New internal hard drive and installing OS

I have a 2008 iMac 20" and the hard drive had begun to fail (shutting down, stopping etc) so I purchased a new one from bookyard.co.uk and installed it, not that difficult, i have done this before on earlier 05 models.
However, i used our family pack install disk for snow leopard and it installed just fine but when i tried to install the update that enables the mac app store and upgrade to mountain lion, it repeatedly stated the downlide file was bad and could not be installed. I tried two different locations for the download as i had read issues about some routers with this file.
When this failed repeatedly i decided to make a boot disk from my existing 2010 iMac 21.5" which has mountain lion, using an 8Gb USB drive, this worked fine.
The 08 iMac boots from the USB drive fine but when i try to erase and install the mountain lion OS, it states that this cannot be installed on this computer with a yellow ! warning triangle. I know drive replacement had to be like for like from 09 onwards but this is an early 08 iMac model.
After this i now cannot even re-install the snow leopard from the family pack DVD.
I have an apple genius appointment but it is a week away and this is my 8 yr old daughters Christmas gift so i was hoping to get it up and running sooner.
any help appreciated

If you have any data on your old hard disk, I would make sure you have a good Time Machine backup. Then create a bootable Lion USB stick (or SD card)
http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/08/make-a-bootable-mac-os-x-10-7-lion-installer-from -a-usb-flash-drive/
Replace the hard disk. Boot from your USB stick (or SD card) and restore your Time Machine backup.
That's all. You will have the contents of your old hard disk on your new hard disk, without having to reinstall everything.

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New Internal Hard Drive and Clean Install: Errors, Frustration and Hopelessness

First Off:
Macbook 13" (late 2009) ... It was running Mountain Lion 10.8.5 with 2 gigs of memory and 160gig stock hard drive.
I started this process almost a week ago and despite numerous attempts every night I have had no luck. I appologize if the details here are fuzzy, my head is spinning after reading dozens of threads and attempting multiple solutions to each error I've received and i cant remember everything I've tried so far...
I got my new memory in the mail first, upgraded to 4 gigs and everything works fine with that..
Next came my new Seagate Momentus 750 gb 7200 rpm SATA 3gb/s 16Mb Internal Hard Drive.
Using this guide: http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/17/make-bootable-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-usb-install -drive/ (and cross checking other guides) I ended up creating a bootable external drive using my 160gb External Firewire drive for my clean install to my new hard drive. So far so good.
I then shut down the computer, removed the old internal hard drive, installed the new, restarted the computer holding option key and booted up using the External Hard Drive, and the install software started fine. Note: I have attempted to re-erase the drive so many times without luck that I cant remember if I actually successfully erased the drive originally to begin with the installation, but either way I started the OSX reinstall and it got almost all the way finished before it gave me the error message:
"Install failed. Mac OS X Lion couldn’t be installed, because the disk (volume name) is damaged and can’t be repaired. Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again."
restarting of course did nothing, it repeatedly gave me error messages and made me quit installation...
Disk Utility isnt getting me anywhere, im either getting errors like:
"POSIX reports: the operation couldnt be completed. device no configured"
it wont allow me to erase the drive or partition the drive
"Disk Erase failed with the error: File System Formatter Failed"
and everytime the drive fails to erase or partition, it disappears from the list of drives on the left of the disk utility screen and i have to restart the computer for it to reappear for a second try. Typically the volume under the drive is greyed out and says that it is unmounted.
Ive zapped the PRAM.... and Ive done other things that I cant quite remember right now because my brain is boiling from reading too many **** threads on multiple devices....
halp.
halp me plase.

So funny story...
While writing this discussion I had to come to the computer and try to erase the drive so I could see the error code for reference. The erase didnt work as usual but I wrote the error code down here.
I also could not remember the error code for partitioning the drive so I attempted that as well so I could write down the code, and this time it magically partitioned successfully! The only thing I did differently was that I didn't rename the partition because i figured it wouldn't matter anyway. Since the partition was successful, I attempted the Reinstall of ML and it magically worked!!
I dont know what the **** happened but ive been attempting this install every night for like 3 hours since Monday and this is the first time it went through... for no apparent reason?
Ghosts? Magic? Full Moon?
we may never know...
Thanks anyways guys!

New internal hard drive and now cannot migrate from back up

Took my MacBook Pro in yesterday to have it looked and found out hard drive was failing. Had already backed up via Time Machine onto my iomega external drive before I took my laptop to Apple store. I have been backing up for several years to the iomega drive. Got my MacBook Pro back today, and brought it home--awesome work by Apple store, even had it done yesterday before I made it back home from dropping it off.
So, here is the deal, turned it on, went through the steps required and got to the migration part. It recognizes that my iomega drive is connected to the laptop as the icon is on my desktop. However, the migration assistance cannot find the drive and just keeps spinning. Any suggestions before I set up another genius bar appointment?
Thanks
Michael

William Beede wrote:
In my case I backed up my old internal hd to my new external 1 TB hd.
Surely you mean you used +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ to transfer the data? Or a "clone" via CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or Disk Utility?
Now it appears TM wants to ADD the contents of my new internal hd to those already backed up(another 220 gb).
Yes. As posted, to TM it's a new, different drive. TM will back it up. You cannot prevent it.
I wonder if I need to format the new drive and start over??
Yes, that's probably your best bet.

How do I reboot my Macbook pro 2011 to a new internal hard drive?

I had to get a new internal hard drive and I can't afford to pay some one to do it for me. So I was wondering how do I install the operating system on to the hard drive?
Thanks

Since we don't know which MBP you have or what OS was initially installed on it, try this. Start up the Mac and hold down the Command and "R" keys. If you have an internet connection and if the MBP came with Lion installed, you should be able to boot into Internet Recovery. From there, you can download Lion from Apple's servers and install it. That's assuming the new HD has already been installed and formatted (you can format it yourself using the Disk Utility that's available in Internet Recovery).

Installing Leopard and new internal hard drive at same time, best plan?

Ok so basically the title explains what I need to do. I am currently travelling in Europe, and returning home to New York on Tuesday night. I have a new hitachi 250gb HD and will have Leopard waiting for me at home when I arrive, and will get right to doing this installation. I am writing on the discussion boards here because I am hoping the users here can give me their opinions on what is the best plan of action to do this whole install?
So what I was thinking was, I should remove the hard drive that's already inside, put it into an external enclosure. Then, put my new blank 250gb hard drive into the macbook pro, close up the computer, then put the Leopard OSX install disk, and do a completely fresh install of Leopard. Then, after installing (or during installing?) I should run the migration assistant program to get all my files and settings etc. transferred over to the new internal hard drive with Leopard on it, from the old hard drive that will be plugged in from an enclosure as an external drive.
Will this plan have any problems that I am not aware of? Is there a better process for doing this task? Any advice will be greatly appreciated! I am anxious to get my new hard drive into the computer because my 160gb is filling up, and dying so badly to use the new Leopard!!

You could also put the new disk in the external enclosure, partition it using disk utility. Then make a clone of your current hard disk to the new external one using the restore feature in disk utility. Boot from the external disk and Install Leopard as an upgrade keeping all your files and setting. check everything is all running how I should and swap drives over. That's another option for you.

HT4718 I want to install a new internal hard drive for my Macbook (13in, Late 2009) and restore to factory settings. However, I want to keep my Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

I want to install a new internal hard drive for my Macbook (13in, Late 2009) and restore to factory settings. However, I want to keep my Mac OS X Snow Leopard., which I downloaded from the app store. How can I restore computer with the updated OS?

What I did on our two computers was partition the hard drive so that both Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion can be used on the computers. This allowed me to be able to retain/use older applications and games on the Snow Leopard partition. This will allow you to do a clean install of Mountain Lion on the newly created partition. The Mountain Lion installer has a button that allows you to select another drive so you don't install it over Snow Leopard. I cleverly name one partition Snow Leopard and the other one Mountain Lion so I wouldn't confuse the two (I never claimed to be smart).
To partition, you need to have sufficient free hard drive space (I suggest 50 GB minimum). Boot off the Snow Leopard DVD or the disks that came with the computer and use Disk Utility to partition your hard drive into two partitions. If you plan to make Mountain Lion your primary OS, then you can reduce the size of the Snow Leopard partition so most of the free hard drive space is available for Mountain Lion. While booted off the disk, you can install Snow Leopard on the partition you want it on.
Restart and download Mountain Lion, remembering to select the correct partition before installing. I would make a copy of the installer and move it out of the Applications folder because the installer self destructs.
After getting all that sorted out, I found that while booted in Mountain Lion I could access the Snow Leopard partition. That allowed me to drag files and applications from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion. Applications that won't work with Mountain Lion will be grayed out with a slash through them.

Can I reformat and partition a new internal hard drive with the Snow Leopard disk?

I'm planning on installing a new internal hard drive in my 15'' Macbook Pro. Can I format and partition the new drive with the Snow Leopard disk or is it just an upgrade from Leopard? Thanks much.

You should be able to do that.
If you want to change the sizes of existing partitions this may help:
Enlarging a partition

Lousy 'fan' noise after installing a new internal hard drive

Hi,
I installed a new internet hard drive to replace my corrupted hard drive. The new hard drive is WD 320GB. Somehow, i got it installed and work. I install leopard on it and it works well as far as this point. Now, I have a new problem. Before installing the hard drive, my iMac run very quiet. Now, as soon as I turn on my iMac, i can hear a very noisy and loud 'fan' sound. I do not know if it is hard drive spinning or one of the fan. I do not notice any weird sound except it definitely a very loud spinning fan sound. I do not have Apple Care or warranty with Apple. Any suggestion to isolate the problem pls ?
I use iStat Pro and have the following info:
- CPU fan : 800-900 rpm
- CPU and GPU temp : 40 - 60 C degree
- Hard drive fan : 5000 rpm
Another question is : when i take my old hard drive, i noticed it has 1 power cable, 1 SATA cable and 1 small cable with connect some kind of chip on my motherboard to a small chip on the right hand side of hard drive. It appears to me that Apple attached a small chip on the side of hard drive. And i do not know where to connect that wire to my new hard drive. So i just left it un-connected. Thought, i connect power cable and the SATA cable. Any idea what that wire used for ?
Thanks
Message was edited by: DeathNote

Hi Dennis,
Thank for informing me the heat sensor. Basically, i can take the heat sensor out from my old internal hard drive and stick it on the new drive ? If so, how do i do it ? can i use any glue to stick heat sensor on new drive ?
Also, I just figure something. I opened the front cover, then run iMac. I noticed the noisy sound, i thought it might be the fan or the hard drive. So , i disconnect the fan power cable and restart the computer. Now, it runs very quitely. I can not hear anything noise as all. No thing. So i assume that the hard drive is not the problem. As soon as i plug back the power cable for the fan. The noise come back.
Is there a software to control the speed of the fan ? Using Istat, i have the following info :
- CPU : 42 C degree
- HD : 29 C degree
- GPU : 43 C degree
- Ambient : 22 C degree
- mem controller : 37 C degree
- CPU fan : 860 rpm
- HD fan : 5000 rpm
- Optical fan : 800 rpm
Thank you .
p/s: inside my iMac is different than in the picture.

Can I use my old internal hard drive and copy everything into the new one?

My internal hard drive is running out of space, and I want to buy a new one. But to do that, I'll have to buy a external hard drive to back up everything and then copy it back onto the new internal hard drive , right? I don't have that much budget. So can I use the old internal hard drive that I took out of my Macbook and copy everthing back into the new internal hard drive after the repalecment? so I don't need to buy a external hard drive to back up everything
Tks!

You will have to buy a new HDD and an enclosure to make the transfer. You can use Disk Utility to make the transfer.
INSTALLING A NEW HDD IN A MBP
1. Make certain that you have backed up all of your important data.
2. You will need a HDD enclosure. One with a USB connection will do. A 9 pin Firewire is better.
3. Install your new drive in the enclosure and connect it to your MBP.
4. Open DISK UTILITY>ERASE. From the left hand column drag the new drive into the 'Name' field. Make sure that the format is 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'. Click on the 'Erase' button.
5. Click on the 'Restore' button (on top). Drag the old drive into the 'Source' field and the new drive into the 'Destination' field. Click on the 'Restore' button on the bottom right hand corner.
Depending upon the amount of data you are transferring, this may take a couple hours or more. A Firewire will speed up the transfer. This will result in both drives having identical information on them. INSTALLING
6. After the data transfer has completed, you may swap the drives. Start the MBP and you have finished the installation. The initial boot may take a bit longer than you are accustomed to, but that is normal.
7. When you are satisfied that the new hard drive if functioning properly, you can erase the old drive and use it for any needs that you may have.

Upgrade Internal Hard Drive and Time Machine runs first back up as new full

I recently upgraded my internal hard drive on my macbook to a larger and faster model, my old one is still fine. I went to run a Time Machine back up and it starts a new back up even though its not supposed to. How do I get it to recognize the old / original back up instead of running a new full back up on the new internal hard drive?

William Beede wrote:
In my case I backed up my old internal hd to my new external 1 TB hd.
Surely you mean you used +Setup Assistant+ or +Migration Assistant+ to transfer the data? Or a "clone" via CarbonCopyCloner, SuperDuper, or Disk Utility?
Now it appears TM wants to ADD the contents of my new internal hd to those already backed up(another 220 gb).
Yes. As posted, to TM it's a new, different drive. TM will back it up. You cannot prevent it.
I wonder if I need to format the new drive and start over??
Yes, that's probably your best bet.

Need to buy new internal hard drive ~ suggestions of where to buy online?

My 3 year old Mac Mini needs a new internal hard drive. I'm trying to find one online, but when I go to macsales.com for instance, I can't figure out the item I should be buying that will work. I'm clueless.
Is there any online place anyone would suggest in particular?
And what do I look for? Will it say 'mac mini internal hard drive' and will I know it will work in my old mini? (not intel).
Does anyone know of a good place to take to have it installed in the Seattle area?
Help! Thanks!

With a little experience, replacing the drive on a Mac mini would take a little less than an hour, so I suspect you're being quoted the standard minimum for the job by those two sources. Whether you take that up or do it yourself really depends on your level of confidence. Opening the mini is a daunting proposition since there's no clear way to do it, and the plastic creaks and clicks as it's being levered apart with the putty knives, but it's actually very simple to do. Once the top is off, it is a fairly simply process to get to the drive, remove it, fit a new one and then reassemble. The only common issue from doing this work is failing to reconnect the fan control cable (symptom of having forgotten it is that the fan runs continuously on start up).
I would suggest that if you have a flat, clear table, an hour to spare, two putty knives and a suitable screwdriver, you would likely find it a fairly easy job once you get started. Indeed, you might even think about increasing the system memory at the same time!
One thing I would suggest is that if you have a digital camera, once you have the top open, start taking pictures as you progress through the job. That will help overcome the 'where does this go?' syndrome, should it strike!
In terms of sources of drive, the reason Boece suggested OWC in the first reply is that they have already done the work of figuring out which drives are compatible and which are not. If you are in any doubt about which drive will work and which won't, it would make sense to source the drive from them, knowing it is suitable, than through another vendor where you may be less sure!

New interal Hard drive and Lion

I have a Mac Pro early 2008 which is working just fine except that the original hard drive is starting to show it's age. To mitigate the potential problem I have a new clean,empty internal hard drive and wonder if installing Lion on it would be a wise thing to do? I really like the way Snow Leopard is working and do subscribe to if it aint broke why fix it. I have been following the Lion discussions and at this point see no reason to go there. I am curious though. I do not have airport, or a touch pad, or a camera in the monitor, I don't use this machine for any of that. I work primarily with audio visual programs and actually work with and like ilife/iwork programs, Quicktime, along with Photoshop CS4. So is Lion worth the effort? All of your opinions would be very helpful. Thanks.

Tom
I have a Mini 2010 that I have been happily running SL on with my migrated data from the previous older mini, out of curiosity I created two partitions using disk utility and installed Lion to its own partition, that way I can dual boot into either version.
Using the app migration I was able to bring over to Lion from the SL partition my applications and settings that I wanted to try out in Lion without damaging my SL partition.
This way you get a clean install of Lion that seems to work fine, certainly none of the problems cropping up on the discussions about upgrading from SL.
However I can state without doubt that Photoshop CS4 does NOT work with Lion so keep a bootable copy of SL to operate from when you need to, there are a few adobe programs that didn't migrate over, along with quicken.....
You can find quite a few threads giving details on what does and doesn't play nicely with Lion.
Ref Airdrop, it only works with an another Airdrop compatible Mac when you have the other Lion machine nearby, if you only have one machine, it doesn't do anything for you....
Mark.

Best way to transfer data to new internal hard drive

Hi,
I just got a new internal hard drive for my macbook and I'm trying to figure out the best way to transfer all the data from my old hd to the new one. Basically, I would just like to make an exact copy of my old hd and put it on the new larger one. Thanks for the help.

Will I simply be able to do a firewire transfer on the new internal HD is installed
Yes. Use Carbon Copy Cloner with the sopurce and destination volumes reversed after installing the new drive.
Additionally do I need a bootable copy of OSX on my external HD to do the transfer?
Yes; the clone can act as this copy. If you copy everything with Carbon Copy Cloner, you will be told whether the drive will be bootable or not prior to the clone.
(33676)

Importing FROM external hard drive to new internal hard drive

How can I move my backed up Itunes library from my external hard drive to my new internal hard drive? I went through the steps listed on the support page, and imported the .xml playlist that I moved to the desktop. Now all my playlists (names only) are on Itunes, but there is no content. Help?

lksj wrote:
How can I move my backed up Itunes library from my external hard drive to my new internal hard drive? I went through the steps listed on the support page, and imported the .xml playlist that I moved to the desktop. Now all my playlists (names only) are on Itunes, but there is no content. Help?
assuming you moved the whole iTunes folder to your new internal HD, try this:
launch iTunes with the options key pressed. this window will appear
click +choose library+ and navigate to the _iTunes library file_ on your internal HD.
any luck ?

How do I transfer all data from my old internal hard drive to a new internal hard drive

How do I transfer all data from my old internal hard drive to a new internal hard drive? I have an iMac with a 320gb internal HD that is full and I am replacing it with a 2tb internal drive. I have several external drives; 1 tb, 2tb and 3 tb. The 2 tb is being used for Time Machine. Do I have to buy an enclosure? If so, where would I get an inexpensive one?
I also want to partition the new internal drive for Windows, and I'm not sure how much space to use for that. I plan to use Windows to check my work in PowerPoint created on my Mac for clients on PCs.

Do you already have Time Machine making backups onto the 2TB drive? If so, after you get the internal drive replaced, boot up into the recovery partition (hold down ⌘R) and restore the latest Time Machine backup that you have onto the new internal drive.
I recommend always having two backups. I'd use SuperDuper to make a complete clone of your internal drive onto an external drive in addition to having the Time Machine backup.
Boot Camp is what is used to make partitions for Windows. How much space to allocate depends on how much space you expect Windows to use up based on how you plan to use it.

New internal hard drive and installing OS

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