Despite recent macbook with GUID, still needed re-format with clean install

Apple must have their hands full fielding thousands of calls from fathers with mac book endowed children who ran to the Apple store on the first day of availability, enduring the long pay lines and expense of Leopard only to find that the hope and expectation for a simple, hassle free upgrade was not to be.
They have or will eventually learn that afterone or more failed install attempts, the HD icon was flagged with an exclamation and that the only option was to reformat the hard disk. They will then freek out due to lack of backup for the HD contents including mail, itunes, imovie, documents, safari settings, etc., and will have to scramble to backup the data if they can.
If they are lucky and patient, they will be able to eventually speak to an Apple rep who will try to walk them through this frustrating and time consuming precess, but more likely the que will be full. The rep will check your HD and partition settings with you and state that they are not sure why you have to re-format as you already seem to be running the latest GUID format.
I hope that something can be done to alievate the pain of these poor unsuspecting parents!
It is too late for me!
Sufice it to say the a clean install did work.

It is obvious that a clean install on a blank disk will always work.
It is also obvious that not everyone will have a backup or clone before upgrading, trusting that Apple did their job well.
On anything but a plain vanilla box, it seems that the upgrade may not work or may not work properly.
I am sure that most of the installs are flawless and here we are seeing, as it should be, the words of those who need help.
We certainly do not need the gloaters, who by their nature are helpless.
We need good data as to what installs worked and what failed, and why and how to fix it so the next person does not have to suffer the same problems.
I have three boxes to upgrade this week. I may keep one or two at the Tiger level until the X11 stuff is straightened out.

Similar Messages

Used MacBook with no install discs...

I just bought a used MacBook with no install discs for the OS.
I would like to know what my options are for getting the OS.
How much am I going to have to spend to follow the guidlines and EULA?
Thanks

If you don't have your install disks you can get the two gray install disks by callingApple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 They can send them to you for about $16 per disk plus S & H. Just give them your serial number and they'll know which ones you need. With the original disks you also get the iLife that was current when your MacBook was bought included on the #2 disk.
Or you can get Snow Leopard for $29 if you have at least 1gb of RAM and a working DVD drive. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
If you only want iPhoto or other single apps from iLife '11 and iWork '09 you can get them from the App Store after you've upgradedto 10.6.6. iPhoto, iMovie or Garage Band for $15 each and Pages, Keynote or Numbers for $20 each.

I need to do a clean install with Lion. How do I do this. I can't find any doc. to tell me the procedure.

I need to do a clean install with Lion. How do I do this. I can't find any doc. to tell me the procedure.

Follow the instructions at the link I posted
have a lot of old stuff transferred from Mac to Mac to Mac that is slowing down everything
If that included Power PC apps, read here > Lion upgrade questions and answers: Apple Support Communities

Need to do a clean install of Win 7 on my HP Dv7 1464rw. Purchased it with Vista on it and it was up

Need to do a clean install of Win 7 on my Dv7 1464rw. I purchased this computer with Vista on it and HP sent me the upgrade for Win 7 as part of the purchase. Can I reuse these discs or do I need some other disc to do this? Also, Do I need to wipe the hard drive clean or will the install process do that?

Do you have the license key with the Windows 7 upgrade disk? If so you should be able to use it to format and reinstall.
******Clicking the Thumbs-Up button is a way to say -Thanks!.******
**Click Accept as Solution on a Reply that solves your issue to help others**

How to Create a Bootable Flash Drive to do a clean install of Lion. I have tried to use the InstallESD.dmg but it still will not do a clean install so that I do not have to do a reinstall from the Recovery (That just re downloads and takes over 6 hours)?

How to Create a Bootable Flash Drive to do a clean install of Lion. I have tried to use the InstallESD.dmg but it still will not do a clean install so that I do not have to do a reinstall from the Recovery (That just re downloads and takes over 6 hours)?
The system I'm have is a Mac-mini that had SL on it and no SuperDrive. I have also call Apple Support and they have really have not been to much help over 1st did my up grade to Lion and Installed the Lion Server.... it lost my SSL that I paid for and kill almost on of my server setting, plus kill all my web servers (using apache vhosts), and not to say the LDAP will even let remote users login to your laptops.
PS: There is no way that I'm going to buy a Install USB from Apple... They have over billed me over $300.00 because the Apps Store still has bugs (Glad I did not write that App/Service)
If there is anyone that can give in the information to create a USB install stick, I would be very thinkful.

Here you are bro, courtesy of "softpedia.com"....brilliant site!!!
If you ever had problems with your Mac OS X installation you know that the first thing you should do is to check the startup volume using Disk Utility.
After the check has ended and, if the errors exceed a certain level of seriousness, the Disk Utility application will require you to restart your Mac and use its Mac OS X Install disc counterpart.
Other users may have to reinstall OS X altogether, but will find, or already know, that their SuperDrive (a CD/DVD reader and write combo drive) is not functioning properly and it will not be able to read the Install disc.
Although this might happen to Mac OS X Leopard users due to faultyhardware, the vast majority of problematic SuperDrives will be encountered inside Snow Leopard running Macs.
This is due to the updated SuperDrive firmware included in either the Install disc or the software updates one has to install to reach the latest version of OS X, namely 10.6.6.
This can be fixed by flashing the SuperDrive’s stock firmware using free command line tools that one can find for free online (I will write about this process also, but at a later time because this article only focuses on allowing you to create your own alternative USB boot disc).
If you are reading this last bit of information with skepticism, than you should know that it happened to me too. Despite all my tries to make it work properly, the SuperDrive kept on munching any inserted DVDs and just popped them out in about twenty seconds.
The workaround to this issue was to create my own Leopard bootable USB memory stick. I am not suggesting a Snow Leopard bootable stick mainly because there are lots of users that have decided to buy the cheaper, Upgrade version, which I have not tested and, therefore, I’m not sure if it will work properly once written to a USB disk.
And now, here are the exact steps you should follow in order to obtain a fully bootable Leopard (or Lion) Install disc.
Step 1 (If you already have the Leopard install disc DMG file you can skip to Step 2)
Launch Disk Utility (you can find it inside /Applications/Utilities). Here select the Leopard Install disc in the list of drives on the left and click on the New Image menu entry at the top of the window. A save message will appear where you will have to select the Desktop as a destination.
Step 2
After Disk Utility has finished creating the Leopard DMG, insert your USB stick and erase all data and reformat the disk. To do this select the USB in the list of drives on the left and, after clicking on the Erase tab on the right side of the window, choose the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format and click the Erase button beneath.
Step 3
After the USB has been reformatted, download the SuperDuper app from HERE and launch it. Once SuperDuper starts, you will only have to select the DMG in the Copy drop-down menu, your USB memory stick on the right and hit the “Copy Now” button.
One can also use Disk Utility for this task but creating a bootable USB stick failed 2 out 4 times when copying the DMG to the stick (with the exact same settings each time). Creating the bootable stick using SuperDuper proved to be the perfect way to do it because it worked each of the 4 times I tested it.
The steps above can also be used to create a bootable Mac OS X Lion USB by using the InstallESD.dmg image you can find inside the Lion installer (named “Install Mac OS X Lion.app”) downloaded from the Mac App Store in the /Applications folder.
To locate the InstallESD.dmg right click the Lion installer, select the “Show Package Contents” entry, go inside the “Contents” folder, and from there into the “SharedSupport” folder. Inside this folder you can find the InstallESD.dmg you can use to create your own bootable Mac OS X Lion USB stick. To do so, go to the third step described above and use the InstallESD.dmg as the DMG to be copied to your USB disc.
That’s it! Once the process ends you will have a fully bootable Leopard (or Lion) USB disk that you can use as an alternative to the Apple’s DVD Install disc that comes bundled with all Macs.
To use your newly created bootable disk you will have to restart the Mac, press and hold the OPTION key until the StartupManager appears. Here, select the Mac OS X Install disk using your keyboard arrows and press return to start from the selected drive.

Spinning ball problems--need to do a clean install--have questions

Hi
background:
I have a G4 (quicksilver) since July 2002, it came with OS9.2 and OS10.1.3. I've upgraded a few times since and currently have 10.3.9. I mainly work in OS9.2 due to most of my programs being used are only in 9 and the PC network I'm hooked up to likes it better. I boot up in 9.2 -- 80%of the time.
I'm not sure when the problem started in OSX since I'm not working there alot but I started to get the spinning ball in installer, software update and some preferences. So I reloaded (archive/install) from 10.3.5 upgrade disk but couldn't further upgrade to 10.3.9 due to that spinning ball-- still there even after I reloaded 10.3.5.
I've run Disk Utility from the 10.3.5 upgrade disk (repaired disk, repaired permissions) and then I again reloaded (archive install) 10.3.5 and then upgraded to 10.3.9 and this time it worked because I went immediately to the 10.3.9 to install.
BUT I still have the spinning balls in almost everything. Almost seems worse now. I can't even use Disk Utility from the utility folder on my mac without getting the spinning ball.
OS9.2 is fine and I would like to leave it that way.
But it's looking like I need to do a clean install--which means I'll have to reload OS9.2 -- correct?
My question is for a clean install do I need to go back to the original disks that came with my Mac (OS10.1.3) or can I do a clean install with the 10.3.5 upgrade disks. And if I do a clean install from 10.3.5 can I still install OS9.2?
Also what are those Software Restore disks for? They came with the original set of CDs, are they used in the clean install?
Thanks for any help you can give
Power Mac G4 (quicksilver) Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 quicksilver Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Keith:
Welcome to Apple Discussions.
You really should start a new topic, as threadjacking is frowned upon in these Forums.
The spinning ball or the beachball effect is a result of the computer spinning its wheels, so to speak, as it does not have sufficient computing power to deal with the task at hand. This can be caused by many things.
I am almost certain that it has nothing to do with the latest Panther update. I did them all with no problem.
Is there a way to deal with it?
1. Sufficient RAM
2. Sufficient available HDD capacity.
3. Regular maintenance.
4. Repairing Disk Permisssions before and after any installations.
In terms of RAM you should aim to max out your RAM if you can. I don't have much information on your computer specs so I can't give any more specific information about that.
You should have 10 to 15 percent of your internal HDD as free space. This gives your computer room for virtual memory to be most efficient.
Here is an article on maintenace that has good advice and links to resources: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607640&#607640
In addition to repairing permissions, another simple procedure is to reset the PRAM. You should boot from your install disk and run Repair Disk from Disk Utility on the install disk. I run monthly diagnostics and repairs with Tech Tool Pro or Disk Warrior. In addition running regular CRON cleaning with a utility like MacJanitor, Cocktail, Macaroni or Onyx (all linked in the article above) keeps your machine running smoothly and minimizes the potential for major problems.
I think I have given you enough to chew on for now. Post back if you have further questions.
Good luck.
cornelius

I need to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp what disk do i use and how do i move certain files from an external hard drive

I want to do a clean install of maverick on my 2010 mbp. I need to know what disk to use and also how i take certain files off my external hard drive and put on my computer. When I was having problems with my airport they did a clean install and they pulled files of my time machine.   however they forgot to put the partition back in for a windows side. Originally I had Parellels on my computer. After my external hard drive got corrupted i called apple and they fixed the problem but didn't have me set up the time machine except for the external hard drive. Now my only back up is from the external not from the laptop.    I am not sure how to do any of this. I am not computer savvy...PLEASE I NEED HELP>

First, you need to make a backup of your MBP onto your external drive. I suggest you start by cloning your MBP drive to the external drive:
Clone Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
     1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu then press the Continue
         button.
     2. Select the destination volume from the left side list.
     3. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
     4. Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it
         to the Destination entry field.
     5. Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to
         the Source entry field.
     6. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
This clone is fully bootable and also contains a clone of your Recovery HD.
Second, you need to do a clean install of OS X onto your MBP as follows:
Install or Reinstall Mavericks or Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
OS X Mavericks- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Erase and reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Erase and reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should accomplish your goals. You will have a clean install of OS X on your MBP and a bootable clone of your old system and all your files on the external drive.

Upgrade from Vista to Windows 7 with clean install

I want to install Windows 7 on my Equium U-400 laptop with clean install in order to save space in my C drive. The question is how will I restore all Toshiba bundled software that my laptop came with. There is a HDD Recovery folder in the second partition but I am afraid that using this will re-install Windows Vista as well. Any help or ideas?

>The question is how will I restore all Toshiba bundled software that my laptop came with.
This software is bundled in recovery image only and cannot be downloaded from Toshiba download page. Just when you use recovery image you will have possibility to use this additional software.
With additional software I mean Toshiba CD/DVD player, trail Office version or preinstalled antivirus application.
All other stuff like Toshiba tools and utilities can be downloaded from Toshiba download page.
http://eu.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/download_drivers_bios.jsp

Do you have to down load from the internet using apple's recover partition, every time you need to do a clean install? or can you make a copy of Mt Lion onto a USB stick and install off that?

Do you have to down load Mountain Lion from the internet every time you need to do a clean install? or can you make a copy of Mt Lion onto a USB stick and install off that?
Thanks

Yes you can make a USB stick of Lion or Mt Lion. Use Lion Disk Maker after you download OS X from the internet.
For Lion you have to point the download to an external drive and watch when it completes and reboots the system to start the install disconnect the external. If you bought Mt Lion from the Mac App Store then you can download it from there and just cancel the install when it comes up on the desktop.
If you are downloading from the Recovery HD or from the Online Internet Recovery system, slightly different then the built in Recovery HD, then again you need to point it to an external drive and discoonect that drive when the system reboots to start the real install.
Then use Lion disk maker to create either a DVD disc or USB thumb of the install files.

Issues with clean install of Snow Leopard in Leopard MacBook

Hi all,
This is the sequence of events:
1) MacBook from 2007, running Leopard.
2) Got Snow Leopard, did the install on top of the existing OS, just as an "update".
2) After machine restarts, several issues were detected, apparently all OS related: Finder crashed, Apple Mail didn't even open, etc.
3) Download software update from Apple.com (for "performance improvement"). Installer itself crashes!! Can't install update.
4) Decided to go for a clean install with complete restore of hard drive
5) Put in Snow Leopard DVD, boot from it, erase and format hard drive. Got a "Can´t install... contact the manufacturer" error.
6) Don't have my original Leopard OS DVDs at hand at the moment, but will try that later.
Question is: to do a clean install, after restoring the hard drive, do I need to install Leopard first, and only after that Snow Leopard?
(I tried installing Leopard from the DVDs of another MacBook (2008), that didn´t work either. I gather it could be small hardware differences, so I'm still hopeful for when I try with my original restore DVDs...)
Any help will be greatly appreciated!! I mean, this is was supposed to be a no-brainer... :-/

a brody wrote:
1. You have some peripheral or RAM that is not compatible with the installation.
See my FAQ*: http://www.macmaps.com/badram.html if there are no peripherals attached. You need a minimum of 1 GB of RAM to install Snow Leopard.
1. No peripherals. RAM is only what came with original machine. Have 2GB.
a brody wrote:
2. Your machine has some hardware issue preventing installation:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1509
2. Will verify this later with the original installation CDs. It would be bad news... my MAC was running completely fine before Snow Leopard!!
a brody wrote:
3. You are using the wrong installer disc. For a 2007 machine, only a copy of Snow Leopard which looks like * that does not say Upgrade or DropIn or OEM will work.
3. I have an Install DVD, just like that one.
Thanks a lot for the input! Greatly appreciated.

MacBook Pro Core i5 10.6.5 (problems with formatting and clean install)

A friend of mine is wanting to sell me his brand new MacBook pro. He wants to wipe the hard drive and get me back to the way he received it. He does not have the cd's that came with it to do this. Me being a pretty avid computer technician I tried every possible way of restoring this laptop and wiping the hard drive. Since its running the newest os 10.6.5 I cannot seem to access a cd or usb drive with snow leopard 10.6.3 to wipe and reinstall. Its like the only cd that will work is the one that came with the laptop in the first place. Something to do with recognizing the newest hardware. Now I tried on a last years addition Macbook with a 10.6 cd and was able to access the cd and usb dmg image without a problem, but when I try on this core i5 macbook I cannot access either usb or dvd. Does anyone have any input to share with me. If you have any questions whatsoever I will answer them np.

Yeah he is a rich kid who really doesnt care, he dropped it and did very minor damage. Put it this way he doesnt want to bother with it, so he is selling me the macbook for a 1,000 dollars and just requested that I do a complete wipe. Of course after screwing with it for a few hours I told him he needs to order backup cd's. The problem is he might change his mind by the time he ever gets around to getting the cd's. Anyway I was hoping someone might just have a little secret on what might or might not work in my situation. I mean what is the real difference between last years model and this years model the hardware correct? No upgrade cd is going to have anything newer than what is on the laptop currently. Is there a beta cd newer than 10.6.5. I just need to find a dmg image 10.6.5 or newer to complete my task. Anything older will not work.

I need help doing a clean install.( keyboard shortcuts?).Macbook will not read any of the disks/ turns off

I installed a new 'used' Logic board, im my macbook 13.3 and it turned right on!..( i was out of warrenty)
Apple logo and spiing wheel, then turns off..
After reading several forums, I went into self mode, did the 2 checks within in and got an error which pointed to the OS software being currupted..
so I have inserted the Os disk, the disk-repair disk and a disk warrior disk, but none of them are being read. I hear the Macbook starting to read the disk then the disks are ejected and the systen turns off.
Is there a way i can do a clean install on the HD? shortcut keyboard shortcuts?
or force the disks to be read as the first boot device like of that in a PC's bios settup?
I have no data on the computer that I wish to save btw.. just want a fresh install..
thanks for any help in advance.

Unfortunately the necessary software to reinstall your OS is not located on the hard drive. If your MacBook will not accept the disks you have you are going to need a hardware repair, probably the optical drive.
If you have access to another MacBook you may be able to install the OS on an external hard drive and use that to boot your MacBook. You may then be able to get any data off of your hard drive.
Best of luck.

Need to do a clean install, important questions

Hi all,
For several months my two-year-old MacBook has been having a serious typing issue that I have not been able to resolve. When I am typing, quite frequently, the typing will move to the middle of the text box (or Word document) and start writing over or deleting what I've already wrote. I've searched online, other people have suffered this problem, but there is no definitive solution. I will not go further into this, but if you know what might fix the problem please let me know.
Anyway...
Per the suggestion of a friend, I plan on doing a clean install to Snow Leopard. Since this sounds like a software issue, I am hoping this will resolve my typing problem. I have never done a clean install before and need to purchase an external hard drive. Everything must go seamlessly, as I am a college student and have very important docs and applications that must safely be transferred back. This is what I'm looking at:
- 40 GB of media files in iTunes
- 10 GB of photos in iPhoto
- 0.5 GB of text documents
~ 30 GB of applications (Office, Adobe Suite, etc.)
My friend told me I will need the install discs for Office and Adobe Suite in addition to to the serial numbers. I live far away from home now, and am not even sure if the install disc for Office is still in my hometown. Adobe Suite came preloaded on my MacBook when I purchased it from Apple with a student discount (there were never any install discs). It is very crucial that I am able to transfer the Adobe Suite.
Will I be able to transfer all these documents/applications to an external drive? If so, could you provide me a tutorial on how to go about this process.
I greatly appreciate all help.

You are very welcome.
"I just learned that external hard drives are either Windows or Mac compatible. You said I needed one that works with Firewire 800, but what about USB 2.0? I'm not even sure if this MacBook is Firewire 400 or 800."
Almost all drives will work on either. What matters is how the drives are formatted. If you were to buy a drive, things might be a tiny bit easier if it came formatted the way you want. If the firewire port is oblong, then it is 400. If it is pretty square, then it is 800. 800 is better than USB 2.0 which probably is better than 400. You can get USB 2.0 that are bootable, but I don't know that all of them are. You can be almost certain that a firewire 800 or 400 will be bootable. You need one that will bootable, of course.
"What exactly is the migration process? You said it will prompt me to migrate (transfer to external hard drive?) after I've put in the Snow Leopard install disc? I assumed I would be manually transferring the files and applications to the external hard drive before putting in Snow Leopard. So you are saying I will be able to transfer my applications such as Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office without needing the original discs or even entering in the serial numbers?"
Yes, to the last sentence. It wouldn't work to transfer things to the drive before installing the OS. At the end of an erase and install of SL, you will be prompted to migrate, or restore, your users, settings, apps, and data. I would migrate the apps and data, but not the users and settings. You would elect to migrate from your Leopard installation (i.e., from an earlier system).
"Thanks again for the reply. I will go ahead with buying an external hard drive as soon as the first question is cleared up."
A good thing to do is to see what is carried at the Apple Stores. One brand I like is LaCie, but they can be more expensive than some. The manager at "my" store is willing to do price matching on drives they carry. Another brand (not Apple oriented) that I like is Buffalo. Newegg.com and Frys tend to have good prices on these. You can get a 1 TB 7200 RPM Buffalo for < $140.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

X200 SSD (Solid State Drive) with clean-install of Vista or XP?

Hi all,
I apologize for starting a new thread on a new forum; however, I am running out of research time.
I am about to buy a X200 with the 64GB SSD (Solid State Drive) (and it needs to be bought by tomorrow Can I ask couple questions? :
1) I am legally using this for business purposes with an MSDN license, so I can and will install any clean OS immediately. With the option to install any Windows OS; which will work best [or at all] with the SSD? (I have read conflicting articles, but most are outdated due to SSD's being so new.)
2) With only the SSD and without a MediaBase, I read several guides such as This Thread on this Forum on how "fun" a clean install can be...are there any extra difficulties with the SSD?
I am a software engineer and would normally piece this together my research; however, I am running out of time before I have to decide if the SSD is a viable and installable option at this time (and if I should buy it!)
Thanks a lot!
MikeY

Hello to all.
I'd like to know why AHCI mode is being suggested to use for SSD's? Please tell me why. I just don't understand. I think using Raid 0 Array would be the better choice. How does AHCI mode vary compaired to Raid 0 ? Is AHCI a better Mode? Does it give better performance then Raid 0?
I see alot of you are having problems setting up SSD's. I have read the first thing you need to do is make sure the firmware on any SSD you use should be updated.
I also see a lot of people here talking about the need to install Raid drivers. This is true with all other OS's, but I have found that after a fresh format, even on a new HD, I just installed Win 7 64 bit ultimate I went right into device manager to see what drivers are needed, & to my surprise all the drivers were already installed, including Raid driver & controller. I set up my Raid 0 Array at the F10 prompt, rebooted with OS disk with master drive after setting up boot sequence, & continued from there no problem with 2 150GB Raptor HD's in Raid 0.
I have gone as far as to use a Western Digital HD CD utility disc that has a write zero utility & used it to fast write zero's to the first 63 tracks & sectors including track 0 sector 0 where the MBR is written, & I've reformatted & reinstalled Win 7 from that point, & all the drivers still get auto installed. You can go right into device manager & see for your self. The only driver I ever need my be a sound driver update & Graphics driver. I'm not forgetting that the drivers that are auto installed are generic & may need updating, but what I'm saying is, I haven't seen any yellow question marks or exclamation points in device manager like you do with other OS's before Win 7.

I need to do a "clean install" How do I retain my passwords, etc?

I intend to purchase a new hard drive and do a clean install of OSX 10.4, but I shudder to think that I won't be able to restore all of my passwords, iChat stuff, e-mails address books, etc.
Is there a method? I have used 'carbon copy cloner" in the past to duplicate my current system on a new drive, but now I need to start from scratch, as I was informed that some of my system problems are due to updating from earlier OSX versions....
Any advice?

So much for that.... here is the synposis:
I am a professional mixer. I have a private high end mix room in Manhattan.
I use Apple Logic pro running on a G5 dual 2Ghz tower as my main transport and have several racks which contain all of my outboard signal processing (nearly 60 channels of outboard compression EQ and other processors).
I rely on the MOTU PCI-424 and 2 HD192 and one 1296 interfaces as my patchbay for this gear. Insert latency is compensated by a plugin I invented called "latency fixer" which was implemented by the UK based 'OS collective" and is available as freeware.
I have a separate, internal 10,000rpm hard drive which stores only the audio tracks for the current mix project. I also have a UAD-1 card which I use very sparingly, usually only one active plugin. I always use the largest possible Core Audio buffer setting (1024samples) and the Uad-1 driver apparently doubles that figure.
Recently I added a Duende to the system. Initially I had very dubious luck getting audio through this device without dropouts and random temporal anomolies, i.e. If I inserted the Duende on a few of the drum tracks, these tracks would randomly shift in time by several hundred milliseconds. Not good. I became aware that OS X had serious problems with random latency when using aggregate audio drivers, and upon further investigation learned that there was an identical problem when using a firewire based audio interface. According to reports online, Apple ignored this issue for more than 2 years, but when Apogee released it's "Ensemble" firewire interface, the iShit hit the iFan, so to speak. They quickly addressed this problem by rewriting the kernel level firewire driver.
This new driver was sent to me and I installed it on my 10.4.5 OS. This fixed the random latency issue in my aggregate interface driver, and seemed to improve the performance of the Duende as well. Recently I have again been experiencing the random time shifts when using the Duende.
It's a professional embarrassment in my system. I find myself spending 4 hours on a mix and 6 hours troubleshooting the system in order to print the mix without spurious noises.
I was advised by apple that a clean install of OSX would improve the situation. I did a clean install of OS 10.4.8 and the problems with the Duende are actually worse than they were under 10.4.5.
I would appreciate any thoughtful advice about how to remedy this problem.

Despite recent macbook with GUID, still needed re-format with clean install

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