Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD"

I get that message when trying to upgrade my OS. It also reads: "This disk is used for TIme Machine backups."
So what do I do now? Do I call Apple and yell at them for a refund or is there a solution to my syntax error???

[It the message at the top of this article part of the message(s) you see|http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10330520-263.html]? If so, then the article contains your solution. You should be well backed up to use the solution. Do what is suggested above on TM. Then, just turn TM off and lock it for now. If these steps don't work, then you may have to direct TM to use an external for backup.
Message was edited by: donv (The Ghost)

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Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start up your computer

I have a macbook pro with snow leopard on it. I am giving it away to a family members, but would like to erase the disk before giving it away. When I put my snow leopard dvd in, and click "install", I get a screen asking me to select the hard drive to install on. When I click the only one listed: "Macintosh HD", I get the message:
Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD", because this disk cannot be used to start your computer
If I try to boot from the dvd, my mac just hangs on the gray screen that shows the apple logo. Basically I put the dvd in, shut down the computer, when I turn it on, I hold the "C" key, and it just hangs.
How should I go about erasing everything on the computer, and re-installing the OS, I just want it to look like it did when it came from the factory. Any help would be much appreciated.
Note: I lost my original install dvd, so I called Apple and asked for a replacement, they charged me $20 and sent the Snow Leopard disk that I am using as my replacement.
Thanks.

It's possible you got a disk from Apple you can't use. What you should have gotten were gray disks based on the Mac's serial number so you would get disks which were identical to the ones it came with.
If the disk you received has a picture of a Snow Leopard on it, then they sent you a 10.6.3 retail disk, which will not have any of the bundled iLife apps on it.
Much more important is the point release. If your Mac originally came with 10.6.4 or some later point release of Snow Leopard, then 10.6.3 will not install on that Mac. The necessary hardware drivers are not on the retail disk.

"Mac OS X cannot be installed on 'Macintosh HD'. This disk is used for Time Machine backups."

I am trying to upgrade our MacBook to Snow Leopard, but when prompted to select which hard drive to install on and "Macintosh HD" is selected, the following message generates: "Mac OS X cannot be instaled on 'Macintosh HD'. This disk is used for Time Machine backups."
I disabled Time Machine switched it "off," put it in the trash can, then "Secure Emptied" the trash can. I also rebooted. Then I connected an external hard drive thinking that might help, but for some reason I still cannot proceed with the Snow Leopard upgrade because "the disk is used for Time Machine backups."
WHAT is the DEAL!?

It doesn't sound like an upgrade would work very well anyway. Make sure you have a good backup and repartition the startup volume. Then install Snow Leopard onto the hard drive and migrate your old users and applications.

Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD" This disk is used for Time Machine backups-can you help in layman terms?

I know there are discussions out there regarding this but my system is 10.5.8, I know how to turn the computer on and run some programs but understanding partitions, etc...forget it. I have programs on my computer I don't want to lose, images in photoshop that, if lost, I would kill myself so please help me in basic English terms...what the heck do I need to do to update to OS X so I can feel inferior again when I update to OS 7?

Somehow, your internal HD got selected as the destination for TM backups, perhaps long ago.
That left a Backups.backupdb folder at the top level of your internal HD.
All you need to do is open your internal HD (probably named Macintosh HD) via the Finder, locate and delete that folder.

I just purchased OS X Mountain Lion Upgrade. When I went to install it is says "Os X Mountain Lion cannot be installed on Macintosh HD" please help!

Just purchsed upgrade OSX Mountain Lion. Went to install and it says "OSX cannot be installed on Macintosh HD" Why?

Hi,
If you bought the iMac in 2010 it should be supported indeed, however be aware that the information refers to the manufaction date which might be different than the purchase date.
Please verify the following information:
Click the Apple icon.
Click About This Mac.
Click More Info.
What is the listed Model Identifier?
You may identify the exact model by comparing it with the Model Identifier below:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1758
Now go back to your Desktop, click the Go menu and select Utilities.
Open the Disk Utilitiy.
Select Macintosh HD from the left pane.
You may find the Available space listed in here.
As well, what it the listed Format within the same screen?
Shlomi

OS X Mavericks cannot be installed on Macintosh HD

Macbook - Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5
34.5 GB free out of 159.18GB
When I try and download Mavericks it says, "OS X cannot be installed on 'Macintosh HD'." I am unable to delete the backups.backupdb file as it says "...unexpected error occurred (error code - 8072)".
Suggestions? Thanks!

I'm not sure what would cause that error. You might want to post this question over in the OS X Mavericks forum: https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mavericks?view=discussions.

Changed out the hard drive in my imac mid 2007 intel. Once the disc loads, I get "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer." Help! Be gentle. I am truly a novice. Thanks in advance.

I changed the hard drive in my mid 2007 Intel Imac. I'm trying to re-install the the op system. I'm receiving a message stating that "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer." I am a "newbe" to Mac's. Can someone help? Please be gentle. I raeally am a novice. Thanks in advance

I believe these are the wrong system restore discs for your model iMac, assuming your are correct that you have mid 2007 iMac.
These gray colored type restore discs are Mac-machine specific and are the wrong ones for your iMac.
They will not work.
The original OS X restore discs for your model iMac would either install OS X 10.4.11 Tiger or OS X 10.5 Leopard.
You have gray system restore discs for a later model iMac. These will not work with iMac year and model.
Sorry.
You need to purchase a full retail version of OS X 10.6.3 Snow Leopard here instead.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
These discs will work with your year and model iMac.
Assuming that your hard drive was installed properly, these white retail OS X install discs should be able to boot, format and install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard to your 2007 iMac.
Good Luck!

PLEASE HELP! OSX cannot be installed on Macintosh HD

PROBLEM
I'm trying to update from Snow Leopard 10.6.8 to Yosemite 10.10.2 and it's not working. I downloaded the installer file from the app store and it is in my applications folder. When prompted, I "Select the disc where I want to install OS X" and select Macintosh HD, causing a bubble to pop up saying "This disc cannot be used to start your computer". If I press the back button, then go back forward it simply says "OS X cannot be installed on Macintosh HD".
TROUBLESHOOTING ATTEMPTS
I have tried to repeat the process about ten times with the same results.
Reinstalling the installer doesn't help.
I ran Disc Utility, which claimed I had an error in the number of blocks in my volume, booted in Recovery Mode and repaired the disc. No change.
Other online threads told me to find and delete the file "backups.backupdb" on my HD, but I can't find that anywhere on my computer using the Finder Search function
SPECS
Late 2011 MacBook Pro
OS X 10.6.8
2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 processor
4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 Memory
65GB available disc space

You must have a really fouled up Snow Leopard system. Please do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Snow Leopard 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. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
If you continue having errors reported, then you should backup your files, erase the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard. Be sure to backup the Yosemite installer you downloaded if you don't want to download it again. Otherwise, try the installer again.

"Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer." New Hard Drive.

I have just bought a new Seagate Hard Drive and I want to install Mac OS X 10.5 on it. My MacBook is from the days of Tiger, but I have since upgraded to Leopard using the upgrade discs that Apple gave out.
My next door neighbor has a brand new MacBook, so I borrowed her "Mac OS X Install Disc 1" which has a lovely copy of 10.5.2 on it. I put the drive into my computer and partitioned a Mac OS X Volume (Journaled).
THE PROBLEM:
When I then try to boot from the Install Disc 1 and install Leopard, the computer says "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer."
Need a solution. Thanks in advance.
PS - I would use my install discs but they are at home in another part of the country.

Well, Apple would probably point out that what you are trying to do violates the EULA.
Technically speaking, however, the issue is that the install/restore DVDs that ship with Macs do not carry all the drivers, or even all of the various versions of libraries that support all of the various models of Macs. The come-with-your-Mac disks are different than the retail versions of the OS (also, the come-with-your-Mac ones bundle iLife, which the retail ones don't).
Because the come-with-your-Mac disk contains only the drivers specific to that generation and model line of Mac, it contains a stub of code that verifies that your hardware matches the driver set on the install/restore DVD.
Your friend has a different model of Mac, with different hardware, so her install/restore disk won't work in yours. Solution: go get the retail boxed version of Leopard.

Os x mounatin lion cannot be installed on Macintosh HD

Hello!
I just downloaded Mountain Lion from app store and ran it. After rebooting i have chosen install on my Macintosh HD and after about 5 mins i recieved a message "os x mounatin lion cannot be installed on Macintosh HD". what's the point??

we have a problem.....
another solution - buy a hard drive and a usb external enclosure (not an external hard drive).......
take your old hard drive out and install it in your usb external enclosure.
install your new hard drive in your macbook.
connect your usb external to your macbook's usb port.
power up your macbook and keep your finger in the option key until you see the apple logo....
you'll get a boot menu, choose your external drive as the boot drive - when ML installer pops up, direct it to install it in your new hard drive....
once the install is done, restart your macbook and open migration assistant and use that to bring your files and apps from your bad hard drive over...

Yosemite cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD"

When trying to upgrade from Mavericks to Yosemite I get this:
Yosemite OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD".
This is a late 2009 iMac with 4G RAM and 1TB of hard disk space.
Suggestions please.

Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
Select
/var/log ▹ install.log
from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select
View ▹ Show Log List
from the menu bar at the top of the screen. The contents of the log will appear on the right. Each log message begins with a timestamp. Select the messages from the time of the last installation or update attempt. If you're not sure when that was, click the Clear Display button in the toolbar of the Console window and then try the installation again. Select the new messages that appear. Copy the messages to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
☞ If there are runs of repeated messages, post only one example of each. Don’t post many repetitions of the same message.
☞ When posting a log extract, be selective. Don't post more than is requested.
☞ Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
☞ Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.
☞ Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting. You may need to use a text editor with search and replace, such as TextEdit.

Trying to install Leopard on my 2005 Mac Mini. It keeps telling me "Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer." Thoughts?

So I happened to receive a 2005 Mac Mini from my father that was running Ubuntu. Now I'd like to switch it back over to OS X. However, I boot up on the Leopard install disk to install it and it tells me that Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. I've erased the hard drive as a Mac OS (Journaled). Any ideas?

If you hold the mouse button while you power the machine on, the disk will slide out and you can swap in the retail disk.
Then power off, and this time hold down the C key while booting up and it will boot off of the CD and put you in the installer, allow you to partition the disk, etc.

MacBook Pro DVD OS X Installation Error - 'Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer.'

Hello people, I just baught the Late 2009 MacBook Pro 13" off ebay second hand as it was good price. The previous owners data was left on there and it was too much of a hassle to erase as it was impossible to change the system side of these problems (keyring password, usernames, home folder name, macbook name). In the end i decided i was going to format the hard drive (which also had Windows 7 Ultimate installed via BootCamp) and reinstall Mac OS X 10.6.3 from the original install media (Gray DVD not retail). After formatting I attempted to boot from media (which worked) and proceed with the install. Just as I though everything was going fine I recieved an error with a yellow triangle stating 'Mac OS X cannot be installed on the computer.' . At this stage I was very shocked and alarmed and didnt know what to do as Ive never used a Mac before and it was my first 2 hours using one. I rung up Apple support even though I didnt have AppleCare and they did help me to some extent becuase they said I had the incorrect install media. I then contacted the seller who immediatly replayed and told me that those disks (OS X and Application DVD) both came with the MacBook (They both said 'MacBook Pro 13" on the front).
Any ideas how to resolve the problem?
Thanks, Charlie

If you do have the right disc, then partition the drive in Disk Utility with a single Mac OS volume (as opposed to just erasing the existing Mac OS volume.) The Windows partition will be removed. You can reinstall Windows later if you wish, assuming you have the retail Windows disc that you should also have received from the seller. If you don't have that disc, and the seller is still using his copy of Windows, then your Windows installation is unlicensed.

I erased by Hard drive without backing up. Now, when I put the install disc one inside, it says that Mac os x cannot be installed on this computer. The computer was running Mac os x 10.5.8. Any help?

I erased by Hard drive without backing up. Now, when I put the install disc one inside, it says that Mac os x cannot be installed on this computer. The computer was running Mac os x 10.5.8. Any help?

Boot from your DVD by switching on the Mac & inserting the disc, restart it & hold the "C" key. Once the installer window loads & you have selected your language, choose Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu. You will then need to select your disk from the menu within Disk Utility & choose how you wish to format. It should be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Once it has formatted, you should then be able to install the OS.
PLEASE REMEMBER...that formatting a disk will completely erase it's content. Be sure that you don't wish to recover any of your previous content before doing any of the above.
Ben

Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. Power Mac G5

continued from https://discussions.apple.com/message/18069601#18069601
Hi again. My power mac g5 model number is a1177 and when I put the installation disc in (Mac OS version 10.5)(AHT version 3a137)(2z691 6150 a). It loads everything and It setups to say what language you want, i say english. Then it says preparing to install. After that it says Mac OS X cannot be installed on this computer. Can anyone help me??

Leopard requirements/10.5.x...
    * Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5, or PowerPC G4 (867MHz or faster) processor
minimum system requirements
    * 512MB of memory (I say 1.5GB for PPC at least, 2-3GB minimum for IntelMacs)
    * DVD drive for installation
    * 9GB of available disk space (I say 30GB at least)
Trouble is Apple no longer sells it, check eBay & such for the Retail version, not the Gray Discs...
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+leopard+retail+10.5
Apple Computers Software Leopard (Full Install) 10.5
Item #:
2Z691-6150-A 1005900
Notes
Disk 1 2Z691-6150-A
Disk 2 2Z691-6023-A
Compatibility
MacBook (13-inch Late 2007)
Machine ID: MacBook3,1
http://www.welovemacs.com/2z6916150a.html

Mac OS X cannot be installed on "Macintosh HD"

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