New drive path forward

Hello all..
With the release of Leopard I would like to finalize my drive expansion plans.
I have already decided that the 500G WD RE2 will meet my needs (please no recomendations)
My questions lie along the lines of what OS to put where:
1. I will want to have a seperate bootable partition for a new, fresh installation of Leopard. Easy to switch boot system?
2. I will want to keep my existing 10.4.9 installation (on the factory 250GB drive) unchanged so I can continue to use ProTools with no interruptions.. Will the Leopard installation in any way impact this existing system? If so then I imagine I will need to clone the disk as a backup...
3. I will want another partition for an installation of WindozeXP, but I may not get around to this anytime soon. Any issues here? 500 GB for XP and Leopard... How would YOU make your partitions?
4. Do I need a swap partition to move files between OSX and XP?
5. I don't foresee needing Time Machine right away because of lack of space, but I will want to get another drive in the future for backup. Can Time Machine be disabled until then, and then when I have the space will it also back up external FW drives? I keep my PT data on external drives...
Thanks
Erik

Yes, I currently have 2 fw drives.. 1 for session dataand samples and 1 for BFD
I've read on the Digi forum that a couple people have gotten it up and running, but from what I've read it appears to be highly dependant what mac, what interface, what version of PT etc.
Go to the PT forum and read up..
http://duc.digidesign.com/ubbthreads.php?Cat=
I am in no hurry to run PT on Leopard until Digi gives the thumbs up. Until then I just want a seperate drive/partition to start playing with Leopard. I figure that way I can gradually upgrade all my other 'wares as needed and still be OK with PT

Similar Messages

Consolidated Library to new drive can't see with iTunes

I added a new HD and moved the music per the instructions. Worked fine, then I moved "My Documents" folder w/XP to the new drive and it moved the iTunes folder (which your not supposed to do). Now it can't see the songs in the library even though the songs are in location specified under preferences. XP had copied over iTunes folder to new drive, I tried to re-create correct path on original drive and move folder back, but it still doesn't work. I have the "iTunes Music Library" and "iTunes Library" (data) files. How can I get iTunes to see the library again?

First you have to let the new itunes installation know where the songs are, on your new PC.
Second, you have to play at least a few seconds of a purchased track so the new PC will get authorized.
How did you move your music over to the new PC? Did you move the itunes library database file over, also?
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660

I have new hard drive in macbook pro(08) and have SATA cable with external power source to old hard drive (10.5.8)via. USB port and newer drive(10.6.8) will not recognize older drive..Do I need to partition newer drive with older disk to recover data?

I have new HD 750GB Hybrid in 2008 Macbook Pro 17" w/ Snow Leopard 10.6.8 connected to old Hard drive(250GB that had 10.5.8 on it at time of failure) via SATA cable to USB port with external power source.. Computer not acknowledging old HD at all in Disk Utility or otherwise (that I'm aware of)..Do I need to partition New HD and load old(10.5.8) onto partition to recognize older drive for data recovery? Thanks Wayno08

You do not need to load 10.5.8 onto your new drive in order for a 10.6.8 system to see the contents of a 10.5.8 system.
You might want to check out the hard drive troubleshooting bootk in the downloads section of this web site:
http://scsc-online.com
They also sell a product named Phoenix that can do OS extraction and volume copying/cloning, but to be honest I don't know if it's appropriate in this case.
I would suggest the following:
Open up Terminal.app (under utilities) and type "diskutil list" without the quotes. This is the command line version of Disk Utility. If the external drive doesn't show up at all, then it's likely not connected properly, not getting power, or just plain dead. If it shows up with only a devce name like disk0s16 but no volume it means the drive is seen, the OS just can't make sense of it.
Assuming the drive shows up, I would try to boot off the original installl disks for the system and run Disk Utility from that. I'm assuming the drive will show up. You'll want to select the option to repair the drive and then perform the option to repair the permissions.
If the unit isn't showing up, as per step 1, try a different USB port. More importantly with your unit, try it on another side of the unit if possible. If you read the book I referenced above, some of those units have I/O boards that are separated from the logic board. If the cable from the logic board to the I/O card goes bad or has problems, which isn't all that uncommon, some or all of the ports on the I/O card may appear to be bad as well. If you use a USB port on another side, it would be routing out of a completely different I/O path, so that's a potential problem.
If the drive is only seen with a device name such as disk0s16, it's likely either the index files are corrupt beyond Disk Utility's ability to see them. The only thing that I think would help would be a product named DIsk Warrior, but I can't guarantee that.
Disk Warrior can be found at:
http://www.alsoft.com/diskwarrior/
The company that I linked in the first link above also makes a product named Scannerz that does HD and system testing. The Scannerz/Disk Warrior combination make a good pair because the complement each other....Scannerz does what Disk Warriror can't and Disk Warrior does what Scannerz can't. However, at this point I'm not too sure getting a tool like Scannerz would be of much use because it sounds like the damage has already been done.
Let us know what happens.

Transparent integration of a new drive into the folder structure of a file server?

Hallo,
I'm looking for solution to a problem, that seams to be simple, but obviously is not that easy to solve:
I have to integrate a second external RAID system in to our MacOS X 10.6.8 Server based file sharing server that is accessed from Mac and Windows clients via AFP and SMB. I want to move one or two main folders from the old RAID to the new one, but this physical change has to be invisible to the users, as I don't want to confuse anyone.
So my idea was to mover the Folders to the new drive, and create symbolic links at the old locations pointing to the new locations. This works very well for the Windows clients accessing the server via SMB, but does not work for the Macs on AFP.
So I tried to move one folder to the new drive and mount it at the old location. Again this works fine for the SMB but does not work for AFP, the mount point does not show up in a directory listing via AFP.
Do you have any other idea how I might integrate the new drive in transparent way into the old folder structure?
Thanks for your input
Florian
PS: I could use SMB on the Macs but for some reason I, whenever I try to log into the server from a Mac via SMB, user name and password are accepted, but then the Mac client displays a message saying that I don't have the right to access the share. The same share works using AFP.

Define 'invisible' please.
Do you mean you need to be able to do this live, while users are on the system? or just that you can shut the machine down, reconfigure it, and bring it back up with the new configuration, even though the shares look the same to the users?
I'm guessing the latter, but it's worth asking.
Ultimately the problem lies in the way the file sharing systems deal with multi-volume sharepoints, and it's not easy. If you think about it, say you have a 1TB array handling the main sharepoint and you want to substitute one of the directories in that sharepoint with a new, empty 4TB array.
When the user mounts the sharepoint they get a little status bar at the bottom of the window showing the available space... how much is that? Well, initially it would be however much of the 1TB volume is unused... except if they switch to the linked directory they now have 4TB available (or thereabouts)... so the amount of space available has changed even though, from the user's standpoint, they're still on the same share.
It isn't valid for the OS to report 4 TB as free because that isn't the case unless you're in this specific directory.
It also isn't valid for the OS to report 5TB free, even though there is that amount of space altogether.
It also isn't valid for the OS to report 1TB free because you could upload 4TB of data if you put it in the right place.
There are few solutions to this. Microsoft sort of addressed this with their DFS solution in Windows Server, but it's not trivial.
Unfortunately you can't just blow it off and ignore the issue.
Off hand there's only one thing I can think of that *might* work. if it doesn't then you're down to using multiple sharepoints on the server, with users mounting both disks simultaneously (which can be automated, for what it's worth).
The one thing to try is to statically mount the second RAID at the appropriate location so that, as far as the OS is concerned, it looks like just another directory even though it's on a different disk. You'd do this by editing /etc/fstab and adding a line like
UUID=AABBCCDD-79F7-33FF-BE85-41DFABE2E2BA /path/to/mount hfs rw
to /etc/fstab (this file may not currently exist, so just create it as root).
The first field is the UUID of the drive (which you can get via diskutil info)
The second field is the path where you want this drive to appear in the filesystem - i.e. somewhere in the path of your sharepoint. There must be an existing (empty) directory at this path when the disk mounts.
The third field identifies the disk as HFS
The fourth field marks the disk as read-write
Now when the system boots it should locate this disk and mount it on top of the existing RAID volume. If you cd to your sharepoint you should see the existing drive and if you cd from there into your mounted directory you should be looking at your new RAID.
Now, this all works fine (or, at least, should do) from a standard OS standpoint. The big question is whether the AFP and SMB daemons honor and support this kind of setup... there's one way to try, of course...
Now for testing purposes you could mount it at a dummy directory, just to see whether it's available to network clients. If it is then your next step would be to clone the data from the directory onto the new drive, then edit the fstab to mount the disk at the appropriate location.
Note also that the entire volume will replace the directory you mount over - that means you can't replace two (or more) directories with one volume, but you can, of course, partition or setup your RAID into multiple volumes and mount each individual volume over a specific directory.

Moving home and application folders to a new drive

i have a couple of questions that may seem stupid, but since i do not know the answers, here they are:
- on a mac pro with two drives, can i just drag my home folder to the new drive to move it there?
- can i move the application folder into my home folder so that whenever i move my home folder to a new computer, my applications follow me without having to reinstall them? is this going to cause problems with the system library or something?
Thank you
Francesco
20" iMac Core Duo, 2GB ram, 250 GB HD Mac OS X (10.4.10)

1. No, except for creating a backup copy of your home folder. Changing the location of the active home folder requires changing the home property for your user account in the NetInfo Manager, which is located in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, or using a symbolic link to tell Mac OS X where to find the home folder. If the NetInfo method is used, the desired path will be along the lines of /Volumes/volumename/Users/username/.
2. Only for applications you drag-copied to the Applications folder. Applications which were installed with Mac OS X or with other installation programs should be left where they are.
(22931)

PSE6: moved catalog to new drive - inconsistent with original - need help

I have a puzzling occurence since backing up my Photoshop Elements 6 catalog a week or so ago. I wanted to move my catalog/photos on my laptop from the C drive (to get it to mostly software/programs) to the D drive (mostly data and documents) because my C drive was filling up and I have lots of room on my D drive.
Research on how to do this suggested that doing a backup and then a restore on the new drive was the way to go. I had done some cleanup on the C drive catalog beforehand, though not nearly as much as I want to do in the end. Here's what the directories report after the backup/restore (I haven't deleted the C drive catalog yet, and I want to create an additional backup to an external drive before doing so):
catalog on C, created Dec 26 2008
34.8 Gb
15,392 files
457 folders
WINDOWS EXPLORER SAYS 443 ITEMS
catalog on D, created Aug 14 2010
20.6 Gb
10,346 files
211 folders
WINDOWS EXPLORER SAYS 195 ITEMS
Do any of you have any insight into what could be going on with the backup/restore? I searched the photoshop elements forums and the adobe website help, but haven't found an answer.
Thanks for any help you can provide.

Hi There,
Instead of Backup Restore, just use the Move Catalog Feature. Just try the following steps:
1. Launch Organizer
2. Go to File -> Catalog
3. Select Custom location radio button and choose the path on the D drive where you want the catalog to be copied.
4. Then Select the catalog and click the move button
5. Select the Custom Location Radio button and click OK.
With this, your catalog will move to the new location.
If you want to move the files within in the catalog as well, use the File -> Move command.
Hope it helps.
Thanks,
Tarun

Can you specify a new file path for album artwork in iTunes?

I want to store my music and the iTunes program on a drive other than my C Drive. I moved Windows' "My Music" folder from the "My Documents" along with the iTunes program and all my music to the new drive. I've changed the file path for the iTunes music folder location, but when I update my library iTunes creates the "My Music" folder in "My Documents" and downloads the album artwork there. How can I change this so iTunes will save the album artwork in the same place it saves the music? Is this possible?

Hi,
The column's style classes will be added on the <td> elements, not the header sadly. So for your use case you'll have to place the class on the table itself then use the selector
af|table.MyStyleClass af|column.formHeader::header-text{}Sadly this will affect all columns, not just one so I don't know if it's going to fir your need.
Regards,
~ Simon

Fresh Windows 7 Installation on new drive -- LR3 questions

I bought a new SSD drive that I intend to use as my Windows 7 boot drive. I will do a fresh installation of Win 7 and reinstall all my applications. Lightroom 3 is currently installed on my older conventional drive in the C partition. That old drive will become a data drive.
1. As far as I can tell, all I need to do for LR3 is export my existing catalog to a temporary holding location (like a USB drive), install LR3 to the new drive, then import the catalog into the new installation. Is that all it takes to get me back to where I am now? I assume I will also need to re-register LR?
2. My SSD is smaller than my current C: partition so I want to limit it to Windows and required program files. I'll want to keep all data on a different drive. Some Windows programs, by default, store certain user data on the C drive. As far as I can tell, LR3 doesn't store user data on the C drive by default. It just stores the required files for running the program on C, and stores user data in locations specified by the user. Is that right?
3. Are there any other considerations, specific to LR3, when reinstalling the OS and the program?
Thanks.

Assuming your original image files are on a seperate drive to the boot drive then Copy or Move your catalog file (and the preview folder if you wish) to another drive, no need to export it. Just copy it back to whatever location you want once finished and open it from the new instillation. On no account re import files that are already referenced by a catalog. When you re start LR it should find the original files if the drive paths to wherever they are located remains the same, if not right click and relocate the files/folders.
LR stores the catalog file and previews data on whatever drive you specify when creating the catalog. It will default to the C drive unless you say different. The locations of preferences files, templates etc. are by default on a windows installation at user/username/AppData/Roaming/Adobe on the C drive. Obviously the image files themselves can go wherever you wish.
It is usually best to locate the catalog on a different drive to the OS and applications where this is possible. However if your SSD drive is large enough the performance gains from having the previews on the SSD may outweigh the performance gains from having them on a separate drive, it rather depends on how much space you have on the SSD.

Audigy-2 ZS Platinum Application problems with New driv

Hello Creative Labs,
I recently downloaded and installed your newly released drivers for my Audigy-2 ZS Platinum card, and some of the software features have now stopped responding and fail to load.
<div class="DownloadDate">Release date: 7 Jul 08<div class="DownloadFileName">File Name: SBAX_PCDRV_LB_2_8_000.exe<div class="DownloadFileName">**?
** This is the patch file name and date released **
<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">I Have owned SB products for my entire Computing life, and they have all performed with outstanding results on both Win/98se and XP for me.<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">The problem I am having since the new Driver update is with the Graphicic Equaliser software, it fails to load now with this new driver release, it gives a small box with a prompt saying "CTEQ.exe !Out of memory", then a larger box pops up about the dimensions of the old Graphic EQ GUI with Equalizer on the header, and a message in the box saying "TODO: Place dialog controls here"
<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">My microphone is also no longer visible to adjust in the Volume control Main window, I can set my microphone to be the recording device elsewhere in the Windows sound settings, but it no longer is visible to adjust in your Software programs made for my Audigy-2 ZS Platinum.<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">I see that many other users are also having similar problems, can we expect another update with fixes for the Control panel software to resolve these problems.<div class="DownloadFileName">?<div class="DownloadFileName">Thank you for your time, I look forward to hearing a response from the Creative team on this issue.

All the issues you guys are talking about have been reported in beta stage of these new drivers. I would say none of them has been fixed yet. The only solution for now is to use previous drivers which work fine or use some modified drivers which fixes some issues, but not all. Your choice.
[url="http://connect.creativelabs.com/windows/Lists/Audigy%20Issues/AllItems.aspx">Bug List[/url]
Message Edited by ronon0 on 08-07-2008 :47 AM

How to copy recorded live stream to new drive

I was wondering if anyone out there knows how to copy a recorded live stream to a new drive on the server? I can copy the file within the virtual app directory but not to another drive.
The only solution i found was to edit the application.xml:
<StreamManager>
        <StorageDir>e:\Sync\</StorageDir>
    </StreamManager>
But unfortunately i need to rename the file once its recorded, and i'm having a hard time accessing that drive/directory where the file is located.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
thanks

Hi,
What I understood from your query I am providing you a solution:
1. You can use the below to copy recorded live stream to new drive/directory in Application.xml
<StreamManager>
        <StorageDir>e:\Sync\</StorageDir>
</StreamManager>
2. By default, a script can access files and directories only within the application directory of the hosting application. A server administrator can grant access to additional directories by specifying virtual directory mappings for File object paths. This is done in the FileObject tag in the Application.xml file, as shown in the following example:
<FileObject>
      <VirtualDirectory>/_definst_;e:\Sync\_definst_\</VirtualDirectory>
</FileObject>
3. Create one application folder suppose test and then create main.asc file inside that which will have the below code
application.onConnect = function(client) {
application.acceptConnection(client);
var fileObj = new File("_definst_");
var fl = new Array();
trace("File name : " + fileObj.toString());
if (fileObj != null)
if (fileObj.isDirectory)
   fl = fileObj.list();
   for (i in fl)
    trace("Directory : " + fl[i].name);
    if (fl[i].isFile)
     trace("File : " + fl[i].name);
     trace(fl[i].renameTo("dvrstream"+i));
    }//if closes
   }// for closes
}//if closes
}//if closes
}// application closes
This server side application rename files but since the folder which we had to access was outside application directory of the hosting application we had to map it using step 2.
If this solution does not answer your query please be more ellaborative on what exactly are you trying to achieve. That will help me to answer your query correctly.
Regards,
Amit

Sata cable position for new drive

Hello,
I will be installing a new drive in my G3 (I am aware this is a G4 forum however this should be relevent to G4's too) . It is a SATA drive and I am not sure where to position the SATA cable. I know how to connect the ends however the cable I am ordering will either be 12 inches or 18 inches and it will have a 90 degree bend on the drive connector which I have heard is a convenient feature to connect to the drive. How do I bundle the excess SATA cable length? Should I zap-strap it with plastic zap straps and suspend it above the drive somehow or is it OK to just leave the SATA cable sitting on top of the drive? I am concerned about the heat. The drive will probably be a Hitachi T7K250 250 GIG SATA drive.
Thanks,
Mike

Hello Allan,
Thanks for your comments. I will be buying a FirmTek SeriTek/1S2 SATA controller card ($69.95)
It has 2 Internal SATA Ports. Available at:
http://www.firmtek.com/seritek/seritek-1s2/
Seems like an excellent method to be able to use SATA as well as address one of the limitations of the g3 which is the fact a g3 can't recognize large hard drives. Also, this SeriTek/1S2 card works in both OS 9 and OS X. Its well known for this versatile feature of being able to work on both OS 9 and OS X.
Looking forward to installing it.Just concerned about how to bundle the cable and how best to fit it in. I am also not sure if I should position my new second big SATA drive (Hitachi T7K250) 250 GIG next to the original 12 GIG or space it away a bit in the next drive bay over.
There are lower drive bays for hard drives: back: where the original 12 GIG is nearest the fan. Middle and front (farthest from the fan). I will have to choose either the middle position or the front. Not sure which is best or if it even matters.
Hope everyone is enjoying a nice weekend!
Thank you Allan,
Mike

Upgrading Early 2008 MBP to dual drive format and new OS. Should I install new drives or OS first?

Hi there. I have a Early 2008 15" MBP (4,1). Model A1260. 2.6GHz with a (almost full) 320gb 7200rpm hdd. Instead of spending thousands on a new MBP, I've decided to give my old one a makeover for a few hundred. Here's my situation:
My optical drive is dead. I'm wanting to set up a dual drive situation by adding a 240gb SSD as well as a new 750gb 7200rpm HDD for storage. I have a new optical drive with USB adapter on the way for external use.
I'm also currently running Leopord and want to upgrade my OS X. I have the install disk from Apple.
So my questions are as follows:
1. This is my first venture into performing surgery of any kind on the computer and I'm not a professional. In a broad sense, is this too much for my 'older' computer to handle?
2. If I'm good to go this big, should I upgrade my OS first and then switch out the drives or vice versa?
3. This computer seems to run hot. I feel like it always has and always thought it was because of the 2.6Ghz processor. I'm looking at the WD Black Scorpio 750gb 7200rpm. Is this going to run a lot hotter than my current 300gb 7200rpm HDD? Is there a better option? I usually use it with a USB fan base.
I also just wanted to openly ask for advice in general, based on my lack of experience. Is there something else I should know before diving in?
Thanks ahead of time for taking the time to help. I grately appreciate it! I'm really looking forward to this project!

Hi, what you plan to do will indeed revive your old Mac and make it ~~ fly ~~
Before you do anything else, Backup Backup Backup, at least to Time Machine and one cloned drive BEFORE you embark on any of the above.
kgroove1 wrote:
Hi there. I have a Early 2008 15" MBP (4,1). Model A1260. 2.6GHz with a (almost full) 320gb 7200rpm hdd. ..
So my questions are as follows:
1. This is my first venture into performing surgery of any kind on the computer and I'm not a professional. In a broad sense, is this too much for my 'older' computer to handle?
I have the same model (early 2008 Macbook Pro, A1260, 4,1) and currently run OS X Mavericks on my system with 2 x 1TB Seagate Hybrid hard drives in each bay. Now my computer SINGS.....¶¶•ªªº••¶¶¶
You say that your hard disk space is low and you will find that that is the biggest bottleneck for your system, so upgrading the hard disk space will make a huge diference. But you should also consider upgrading your RAM too. Some time ago I had upgraded my RAM from the factory installed 2 GB to the maximum 6GB allowed on this computer, and it has made a huge difference.
2. If I'm good to go this big, should I upgrade my OS first and then switch out the drives or vice versa?
This step depends on what kind of system you want to set-up. Do you want a clean install, with an out of the box kind of system so that you set up all applications and settings from scratch, or do you want to maintain your old settings and apps as they are, maintaining your users and settings.
The best way to do the latter is to get an external hard drive enclosure to hold the new drive, and after erasing it and formatting it, clone your old hard drive onto it, using Carbon Copy Cloner or Superduper. But for this you will need a SSD with at least the same amount of hard disk space as your current boot drive. After the cloning operation is done, you can swap the drive out from the main enclosure and remove the Optical drive to be replaced by an Optical Bay to hold the new large capacity storage hard disk.
3. This computer seems to run hot. I feel like it always has and always thought it was because of the 2.6Ghz processor. I'm looking at the WD Black Scorpio 750gb 7200rpm. Is this going to run a lot hotter than my current 300gb 7200rpm HDD? Is there a better option? I usually use it with a USB fan base.
In my opinion you do not need a 7200 RPM in your optical bay. A 5400 RPM drive will not be noticeably slower on your system, and the benefit of running this in terms of power usage and heat generation will outweigh the slower speed. Also, the Seagate Hybrid drives that I use have 8GB of Flash memory, to run frequently used apps much faster, and the speeds are excellent with lower heat generation.
To sum up, to lower your CPU temperatures, get more RAM, extra hard disk space for your boot drive and run a lower speed drive.
I also just wanted to openly ask for advice in general, based on my lack of experience. Is there something else I should know before diving in?
Since you are upgrading from Leopard to Mavericks, you will need to putchase a retail version of 10.6.3 (Snow Leopard) or above and install that before you can install Mavericks as a free upgrade. I would install that first, then upgrade to Mavericks on my old system, and only then clone the system afetr checking that it was working to my satisfaction.
BEFORE embarking on any of the above, Backup Backup Backup your current system, at least to Time Machine and one cloned drive.
I have done the 2 x 1TB upgrade just last week and for your reference below is a picture of my own set-up, with hardware links and links to iFixit instructions.
Comprehensive iFixit "How-to" instructiions can be found here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Device/MacBook_Pro_15%22_Core_2_Duo_Models_A1226_and_A1260
For my hardware, see the links below to get some ideas:
Optical Bay Enclosure:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A2VNUK4/ref=noref/278-2586001-6565828?ie=U TF8&psc=1&s=computers
SSD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BQ8RGL6/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=computer s
My HDD:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00BHRWHNI/ref=oh_details_o01_s01_i02?ie=UTF8 &psc=1
(The picture below is while I was testing the system before I replaced the original 750GB Toshiba with the Seagate 1TB)
Have fun

Making New Drive Bootable

My main HD took a dump and since then I've been running off of an eDrive on a 1TB USB unit. I just got a new Newer tech Voyager Q docking station which has a firewire 800 port and a Seagate 1.5TB 7200rpm drive to go with it to function as my new main drive until I can resurrect the data from my dead one.
Using the eDrive has been easy enough but I don't really know how to turn this new drive into one which will be fully bootable as a startup disk. I got my computer on eBay last fall and the software was all pre-installed by the dealer. All of the install discs are still on my main drive saved as disk images.
Yeah, I know I should have backed them up and this is a big maintenance/backup lesson learned the hard way. But how do I now get a full, bootable install of OSX on this new drive?
The dealer no longer sells on eBay as I checked on that. So I can't have him send me copies of the original install disks.
Plus any tips on resurrecting my original main drive will be welcome. I suspect I'll have to somehow get it to one of those recovery services.

Every new Mac that is shipped from Apple comes with CDs that have the OS installed on them. When I hear from someone that says their dealer did not include the CD's that implies the dealer opened the box and after that who knows what the "dealer" did. Mac's shipped from Apple have the OS pre-installed on the hard drive, the CDs are included in the event the customer wants to re-install their OS and/or do diagnostics. One theory is your "dealer" took an older iMac that had Tiger on it, upgraded it to Leopard and did not include the CDs for whatever ever reason including reselling them to someone else. However that is just a WAG I have no idea as I haven't seen the machine or the box it came in.
Bottom line you need to purchase a retail copy of Leopard as I mentioned earlier.
No computer manufacturer to my knowledge covers date recovery when a drive fails. That is why they suggest back up to users, we users have the responsibility to back up our own data. If we don't we cannot hold Apple (or any other manufacturer) responsible. If I recall you use Time Machine so you have your data, you just need a retail copy of Leopard to install on a new external HD or the replacement HD you put in your iMac. If you were not using TM then you are in for an expensive lesson of getting the internal HD out, sending it to a data recovery service and if you're lucky getting some of your data back. Sorry to sound harsh but that is what you can expect. Going forward I would recommend buying from a reputable dealer or Apple directly and using TM and other backup systems if your data is critical. There is a good article about back up in this months MacWorld, I would recommend reading it over. The link to it online is:
http://www.macworld.com/article/141363/2009/07/backup.html
Regards,
Roger

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file hav

Had hard drive renewed due to product recall (iMac) backed up complete system on time machine . Had the drive done got mac back tried to reinstall from time machine .The new drive tells me that the space has been taken up but can't find where the file have gone. Need to free up the space that the ghost file take up so I can drag drop from ex drive onto harddrive

Here's the scoop, new friend.....
When you boot into Time Machine you'll get the same OS X Utilities screen as you would if you booted into the Recovery HD. So, from there go into Disk Utilities to erase/format your internal drive. After that's done, back out to the OS X Utilities screen and select the restore option. Just follow the prompts to select the TM back up date you want to restore from and where to restore it to. Pretty straight forward.

Hard drive crashed. How do I get OSX on my new drive?

I think my hard drive crashed, oh my. First, let me say that all my data is backed-up on a cloud drive or on my network drive. So, I am good there. The computer is now completely inoperable, can't start up, not even in safe mode. Just goes to Apple grey screen and then shuts down, that Issa far as I can get. Does not even play the start-up chime anymore.
Question I have is this: I did not make a bootable start-up drive (dumb), so when I get a new drive to replace this, how will I get the OS on it to start- up and get the new drive ready?

If you don't get a startup chime then you may have a worse problem. Just be prepared.
What year is your MBP? From 2011 onward you would use Internet Recovery. Earlier you would need to install the original software that came with the computer on software restore DVDs.
Internet Recovery
Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery
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.
Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.
Partition and Format the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your newly installed hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. 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. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
            if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.
This should restore the version of OS X originally pre-installed on the computer.
DVD Installation:
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase
the drive and everything on it.
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. 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 the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

New drive path forward

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