Snow Leopard 10.6 HDD format??

I want to do a SL clean install. I removed HDD from laptop and formated it on a Windows machine. Was showing up Lion in Drive Utilities. Did format on Windows machine then installed back to Apple laptop "Macbook 4.1 A1181". Now laptop does not see HDD only shows the ? mark when rebooted. No Disk Utilities on anything.
Does the HDD have to be formated by a Apple machine for laptop to see it??
Thanks

Yes. The disk drive must be formatted as HFS+ with a GUID partition mapping for OS X to be able to be install.
This can't be done on a PC and must be done on a Mac.
Boot from Snow Leopard install DVD and start Disk Utility. You will be able to correctly format disk drive from there and then install Snow Leopard.
Allan

Similar Messages

Snow Leopard and aftermarket HDD (won't install on WD3200)

I figured this out last night and thought I would post a word of caution. I have a Macbook with a WDC WD3200BEVT HDD. I had originally cloned my stock HDD to it and therefore never needed to go through a real install routine. When I tried installing SL last night, I got the restart and, when it asked me where to install SL, the option screen was blank! I checked disk utilities and only saw the DVD drive; the HD wasn't showing up at all. Called Apple support who tried a number of different things (check SMART status; GUID formatted; etc) to no avail until I remembered that this was not the 'stock' HDD. I then put it into a firewire enclosure and ran the install which was successful. The HDD is back in place and all is working well.
A word of caution, the install took one hour (over FW400) and the computer was unresponsive for at least 20 minutes of that (blank screen, no light on front, little to no HDD activity). I almost turned it off 2-3 times but gave it time in the end which was the right thing to do. Just wanted this info out there for anyone else with an upgraded HDD. I can confirm others with this same drive are having the same issues (via macrumors).
E

Again, you need to install the Lion Server Admin tools when you are using Lion or Lion Server as your platform, and these tools can administer Lion Server as well as recent Snow Leopard Server configurations.
If you want to use Screen Sharing (or if you're using older SL or Leopard or earlier), then that too is an option.
Or run a VM and guests with the tool version(s) required.
Mac OS X Server Admin Tools 10.7.3 (DL1488)
This cross-version compatibility is (was?) documented by Apple, but I don't immediately see that detail in the current release notes. I am using these tools to manage a mix of 10.7.2, 10.7.3 and 10.6.8 servers from Lion client boxes.

Installed OS X Snow Leopard on external HDD, now won't allow me to delete files from Mac internal drive

Hi,
I am stuck! My 1 TB iMac 27" decided to stop booting up and would only stay at the grey screen with the apple, gear turning and progress bar. When it got to a certain point on the progress bar it would shut down. Thanks to so many helpful people and their experiences I was able to try many different things including (Command + S, typing /sbin/mount -uw / enter , chmod 775 / enter, logout enter, then rebooting holding down Command + V) and (Reinstalling OS X and using Disk Utility to repair - came up with Disk can't be fixed).
Nothing worked until I read a couple of very wise answers who said "Your hard drive is not dead, but too full...keep at least 10% free at all times". I was down to about 1% (ooops!) Thankfully hubby had bought me an external HDD for Christmas, onto which I installed OS X and being connected to my iMac, it recognized my internal Macintosh HD and all my files are there. Phewww! But I don't want to use my external HDD as my startup disk, I wan't to keep my Macintosh HD for startup but it is too full to repair and select as startup.
My problem is that I cannot delete files from Macintosh HD, and I've tried to unlock files/folders but they don't seem to be locked. But when I drag them to the trash can it says "The item ... can't be moved to the Trash because it can't be deleted." Again, many helpful answers online, but nothing is working. I have 2 Finder windows open, one with external HDD (new startup disk), and old HDD (Macintosh HD) but all items in Macintosh HD can't be altered or deleted (right click doesn't highlight to change the name). So if I can't delete my files, I can't reinstall OS X and repair disk and select it as my startup disk. I'd be so thrilled if someone can help me. I have tried unlocking folders, and I downloaded 'Trashit'. Neither worked, so I figure because it has the little pencil crossed out on the menu bar that it is protected somehow...I just don't know how/what to do. Thanks

Ok, so I'll try set it out a bit clearer than my first post,
This is what I've done, and the results:
1. My son unplugged working iMac Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2, 1TB with only 11GB available space
2. Turned it on and got the white screen, apple, turning gear and load-up bar
3. Turned Mac off and waited 1/2 a minute.
4. Turned Mac back on...(same as 3.), tried again many times
5. Began searching internet for answers (see original post)
6. Found answers and did the following:
               1.     Put OS X installation disk into drive
               2.     Attached External Hard Drive
               3.     Installed OS X onto External Hard Drive (With a different name & password to original HDD)
               4.     Found Macintosh HD still worked so tried to delete files only to get message saying                                           files couldn't be deleted (see original post)
I've tried changing the permissions in 'Get Info' and this is what happens:
1.Right click Macintosh HD - says "You can only read"
                                                  Name: System - Read & Write
                                                             Admin -   Read & Write
                                                             Everyone - Read only
2.Click on padlock to unlock - doesn't turn black to be able to change anything
3.Check the box "Ignore ownership on this volume" (someone else advised to do this)
4.Name changes to 'mydrive (Me)'
5.Lock padlock and Name still says mydrive (Me) but still 'You can only read'
I don't know what is wrong or what to do, but perhaps you are right LowLuster, that because I named them different names it is protected in some way.
My thought now is to copy all my files to the external HDD and then erase and install again on my internal HD, but I really need my calendar, emails etc from my old HD and not sure they can be found on the old HD to copy over.
Still stuck!

Installing Snow Leopard on New Lion formatted macbook pro

I just purchased a new 15" macbook pro and it came with lion. I need to revert back to snow leopard for a couple of my programs because they aren't currently supported. When I try to boot from the snow leopard disc to add a partition to my hard drive, my laptop beats and will not boot. I installed snow leopard on a different hard drive and swapped it out for the lion formatted one, same result when I try to start, it beeps. When I try to install snow leopard on an external drive I get this error "You can't use this version of the application Install Mac OS X with this version of Mac OS X. You have Install Mac OS X 23.1.1" Any ideas of how I can get snow leopard installed? Thanks!

Sure! A picture is worth a thousand words:
Start up the Target Mac (the one you want to install Snow Leopard on) while holding T. Plug it into another "Helper" Mac using a FireWire cable. Insert the Snow Leopard installer DVD into the Helper Mac, then restart and hold C.
Now you should be able to go through the Snow Leopard installer as normal, but make sure to choose the Target Mac volume as the install destination.
Immediately after installing, download the Mac OS X 10.6.8 combo updater on the Helper Mac and install it to the Target Mac while it's still connected via Firewire. Once that's done, restart the Target Mac on its own, and it should be ready to go!

Can't install Snow Leopard to new HDD

Hi, Im having some issues with my new hard drive. I have a late 2006 iMac Model A1207 that had a 250GB WD2500JS hard drive that was failing. What I mean by that is I had several times where I could hear the drive clicking inside and only after several attempts would it boot up. I was able to backup the system to an external drive via Time Machine. So I bought a WD5000AAKX 500GB which Ive installed. I do have the original Mac Snow Leopard disc and I did follow instructions on here on how to properly partition the drive so that it can see it. The disk verify checks out properly and Ive tried two way to boot it with no luck. Ive tried booting the disc and running it on that drive to which it panics, crashes and restarts. Trying to restore the backup to the new drive gets a little further but ultimately asks me to restart and start over. Any ideas? Im guessing that the drive just somehow is not compatible. :-/

I returned the 500GB HD and bought a working hard drive of the same model of the one that was failing. Only way I was able to get my old harddrive data onto the new one was place it in an external enclosure and it was able to restore from the restore feature in disk utility. Unfortunately even though that hard drive boots like the old one, there are still panic shutdowns. Here is a report below. HDD just not compatible or iMac no good anymore?
Interval Since Last Panic Report: 931747 sec
Panics Since Last Report:          4
Fri Oct 18 20:46:45 2013
panic(cpu 0 caller 0x2abf6a): Kernel trap at 0x00260d39, type 6=invalid opcode, registers:
CR0: 0x8001003b, CR2: 0x428fb000, CR3: 0x00100000, CR4: 0x00000660
EAX: 0x8504c001, EBX: 0x41c4c000, ECX: 0x01bcd600, EDX: 0x01bcd600
CR2: 0x428fb000, EBP: 0x482239e8, ESI: 0x00000000, EDI: 0x017b6ebc
EFL: 0x00010206, EIP: 0x00260d39, CS: 0x00000008, DS: 0x075e0010
Error code: 0x00000000
Backtrace (CPU 0), Frame : Return Address (4 potential args on stack)
0x482236d8 : 0x21b837 (0x5dd7fc 0x4822370c 0x223ce1 0x0)
0x48223728 : 0x2abf6a (0x59e3d0 0x260d39 0x6 0x59e51b)
0x48223808 : 0x2a1a78 (0x48223820 0x85d6c0 0x482239e8 0x260d39)
0x48223818 : 0x260d39 (0xe 0x48 0x48220010 0x2a0010)
0x482239e8 : 0x261b4b (0x41c4d000 0x0 0x1 0x0)
0x48223a28 : 0x25a8e7 (0x17b6ebc 0x41c4c000 0x0 0x41c4d000)
0x48223a68 : 0x30185a (0x17b6ebc 0x41c4c000 0x1c0 0x0)
0x48223b38 : 0x302001 (0x0 0x0 0x200 0x0)
0x48223b88 : 0x43d9ab (0x5c39f00 0x5a8dbc0 0x0 0x5a8d804)
0x48223bb8 : 0x4443a9 (0x5a8d804 0x1 0x790a4f8 0x0)
0x48223cc8 : 0x422453 (0x790e8dc 0x0 0x790a4a0 0x48223d08)
0x48223da8 : 0x2fe8b1 (0x48223dc0 0x246 0x48223de8 0x2ff05a)
0x48223de8 : 0x2e0c92 (0x790e8dc 0x74e0e14 0x0 0x0)
0x48223e08 : 0x2e0d02 (0x790e8dc 0x0 0x0 0x0)
0x48223e28 : 0x2f5005 (0x790e8dc 0x5 0x48223ed8 0x74e0d10)
0x48223e88 : 0x473bb7 (0x5cb6ea0 0x48223ed8 0x2 0x48223ec0)
0x48223ef8 : 0x475968 (0x620f450 0x5cb6ea0 0x62752a0 0x790e8dc)
0x48223f38 : 0x475a39 (0x0 0x10 0x48223f5c 0x1)
0x48223f78 : 0x4f82fb (0x62752a0 0x7099288 0x74e0d54 0x0)
0x48223fc8 : 0x2a251d (0x7099284 0x7fff 0x10 0x7099284)
BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Safari
Mac OS version:
10K549
Kernel version:
Darwin Kernel Version 10.8.0: Tue Jun 7 16:33:36 PDT 2011; root:xnu-1504.15.3~1/RELEASE_I386
System model name: iMac5,1 (Mac-F4228EC8)
System uptime in nanoseconds: 55590387963
unloaded kexts:
(none)
loaded kexts:
com.apple.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch         54.3 - last loaded 28191289287
com.apple.driver.AppleTyMCEDriver      1.0.2d2
com.apple.driver.AppleHWSensor         1.9.3d0
com.apple.driver.InternalModemSupport              2.6.2
com.apple.driver.AudioAUUC 1.57
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com.apple.driver.AppleMCCSControl     1.0.20
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelYonahProfile              14
com.apple.kext.ATIFramebuffer            6.3.6
com.apple.Dont_Steal_Mac_OS_X        7.0.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPenrynProfile             17
com.apple.ATIRadeonX1000 6.3.6
com.apple.driver.AppleHDA   2.0.5f14
com.apple.driver.AudioIPCDriver            1.1.6
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43xx        423.91.27
com.apple.driver.AppleGraphicsControl                2.10.6
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelNehalemProfile         11
com.apple.iokit.AppleYukon2 3.2.1b1
com.apple.driver.AirPortBrcm43224      428.42.4
com.apple.driver.ACPI_SMC_PlatformPlugin         4.7.0a1
com.apple.driver.AppleLPC     1.5.1
com.apple.driver.AppleBacklight           170.0.46
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelMeromProfile            19
com.apple.filesystems.autofs                2.1.0
com.apple.driver.AppleIRController       303.8
com.apple.driver.CSRHIDTransitionDriver             2.4.5f3
com.apple.iokit.SCSITaskUserClient       2.6.8
com.apple.BootCache             31.1
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBHub             4.2.4
com.apple.AppleFSCompression.AppleFSCompressionTypeZlib           1.0.0d1
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIBlockStorage     1.6.4
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelPIIXATA      2.5.1
com.apple.driver.AppleFWOHCI            4.7.3
com.apple.driver.AppleAHCIPort            2.1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBEHCI            4.2.4
com.apple.driver.AppleEFINVRAM        1.4.0
com.apple.driver.AppleUSBUHCI           4.2.0
com.apple.driver.AppleRTC    1.3.1
com.apple.driver.AppleHPET 1.5
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIButtons      1.3.6
com.apple.driver.AppleSMBIOS             1.7
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIEC               1.3.6
com.apple.driver.AppleAPIC   1.4
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagementClient   142.6.0
com.apple.security.sandbox   1
com.apple.security.quarantine               0
com.apple.nke.applicationfirewall         2.1.14
com.apple.driver.AppleIntelCPUPowerManagement            142.6.0
com.apple.driver.IOBluetoothHIDDriver                2.4.5f3
com.apple.driver.AppleMultitouchDriver               207.11
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileReadCounterAction                17
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileTimestampAction   10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileThreadInfoAction    14
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileRegisterStateAction               10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileKEventAction          10
com.apple.driver.AppleProfileCallstackAction       20
com.apple.iokit.IOSurface      74.2
com.apple.iokit.IOBluetoothSerialManager          2.4.5f3
com.apple.iokit.IOSerialFamily              10.0.3
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAHardwareConfigDriver               2.0.5f14
com.apple.driver.DspFuncLib 2.0.5f14
com.apple.iokit.IOAudioFamily              1.8.3fc2
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com.apple.kext.ATI1600Controller         6.3.6
com.apple.kext.ATISupport    6.3.6
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireIP 2.0.3
com.apple.driver.AppleHDAController   2.0.5f14
com.apple.iokit.IOHDAFamily                2.0.5f14
com.apple.iokit.IO80211Family             320.1
com.apple.iokit.IONetworkingFamily    1.10
com.apple.driver.AppleSMC   3.1.0d5
com.apple.driver.IOPlatformPluginFamily             4.7.0a1
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com.apple.driver.AppleBacklightExpert 1.0.1
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com.apple.driver.CSRUSBBluetoothHCIController 2.4.5f3
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com.apple.iokit.IODVDStorageFamily    1.6
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com.apple.driver.XsanFilter   402.1
com.apple.iokit.IOATAPIProtocolTransport            2.5.1
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com.apple.iokit.IOUSBUserClient          4.2.4
com.apple.driver.AppleFileSystemDriver               2.0
com.apple.iokit.IOATAFamily 2.5.1
com.apple.iokit.IOFireWireFamily         4.2.6
com.apple.iokit.IOAHCIFamily               2.0.6
com.apple.iokit.IOUSBFamily                4.2.4
com.apple.driver.AppleEFIRuntime       1.4.0
com.apple.iokit.IOHIDFamily 1.6.6
com.apple.iokit.IOSMBusFamily            1.1
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com.apple.kext.AppleMatch   1.0.0d1
com.apple.driver.DiskImages 289.1
com.apple.iokit.IOStorageFamily           1.6.3
com.apple.driver.AppleACPIPlatform     1.3.6
com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily 2.6.5
com.apple.iokit.IOACPIFamily                1.3.0
Model: iMac5,1, BootROM IM51.0090.B09, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.16 GHz, 4 GB, SMC 1.9f4
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1600, ATY,RadeonX1600, PCIe, 128 MB
Memory Module: global_name
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x87), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.10.131.42.4)
Bluetooth: Version 2.4.5f3, 2 service, 19 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: AirPort, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: WDC WD2500JS-41MVB1, 232.89 GB
Parallel ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-85J
USB Device: Hub in Apple Pro Keyboard, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x1003, 0x3d100000 / 2
USB Device: Apple Pro Keyboard, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x020b, 0x3d130000 / 3
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8206, 0x7d100000 / 2
USB Device: IR Receiver, 0x05ac (Apple Inc.), 0x8240, 0x7d200000 / 3

Install snow leopard on external hdd using windows

My laptop logic board broke. So I wasn't able to erase the hdd. So I took it out put it into my external hdd enclosure. Now I'm stuck on how I would reinstall a fresh copy on the hdd when I only have a windows computer available. I could get a Mac one but that would be a little harder to do, since I have one and I have to go outta my friends. Anyone have a way for me??

Ummm, this is posted in the forum for help with iTunes on Mac.
Fresh copy of what? You're trying to install Snow Leopard on a Windows computer?? Or you are trying to install iTunes on a Snow Leopard drive in an external enclosure to run on a Windows computer? Need some clarity here please.

Snow leopard on ext HDD

I'm running Mountain Lion on a 3 year old intel mac and have put Snow leopard on an external HDD to access apps that are no longer supported. Problem is things like Midnight Mansion The Haunted Hills only play in a tiny window even though I've selected full screen. MM isn't the only one though. When I was running SL exclusively everything was fine. What's wrong here? You're help much appreciated.
Mattchu

I just saw this message but I also have snow leopard on an external drive partition. My late 09 27" came with snow leopard so I have the disc. Glad everything is working for you now.

Convert a Mac Pro Server from January 2007 with OS 10.4 Server to Snow Leopard 6.0 (NON SERVER)

I have a Mac Pro Server from January 2007 with OS 10.4 Server installed. I want to convert from OS 10 Server OS to just using Snow Leopard 6.0 (NON SERVER). I have two hard drives installed. What is the best way to do this?
Can I just install Snow Leopard NON-SERVER on the second drive, then switch it into the place of the original main drive?
Can I switch the drives, then install the Snow Leopard on the replacement drive?

Not sure how you configured the server, though you can install snow leopard on second HDD and select boot drive with pressing "option" key during startup.

Trouble ejecting flash drives with Snow Leopard

About every other time I try to eject my flash drive from my MacBook it freezes up the computer. My wife has the same problem on her computer. Is there anyone else that is having this problem and what can I do to fix it? Thanks!

Try resetting some of the hardware involved (PRAM~NVRAM). See this Apple KB for details, etc.:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Can't hurt to try, and apparently this has helped others recently.
Also, try reformatting that flash drive using Disk Utility w/Snow Leopard...windows format only.

Tiger to Snow Leopard

Hi Apple community,
We are currently running Tiger on our iMac. Is it possible to upgrade straight to Snow Leopard skipping Leopard? Is it safe and stable to upgrade?
Regards
Keith & Shem

Yes, but were I you I would install Snow Leopard on a freshly formatted drive instead. More likely to create a trouble-free system.
You can clone your old Tiger system to another hard drive. Do this:
Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions
Boot from your Tiger 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.
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the external backup drive. Source means the internal startup drive.
Next do this:
Cleanly Install Snow Leopard
1. 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.
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. After formattings has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Complete the Snow Leopard installation.
5. When the installation is finished Snow Leopard will restart the computer into the Setup Assistant. After completing the registration information you will be asked if you want to restore your files or continue on. Select the former if you want to restore your Home folder, third-party applications and support, and system preferences from your backup. If you opt to simply continue, then you can do the software restoration later using Migration Assistant.

I am currently trying to load Snow Leopard onto my system and it is frozen

I am currently trying to load Snow Leopard onto my laptop, I have the 10.4.11 system, but the process is stuck on 41 minutes remaing and has been for about half an hour, so nothing is budging! Please help, I am too scared to stop it as the guy in the shop said "whatever you do just let it run its course!" Thank you, Kate

Boot from your bootable backup drive - restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager appears. Select the icon for your external drive then click on the downward pointing arrow button.
After the computer starts up do the following:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your internal 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.
Leave DU open and do the following:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the internal drive. Source means the external drive.
This will restore your old system so you can continue using the computer.
An alternative to the above is that after formatting the internal drive restart from the Snow Leopard DVD and install Snow Leopard on the freshly formatted internal drive. You can then restore your Home folder and other applications through the Setup Assistant which will provide an option to restore your files from another Mac or hard drive.

I have a hdd from late 2009 that I upgraded from leopard to snow leopard to lion to mountain lion. I want to upgrade the hdd to ssd. Do I need to buy a new copy of mountain lion to install on the ssd? If not, then what is the procedure to transfer?

I have a hdd from a late 2009 mbp. I upgraded from leopard to snow leopard to lion to mountain lion. Now I want to upgrade to a ssd. Do I need to purchase a new copy of mountain lion to go on my new ssd? If I don't, then what is the procedure to transfer mountain lion with my 4 user accounts onto the new ssd from the hdd?
I'm confused on if I can use the recovery hd on a thumb drive to install mountain lion on my ssd. Will it be pheasible with so many OS X upgrades? And then how do I get my user accounts onto the ssd from the hdd. Do I use migration assistant? Do I need to make a time machine backup first? Should I use something called Carbon Clone or something like that?
Thanks for reading

If you have a cable that connects and external HDD to the MBP, it will do. If it is something like this, an enclosure will not be needed for the swap:
An enclosure allows you to use your old HDD for storage or backup purposes. The cable will not.
Here are instructions as to how the swap can be performed using DISK UTITY. Substitute You cable for the enclosure in same:
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.
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.
If there is any confusion on your part, post back.
Ciao.

Upgrade HDD using Time Machine, but no Snow Leopard DVD, only Leopard installation DVD = kernel error on startup

Hi guys and girls.
Background
I have a MacBook Pro (March 2009 vintage). It was loaded with OS X Leopard on a 250GB HDD. When Snow Leopard was released, I upgraded using a DVD bought from Apple. In time, I added an external USB HDD to use for Time Machine Backups. I am now, however, knocking up against the capacity limit of the original hard drive.
Given the above, plus the fact that I no longer appear to have the Snow Leopard DVD (upgrade version I believe) - what is the recommended way to get back to my old setup (files, OS, settings etc), but with my new, larger HDD?
So far I have tried:
1. Formatting new HDD as Mac OS Extended (journaled), GUID partition having booted using my original (Leopard) installation DVD. I then selected the latest Time Machine (Snow Leopard) backup. After a couple of hours of restoring from that backup, the system restarted, but had kernel errors on bootup.
2. As above, but when formatting, chose to zero all data. This had the same end result.
Questions:
1. Are the kernel errors I'm experiencing due to the mismatch of booting off Leopard and restoring a Snow Leopard backup?
2. Would finding my (or even a) Snow Leopard upgrade DVD help? If so, how?
3. What am I doing wrong generally? I do like to try to understand these things!
4. As above, what is the recommended way of doing what I'm trying to do, given the limitations of release DVDs etc.
Many thanks

Simplest thing would be to buy the retail SL installation disc ($20 USD) and use it to do the migration. There might be an issue trying to use a SL TM version with Leopard.

External HDD Issues with Snow Leopard and Time Machine

Hello,
I have a 1TB WD 10EADS External HDD, and it had some files on it. I connected it the other day to an iMac I recently upgraded to 10.6, and wanted to do a complete time machine backup of the computer to it (250GB HDD). I copied the files off the external HDD I needed and then Time Machine needed to format it as it was a FAT32 drive. This went successfully, and I started the Time Machine backup. This went quite slowly and failed after ~2.5GB or so. I restarted and tried again to no avail upon which Time Machine told me I should reformat it in Disk Utility. So I did, and to no avail.
I tried this a number of times and sometimes when doing a reformat I was told that the drive could not be unmounted. I tried manually copying files to the disk which started to work but then failed promptly with error (-36) and the message "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in “ [Program/File Name]” can't be read or written." I upgraded to 10.6.1 also to no avail. I even repaired permissions and the disk, and booted Disk Utility from the Snow Leopard disc and formatted that to no avail.
I have read this is an I/O error and can be associated with bad drives, but as I stated before, the drive worked perfectly until Time Machine formatted it. I took the HDD to another Mac running 10.6, and it told me it had a POSIX error. I did some googling and found that if I format it under a Windows machine, and then reformat under the mac it might work.
What I want to know is, is this a 10.6 error or has the HDD decided to go kaput after Time Machine formatting it?
Thanks for your help

Thomas Huxley wrote:
Time Machine backup failed. I think it's a glitch with the computer, not the HDD. Going to zero out the drive now.
Any other suggestions on how I might bypass this error to get data onto the Disk eg. transfer over to another computer, so I can reformat the computer and install Snow Leopard from scratch? The whole purpose of doing this time Machine backup was to get all the files off the computer to perform a clean install of Snow Leopard.
I assume you're positive the TM disk has both the correct *Partition Map Scheme* (GUID) and Format (Mac OS Extended (journaled), but not case-sensitive)? One of them being wrong is the most common cause of a first TM backup failing.
Did you do either a +*Verify Disk+* (not permissions) or a +*Repair Disk+* (not permissions) on your internal HD, or only your TM drive? The message you got could be a result of a problem on either one.
Other options are to make a "bootable clone" via CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper. CCC is donationware, SD has a free version that will do it. If you do that, boot from it, and be sure everything works before erasing your internal HD. Google them.
Note that there are many, many reports of problems here with WD drives, and that some of them are not bootable.
I would not upgrade without backups (Murphy was an optimist!), but is there a reason you want to erase your HD? It's not required, and rarely does any good. The normal install will simply install Snow Leopard and remove Leopard. Your apps, data, etc., won't be touched.

Need to reformat HDD running Mountain Lion and install Snow Leopard

I bought a new Retina Display MBP and want to sell my Late 2008 MBP.
My 2008 MBP is running Mountain Lion, but I want to format the HDD and install Snow Leopard. When I try installing Snow Leopard from the DVD, I get the following message: "You can;t use this version of the application Install Mac OS X.app with this version of Mac OS X."
How can I get this done?

The only way to do it is to boot from the Snow Leopard installer disc and the erase and install. In other words you cannot "downgrade" OS X 10.6 over top of 10.8. Besides, if selling it an erase and install is the best thing to do anywya - gets all your info off it.

Snow Leopard 10.6 HDD format??

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