Just installed new hard drive in mac book pro 15", when trying to boot OSX from original disk I still get a folder with a question mark in it. How can I reinstall the OS?

Can't seem to get my mac book to boot from the CD after installing new hard drive.
I keep holding down "c" while restarting the machine with the disk in but it just keeps ejecting the disk and giving me a folder with a question mark.

If your on 10.5 with a Intel Mac, I think Apple has jinxed the firmware so you can't boot from the 10.5 disk anymore.
So far several people, myself included, can't boot from a 10.5 OS X disk on a Intel Mac.
Your going to have to buy a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard retail disk, it's wayyy better than 10.5 anyway, faster and most stable even better than Lion. Have to buy iLife though as it doesn't come on the 10.6.3 retail disks, only free with grey disks.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
https://discussions.apple.com/message/16276201#16276201

Similar Messages

Installed New Hard Drive in Mac Book

Please help.
I installed a new Hard Drive in my Mac Book as my old one is bad. I am trying to install Leopard. I have reached the screen to select a destination and there is nothing I can pick from in the window.
Can someone help with the next step, please.

Hi Sumo,
Have you already formatted your new hard drive using Disk Utility? Be sure to format as Mac OS Extended as you'll be fine. That may be why you're not able to pick a drive to install Leopard.
After formatting the drive then you should be able to progress to installing Leopard onto the drive. From there just follow the directions.
Good luck.

Best way to transfer everything on new hard drive for mac book pro

Hi have a mid-2009 macbook pro with 4 GB ram and 250 GB hard drive, which is full now. I just bought 8 GB RAM to speed it up and a new 1 TB hard drive. I am running latest Lion (that I downloaded from mac app store - I have the original install DVD for Snow leopard). What would be the best and cleanest way to transfer everything (OSX, applications, data, files, user preferences, passwords, etc from the old hard drive to the new one)^
1- I heard I can hook the new hard drive via USB and do a clean install of my Snow leopard DVD, then update to Lion via mac app store. Then how do I transfer everything else?
2- I also heard about carbon copy cloner, but somewhere it says there is a file in Lion that this will not copy.
Anybody have any helpfull answers?
thanks
Naniners

My suggestion would be to use Migration Assistant. This program you have in your Utilities folder and once you hook up your old Hard Drive to the new computer via USB or Target Disk mode, it will pretty much direct you on how to do the whole process. If you have any other questions, let me know.
Migration Assistant steps for 10.6xxx
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4413
Migration Assistant steps for 10.7xxx
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4889
I've done this many times and it works very well.

How to Mount a hard drive to MAC BOOK PRO?

How to Mount a hard drive to MAC BOOK PRO?

What kind of hard drive? If it's an external USB hard drive, just plug it in to a USB port. It will mount automatically.

Hard drive upgrade Mac book pro

hello all i just replaced my hard drive in Mac mini and was wondering if that drive could fit in Mac book pro.

So you want someone here to research whether tha'll work? Can't you do that?

Installing CS6 on a replacement hard drive (same Mac Book Pro)

I am running the latest version of CS 6 on an older (2008) 15" Mac Book Pro (OSX 10.8.2), when I'm away on assignment. The original 200GB hard drive needs to be replaced and in preparation I've cloned the complete system onto an external hard drive. I'll be replacing the original hard drive with a larger (1TB) version and can clone everything back onto the newly installed hard drive when it arrives. But in the "test" I tried today, PS CS6 would not open. How do I go about installing my legally obtained and paid for copy of CS6 onto the new hard drive? Do I de activate the present version, then download a copy to the new hard drive and activate it that way or will that be seen as a third machine, since I have one copy on a desk top and once on the old hard drive in the Mac Book Pro. I just don't want to loose a CS6 activation?
TYhanks for any wisdom on this
David

Do I de activate the present version, then download a copy to the new hard drive and activate it that way
Exactly. All Adobe programs must be properly installed for the licensing system to work. If you have trouble and get warnings, call support to reset activations.
Mylenium

Just installed new hard drive yet it's not picking it up.

A few days ago I couldn't figure out why my MacBook wouldn't get past the white start up screen. I found that it was caused because my hard drive was dead. I went out and picked up a new hard drive. I just installed it. No problems getting it installed. But I've put in my os cd to install it on my new hard drive. It starts up, goes to the walkthough for installation, yet again it won't recognize that I've installed a new drive. It's just like before and not finding it. What could be causing this??

Drive Preparation
1. Boot from your OS X Installer Disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
When the formatting is completed quit DU to return to the installer. You may now install OS X.

Installing new hard drive in Mac Pro - question about compatibility.

I'm looking to install an extra internal hard drive in my 2009 Mac Pro, but I need to know if there are any compatibility issues with newer hard drives. I am looking at the Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p147_d0_g147_i1?pf_ rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1HY9SF4S3JFEA79TK610&pf_rd_t=101&pf _rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294
Would anyone be able to tell me if this is likely to be compatible with my 2009 8 core Mac Pro? Or if there is anything I should be looking out for in particular? I know pre-installed hard drives are 3GB/s and the above hard drive is 6GB/s, does this matter?

Any SATA drive
About urls:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0036Q7MV0/
is all that is needed.
For a bit more, WD1502FAEX WD Black 1.5TB
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/internal/enterprise/

Installed new Hard drive, but Mac OS X won't install

Hi, I posted earlier about installing a new hard drive in my G3 iBook, and well, I did that! After the installation, I put in the Mac OS X CD and opened up the disk utility from the CD, and sure enough the new hard drive was there. So I clicked on the hard drive icon, then clicked erase, and selected Mac OS X extended (journaled). After this was complete, I attempted to install the Mac OS, but it told me that it could not install Mac OS X on this drive! please help me.

Alas, I too have expirienced the same problem, and I have all your answers. Yes, DO use www.ifixit.com, the instalation looks difficult, bot is quite easy. Check eBay for some HDs, I got a brand new 40 gig one for $70. I had a problem installing the OS with the new one, so if it happens to you try this:
1. Make sure you have the system restore disks.
( your restore disk (there are 4 of them,) shoud restore to mac OS 9 and you probably have a seprate X disk(s))
2. Insert the OS X disk and boot up (manualy insert disk(paper clip))
3. At the top there should be some buttons like the apple logo, file, etc.
under one of the menues there is a button either labled Services or disk utility
4. Select the erase disk tab.
5. erase your (empty!) HD.
6. shut down
7. manualy insert restore disk 1
8. Boot up holding down the C key, and run system restore
9. when that is done, boot up as OS 9
10. Insert the Mac OS X disk
10. restart whyle holding down the C key
11. install X.
hope it works!

Problems swapping hard drive on mac book pro

Is there a way to safely loosen the screws on the bracket holding the hard drive in place on a mac book pro 17 inch? I've got one loose, but the other one simply won't budge and the head is starting to strip. the amount of downward force I'm having to exert to try to get it to move seems excessive to the point of dangerous to me. i'm using a Philips 00 screwdriver which is the correct tool, I believe, but I just cannot shift it. given that Apple say this is a user replaceable part, there must be an easy wy to do it, but all I can see me doing is more damage and being stuck with a captive screw that no one can move. Any tips gratefully received.

A 00 Phillips head screw driver is the correct size. Is your driver the type where the tip of the handle allows it to be stationary while you turn the driver? Apply a tiny bit of penetrating oil (Croil, if you can get it) and let sit after a few taps with a hammer on the screw driver set in the fastener. Make certain that the screw driver is perpendicular and apply pressure. Use a small Vise Grip on the handle if necessary. And remember, Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosey.
Ciao.
A thought that may entail some risk if not done judiciously: use a soldering iron with a thin tip and heat up the fastener after applying the penetrating oil.

Need to install external dvd drive on mac book pro

My internal DVD drive has quit, so I purchased an apple external DVD drive. How do I get me mac book pro to recognize and install it?

Hi chrisweide,
Mac computers that shipped with a built-in SuperDrive may not be compatible with the external Apple SuperDrive:
Mac computers: Apple USB SuperDrive and MacBook Air SuperDrive compatibility
Regards,
- Brenden

HT4413 When migrating from time machine to my new hard drive, only some files and applications and setting are transferred, not all of them. In my latest back up I have them all. How can I fix that?

When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.

sohs wrote:
When migrating from time machine to a new hard drive, not all is transferd, only partial documents, applications , settings etc. How can I migrate the latest back-up with all the content.
If you want to use Time Machine to recover the contents of one of its a backups to a new drive, follow the instructions in Mac OS X 10.6: Recovering your entire system. Note that you must select the "Restore System From Backup" option from the Utilities menu of the Installer disc to do this.
Also note that if you are transferring files to a hard drive to be used with a different computer, you should use Migration Assistant instead. This intentionally will not copy everything because some settings, applications, etc. are not compatible computer-to-computer. Migration Assistant will copy everything that is.

Installation problems installing new Canon MG3170 onto MAC Book Pro with OS X 10.7.5. Tried installing using set up disk. Didn't work. Uninstalled files and downloaded drivers from Canon Website. Didn't work. Uninstalled again and plugged printer usb

Having problems installing Canon MG3170. Anyone have any solutions? Here is what I have tried:-
-Installed from provided Canon disk, firstly with wireless connection, then using USB connection. Printer could not be added because the Macbook returns that the software is not available from Apple for both types of connections.
-Uninstalled software from the Canon disk, checked for software updates, then downloaded drivers (printer and scanner) from Canon Website. Again tried to install using wireless connection then USB connecton. Printer could not be added because Macbook returns that the software is not available from Apple
-Uninstalled drivers downloaded direct from Canon Website and plugged printer into Macbook using USB, Macbook recognised the printer and searched for the software, again Macbook returns that hte software is not available from Apple.
Help!

nrg adjusta,
Sorry it took me a while to repsond, Ive been pretty busy with school and work. But for my hard drive problem, I did hours and hours of more research and trying countless ways of installing and tweaking things in my laptop and absolutely nothing worked that I could do. It was very irritating because I felt like I was so close to fixing it and I was just missing a step somewhere. Though It still boggles me why the disk utility shows a different capacity for the HD's. One thing I'm going to try next is replacing the hard drive cable that goes from the internal HD to the macbook. I read somewhere that sometimes those can go bad over time, and also if you get a new, modern hard drive, sometimes the old cable (for some odd reason) might not be compatible with the new HD. So i want to test it out for myself to see it that is the actual culprit.
http://www.ifixit.com/MacBook-Parts/MacBook-Hard-Drive-Cable/IF186-018
Once I get the cable and install it I'll let you know the results and if it helped at all.
Have you made any progress on your hard drive at all? If worst comes worst for you, you can probably get a SATA to USB cable and try to reformat it that way (this is the way that worked for me, but the only problem was it wouldn't be recognized when I installed it internally. Thats why i want to try getting the new cable), and if it still wont recognize it after that, you can just leave it outside of your mac, and just boot from that. The only thing that ***** about that is you have this big hard drive handing off the side of your mac when ever you need to use it.
Heres a link for a SATA to USB. this one is good because is compact and protects the HD from damage and most static electricity.
http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/usb-gadgets/e6d9/?srp=3
Im still continuing my search for the answer and once i find it (if ever!) I'll post it.

How to transfer my ITunes library from External Hard Drive to Mac Book Pro

I recently had an issue with my Mac Book(OS X Yosemite) Had to take it to the store and they fixed it (replaced graphics mother board or something like that) Before that I backed up the whole laptop on an external hard drive. When I connect the external hard drive I can open all my files, not sure how to transfer it, I see the External hard drive and can drag it but where do i drag it because on my Mac Book I can't find Music. Should I drag it to the desktop and then drag it to the music when I disconnect the external ? Thanks

Choose Home from the Finder's Go menu, double-click the Music item, and drag it there.
(123001)

Replaced hard drive in Mac book pro now what

I just replaced the hard drive now what?

Why did you replace it if you didn't know what to do?
First, partition and format the drive for OS X.
Then, Install OS X on the drive.
Since you did not provide information on the Mac model you are using nor the version of OS X you plan to install, there's little more to tell you.

Just installed new hard drive in mac book pro 15", when trying to boot OSX from original disk I still get a folder with a question mark in it. How can I reinstall the OS?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for