Format Macbook Pro Hard Drive Using Firewire?

I'm selling my Macbook Pro and the buyer said when formatting my harddrive, I don't need to reinstall the OS (10.6.8) because he is going to install 10.7 on it. This is good news for me because I don't have the OS installation disk anymore. I read somewhere that it could be possible to format my hard drive using another Mac (my roommate has a Macbook so that works) but I can't seem to find exact instructions. Any help would be much appreciated!

https://support.apple.com/kb/ht1661
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3191
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3172
https://discussions.apple.com/community/notebooks/macbook_pro?view=documents

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Trouble re-formatting Macbook Pro Hard drive

I've recently had to reformat my 13" Macbook Pro Unibody and have been unable to do so. I've done it previous times before however now, I recieve a POSIX error as well as others regarding an "input/output error" or that it is "unable to allocate the memory."
So far I've tried booting from the disk and used disk utility (that's where I get the errors) and I've tried to format using terminal to no avail. I recieve the same errors. I've come across suggestions to use "gparted." I was able to create a partition however it is not recognized when I go into terminal or try to install OSX 10.6. Can someone walk me through or point me in the right direction to re-format my hard drive? I'd appreciate the help and would rather resolve the problem my self with the help of others rather than going to the Apple store and spending loads of money I don't have. Should you need more information feel free to ask and I will provide.
Message was edited by: CapKid

I found a ton of other threads and posts about this problem... most of them were talking about external drives connected via USB (which worked fine with FireWire for some reason), but I found one who had the same exact problem as you with a 13" MacBook Pro internal drive.
That guy said that he replaced the hard drive cable (the one that connects the drive to the logic board) and everything worked fine.
It seems to be some type of firmware issue. And now that I think about it, I had a client machine with a similar problem at one point. We ended up sending the machine to Apple (it was still under AppleCare) and they did in fact replace the hard drive cable due to "firmware issues."
I would give that a try. It seems to be most logical being that you had the same problem with two different hard drives.

Format Macbook Pro Hard Drive without a keyboard

HI, I have a macbook pro with a water damaged keyboard that I am selling for parts. I need to know if there is anyway to delete all of content and or format the HD without the use of an apple keyboard. I have a cheap external keyboard i am using that does not have the apple command and options key. Anyone have any ideas?

You could simply remove the hard drive.
Weather you choose to reformate it in an external enclosure would be up to you, if you think for parts it should be included.
You can buy a Apple bluetooth keyboard from Best buy and see if you can get it to connect, either way you have 15 days to return it.

My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

My MacBook Pro hard drive is almost full and I wish to store my Aperture Library on an external drive, how do I do this and is the use of USB2 suitable or do I need to use a Firewire external hard drive?

You'll get better performance if you use a Firewire hard drive (especially if you buy a 7200 RPM drive). Firewire's IO speed is significantly faster than USB 2. USB 2 has a theoretical max speed of 480 Mbps except that it has extremely high over-head. The fastest speeds you can typically get are about 300 Mbps. Firewire, on the other hand, has very little overhead. The fastest speeds you can get are very nearly 800 Mbps. You will typically be constrained by the maximum read/write speed of the drive, not the speed of the I/O on the Firewire bus. Now if you had one of those nice shiny new Macs with the Thunderbolt I/O and a Thunderbolt drive (Light Peak) ... I think they alter space and time so that your data arrives before you know you want it.
Also... unless you want to buy a solid state drive (very expensive), try to keep your hard drives from becoming much more than about 60% full if you want great performance. A nearly "full" hard drive is, on average, only about half as fast as the same hard drive when nearly empty.
USB 2 will work perfectly fine... just not as fast.
Also... it's much safer to move the entire Aperture library than to "relocate masters". Your images must be managed. You can Aperture manage them, or you can manage them. But someone has to manage them. If you "relocate" them so that they are no longer stored inside the Aperture library then you'll need to work out a system of how you decide to organize things and it's critically important that you don't start moving files around or deleting things without Aperture's knowledge. If you do, you'll break the links to your masters and start having problems with missing masters. If you have Aperture manage the library then you don't need to worry about any of that stuff.... it's safer.
Do make backups (use the Aperture Vault or use some other backup program, but make sure you back up your work if you care about it.) There are only two kinds of hard drives in the world: (1) those that have failed and (2) those that are going to fail. There are no exceptions to this rule. Hard drives are cheap. Backup software is built into Aperture and into your Mac.

My macbook pro hard drive died. I only have a windows hard drive and an old powerbook G4 which of course you can't use to create a boot disk for my macbook. How can I solve this?

I can't get app store on my old power book to download OS X, My macbook pro hard drive died and all I have is a windows hard drive, still has windows os on it, a 500 Gb USB drive and this power book. How can I get my macbook back up without spending money? Thanks

And what happens if the OPs Mac is of a newer version that came with a version of Snow Leopard above the 10.6.3 version that is on that Retail, meant for Upgrade, disc? Like if it came with 10.6.4/.5/.6/.7? That disc you linked to would not work.
He needs to contact Apple and get a replacement set of Original System Reinstall Discs. That is the only way he can be assured it will work and he would also get the iLife apps which he wouldn't buying that DVD disc you linked to.
dwb wrote:
The Snow Leopard DVD is $20 from Apple. You'll just have to wait a few days. BTW this is a full installer that works with any model computer that can run SL. Apple used to ship recovery/installation disks that were tied to specific computer models so that a 15" MBP installer disk coudn't be used on a 13" MBP computer. So you need either full installer or the recovery disks for your specific model.
And BTW, I have a 2009 13" MBP w/8GB RAM that is running Mavericks. With a 5400 RPM drive I used to experience a bit of beach balling (think hour glassing) but an SSD has given it new life. It feels now slower than the newest MBPs - it obviously benchmarks considerably slower but in everyday use it doesn't feel like a 4 1/2 year old computer at all.

New aperture library to ensure no space used on MacBook Pro hard drive

Hi
My laptop MacBook Pro hard drive is getting full (again). I mainly have photos on my laptop and iTunes. Using referenced files and having the raw photos stored on an external drive still eats up lots of GBs. If I create a new Aperture library on a portable external drive (that I can back up on Time Machine) is this the best way to ensure my photos are available to edit, but that no GBs of my hard drive are used up as I import to the NEW library on the 1TB portable external drive.
Are there any disadvantages or other ways to prevent any more hard drive GBs being used?
And should the new library NOT be referenced since the photos will be on the external portable until it fills up.
Many thanks
BW

Hi Kirkby
Appreciate your help and useful link. I think I have been doing exactly as you recommend to date, using my laptop internal drive to store the library etc. and a portable external drive FW800 for my referenced originals, together with iMovie clips for the same events/years. But my external is now full. And my internal drive is OK but I don't want to add more GBs to it.
It is the next step I am pondering. The main problem being to avoid any extra laptop internal GBs being used up.
I usually need access to originals and iMovie clips for the same event on one drive. My iMovie projects include both.
I could buy a 2TB portable drive and move all my originals to it, and even also the library but really I would prefer to have two externals and choose which one to connect, as required for Aperture and iMovie. And I would like maximum growing room on any new drive I buy.
(I back up my lap top and each external drive to time machine, and put my photos from memory card onto a DVD as unedited originals. I have usb2 and FW800 and FW400 only)
It's the best storage of new original photos and clips, and not eating up my last 50gb of my laptop drive, while enabling easy access to my most recent pics to enable more convenient editing, that are my issues. I don't want to have to sit at my desktop with a large external drive while editing.
Is anything daft or disadvantageous about creating a new aperture library on a new external portable drive to store and enable access to all my new photos from 2014 onwards? I realise I would have to switch to the old library and connect another external drive for pre 2014 access. And would this mean NOT eating up any more laptop internal drive GBs?
Thank you again
BW

TS1338 I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine. My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean. I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. Wayne

I have 4 Trojan Horse viruses on my external drive I use for Time Machine. My MacBook Pro hard drive is clean. I have eased the external drive 3 times using Disk Utility and it still has the 4 Trojan Horse viruses. How do I get rid of them. I am using 10.8.3 Wayne

ksu62 wrote:
The infection names are: classload.jar-719ef6a5.zip
                                          classload.jar-5db452le31.zip
                                          ar3.jar-6ce3b2f-45l483f.zip
                                          classload.jar-lef99412-63bsd3fl.zip
Those look alot like file names and not infection names. I don't find any reference to anything like that on Norton or VirusTotal. Since you said these were Trojans, I would expect to see "Trojan" as part of the infection name.
".jar" files are executable Java applets. The random alpha-numerics would seem to indicate a cache file, likely from a browser with Java enabled. And we all know what ".zip" means.
Worst case is that you had Java enabled in a browser and were infected by one of the late variants of the Flashback Trojan over a year ago or one of a couple of other attacks using the same vulnerability but targetted against a small number of political sympathizers. Much more probable is that thes were Windows only Trojans. Hopefully you have a fully up-to-date OS X, including Java, and have disabled Java in all your browsers by now.

My MacBook Pro Hard Drive recently gave me the gray folder with the question mark of death. Even as

My MacBook Pro Hard Drive recently gave me the gray folder with the question mark of death. Even as a Mac Newbie/Novice, I successfully installed a new hard drive and the OS (10.6.8) software from my installation discs. I have, however, lost the ability to play video using the spacebar and I have no idea on the steps necessary to correct this seemingly simple technical blip. .Here's my system overview:Model Name: MacBook Pro Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2 Processor Name: Intel Core i5 Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz Number Of Processors: 1 Total Number Of Cores: 2 L2 Cache (per core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 3 MB Memory: 4 GB Processor Interconnect Speed: 4.8 GT/s.
I am using the Premiere Pro CS5 NLE (with the 5.0.4 updates), and I have tried to reinstall the software (which is actually the Production Premium package) several times, but I still cannot use the spacebar (or any method) to play any of my imported videos.
PLEASE HELP in any way you can!
Prior to having to replace my hard drive, my software was working just fine. No problems at all. But now, it seems that I can't get it to play whatever type of file I import.
Again, I am a newbie to the Mac, so any and all correctional/repair assistance needs to be expalined as if I were a child : )
I would hate to try to revert to considering the sophmoric Final Cut Pro X editing software package, but I've got to do something to be able to get back to my editing activities.
zionhall
[email protected]

Jorge242 wrote:
@FatMac the internet recovery doesnt work. It goes into recovery mode and then when i try to reinstall it cant find a disk to install it to. So what would be a good choice to take now?
Recovery Mode presents you with, among other things, Disk Utility. When you open that, if the internal shows up at all, first try to "Repair DIsk." If that doesn't work but if the "Media" line is present, try to format and partition it with a GUID partition table (understand that you will be erasing the contents of your internal). Then try to reinstall the OS. If that doesn't work, and since your Retina MBP didn't come with a DVD drive or DVDs, you'll need to try a hardware test using these instructions from Apple (short version: shut down, press the power button and hold down the "D" key). If none of those things work, let's hope you either have AppleCare or your warranty has some life left because the SSD in your rMBP is proprietary and expensive. You'll need to bring it to an Apple Genius for evaluation.

Can I Replace my Early 2009 Mac Mini Hard Drive with my Early 2011 Macbook Pro Hard Drive?

I am replacing my 2011 Macbook Pro Hard Drive with a Solid State Drive. Instead of keeping the hard drive on an external enclosure I was wondering if I can use it to upgrade my Mac Mini's 160GB hard Drive with the one Im taking out of the MBP. And if so, is there any special formatting I would need to do?

It should work fine. No special formatting required. It actuality, I suspect that if you connect the HD, the Mini will boot into the OSX that was on the MacBook.
When you replace the HD in the Mini just be careful with the antennas and their wires and connections I accidentally disconnected the wifi antenna on mine when I replaced the HD.

New 15" Macbook Pro hard drive failure

It is common for a 15" Macbook Pro hard drive to crash after 3 months? How does Apple Support generally fix? Genuis bar seemed overwhelmed by holiday crowds and recommended an $8k 3rd party vendor.

"Any disk can fail at any time."
Over a large sample, the drives used are extremely reliable. You did not have a large sample, you had ONE drive.
Now you are much smarter than you were before this disaster. Apple will not pay for your data recovery. You (and everyone) need a backup solution.
Apple provides an excelent backup solution called Time Machine, that can do hourly backups to an external drive without disturbing your current work. Buy yourself an external drive at least twice as large as the built-in. Turn on Time machine, make sure it is working, plug it in at least daily, and then don't worry about it any more.

2011 Macbook Pro Hard Drive Upgrade?

Hi. I am looking at upgrading my 2011 Macbook Pro hard drive. I want to get a 7200 RPM hard drive. I have been looking on Newegg and doing some research, and from what I can tell, the 2011 Macbook Pro uses a 3.0GB/s interface. If I were to buy a hard drive that has a different interface, like a 6.0GB/s interface, would it be compatible? Does anyone know the sizing for an MBP hard drive?
Also, it doesn't matter who the manufactorer is right?
And finally, does anyone have any recommendations?

But in my Honest opinion I don't think you'll really notice the difference between the 5400 and 7200 rpm unless your rendering large video files or transfering large amounts of data to an external or USB drive. But again you'll be limited on the speed of the external connections that your transferring too... If you really want to notice a difference, get the SSD with a Sata 3 or 6.0GBs connection speed. But the difference between a 5400 and 7200 rpm drive for normal tasks is almost negligable, you probably won't even notice the difference, but if you get the SSD you'll definately notice a difference in boot time, transfer speed, video rendering speed, copying speed of large files, etc...

Early 2008 MacBook Pro hard drive was killed; how to sync stuff

My early 2008 MacBook Pro hard drive was reimaged (not by me) and they lost everything on there, and have now put in a new hard drive, saying nothing was salvageable on the original HD. I have an iPhone, iPod, iPad. When i get the MBP back, how will I be able to get those devices synced so that everything I've bought/have goes back onto the HD?
The original HD was being reimaged because my work requires use of Windows, and I was using Windows via Boot Camp. Windows got a terrible rogue virus (from my clicking on a link), which shut everything down on that side. Work tech folks said they needed to reimage the Windows part of the drive, but said in the process, the reimaging took everything, Mac stuff included. That's why I'm in this situation. They are going to put in a new hard drive, but it is a blank slate.
Long story short: last time I backed up was 2 years ago, and it wasn't using Time Machine, but an external hard drive. That was also before I got my current iPhone, the iPad and made some additions to iTunes. (For those who say shame on me, for not doing a backup sooner, you're right: But we have gone through 3 moves in 18 months, so it has been kinda nuts.)
I expect the MBP to get sent back to me in the next day. I have no idea how to put these pieces back together. I'm not even sure about data recovery, but am most concerned about iTunes/iPhone/iPod/iPad.
Thanks for your help!

suzannemacuser wrote:
Long story short: last time I backed up was 2 years ago, and it wasn't using Time Machine, but an external hard drive. That was also before I got my current iPhone, the iPad and made some additions to iTunes.
Two years ago??? Shame on you!!!
I found this the other day. It's old but still applies. This should be more than enough to help you get back on track. See the comments by Zevoneer
https://discussions.apple.com/message/7217190#7217190
You will have to check on each of these. Some of the links are outdated but there is more than enough to get you started. See this article about transferring purchases. The link is in the other thread as well.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1848?viewlocale=en_US
Backup! Backup! Backup!
Message was edited by: Demo

Transferring files from MacBook Pro hard drive to Time Capsule

I recently bought a Time Capsule. I know I can use that as an external hard drive to save disc space on my MacBook Pro. How can I transfer files that are already on my MacBook Pro hard drive to the time capsule? For instance, I have videos of my daughter saved on MacBook Pro that I can view on iTunes or transfer them to either my iPhone or iPod Touch. Is there a way to either move individual files or the entire folder to Time Capsule?
Thank you!

Open the folder and drag the contents over.

Is it possible to partition my MacBook pro Hard drive?

I want to partition my MacBook Pro hard drive. is that possible? And if yes, How do i go about it? Thanks

Use the Disk Utility in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder to create a new partition of the desired size. Note that if you use Boot Camp, repartitioning the drive may disable it.
(72049)

My very expensive 2010 MacBook Pro hard drive died over a year ago (never bothered to fix it as the dvd drive had also failed so not worth it). Nevertheless, I finally decided to sync my iPhone to the replacement laptop pc and it wiped out all the music

My very expensive 2010 MacBook Pro hard drive died over a year ago. I finally synced my iPhone to the replacement laptop pc and it wiped out all the music on the phone including most of the purchases. Can I get the music back (restore didn't help)?

Okay, I finally got the couple of songs left on the phone to play by uninstalling and reinstalling itunes on the pc and re syncing. The last version I installed (just prior to my original post) failed to start due to some unspecified error?!?. Great!. But I still couldn't sync the itunes purchases from the PC to the iPhone. Then, after about an hour of googling and reading assorted posts mostly about using google to resolve the issue, I finally figured out that I have to actually download ALL the purchased albums from iCloud back onto the iPhone! There are hundreds of them, and some are not even available anymore.
Why do I have to do that when I originally purchased and downloaded all the music to the phone? Why are they all on the PC to begin with and why won't they go to the phone via the USB cable? Why didn't all the music get wiped out on the phone when I synced with the dodgy itunes I had to uninstall. never mind.
I accept that all my original music from cds and shared collections is gone on the failed mbp hard drive, but how come this once okay experience has become a trauma? Hundreds of songs to download all over again, sheesh, this has not exactlybeen a "That Was Easy" experience guys.

Format Macbook Pro Hard Drive Using Firewire?

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