off of it?
I've found some possible solutions in other threads, but none worked. So here goes. I have an internal disk called "Maryam" I use for projects (not my startup/system disk). For some reason, when I send files from it to trash, I get this:Â Â
Here's how it looks in my Get Info: Here's how it looks from Sharing:Â None of my other disks have this problem. Why and what do I need to do?
Info: MacPro (Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.6.8), 2 x 2.8 Ghz Quad Core, 8GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 2600