Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

User profile for user: Josh Pigford
Josh Pigford Author
User level: Level 2
261 points

No drives in "Select A Destination" screen

I'm attempting to install Leopard on a MackBook Pro.

I restarted the machine to begin installation and once I get to the "Select A Destination" screen where I would select the machines hard drive, I just see nothing. There isn't a single drive in the area for me to even think about selection. It's just blank.

I'm planning on doing an Erase & Install, but I just can't pick any drive to even start that.

Any ideas?

2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 3GB RAM

Posted on Oct 26, 2007 1:36 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Majicman
Majicman
User level: Level 1
60 points

Posted on Oct 26, 2007 2:16 PM

Hey Guys,

I have a fix for you. This was brought up in another thread, and I had the same problem. The solution is so ghetto, but it really works. Here is what you do:

When you get to the select a destination screen, go to the utilities menu and open up Disk Utility. You'll notice your hard drive is there, but it's missing the Mac OS X partition. This is the trick: *wait about 10-15 minutes, and come back*. Your partition will now be showing. Simply quit Disk Utility and return back to the installer. It should work from there.

Hope this helps!
- Majicman
View in context
31 replies
Sort By: 
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Majicman
Majicman
User level: Level 1
60 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:16 PM in response to Josh Pigford

Hey Guys,

I have a fix for you. This was brought up in another thread, and I had the same problem. The solution is so ghetto, but it really works. Here is what you do:

When you get to the select a destination screen, go to the utilities menu and open up Disk Utility. You'll notice your hard drive is there, but it's missing the Mac OS X partition. This is the trick: *wait about 10-15 minutes, and come back*. Your partition will now be showing. Simply quit Disk Utility and return back to the installer. It should work from there.

Hope this helps!
- Majicman
Reply
User profile for user: Zev Green
Zev Green
User level: Level 1
25 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:09 PM in response to Josh Pigford

I had the same thing..

I opened up a terminal window and the drive appeared. Strange. It might have been that it took an extraordinary amount of time to load, or the terminal open did something (doesn't seem like it should)

Hope it helps. Having lots of weird things happen on both my machines that I upgraded.
Reply
User profile for user: CausticPuppy
CausticPuppy
User level: Level 1
25 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:19 PM in response to Josh Pigford

I had the same issue installing on my mac mini (C2D 1.83GHz).

I went back one screen, and then tried proceeding back to the "select a location" screen. The second time I tried it, my HD showed up. Weird.

Oddly enough, the reason I'm installing it on my Mini at the moment is because my Macbook won't recognize the DVD at all (spits it out after a minute or so).
Reply
User profile for user: Marco Frissen
Marco Frissen
User level: Level 1
25 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:22 PM in response to Josh Pigford

We're just installing 10.5 here and came to the same problem.

We solved it:
- at the "select destination" screen it stops and shows nothing
- open up terminal from utilities
- type df -k
- firt time, the internal volume isn't seen
- type df -k again
- now the volume is there!
- close terminal and continue.
Reply
User profile for user: j-bird
j-bird
User level: Level 1
25 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:23 PM in response to CausticPuppy

I am having the same problem on my MacBook Pro. Been on with Applecare for over an hour. It is an entry level guy, probably knows less than I do about Macs. He is stumped. I am on hold (translation: he is surfing his support database looking for answers). We repaired my disk (which had a few issues) and then when that didn't work tried zapping the PRAM. Now while on hold I will try the tricks mentioned above.....
Reply
User profile for user: Barbara Batchelder
Barbara Batchelder
User level: Level 1
55 points

Oct 26, 2007 2:35 PM in response to Josh Pigford

I also had this problem with our G5 iMac 1.8GHz. However, I did what was suggested above (going to Disk Utility and waiting for Mac HD to show up) and then went back to Installer and the Mac HD showed up. It took just a few seconds for it to become available. Then installation continued without problem. My new iMac and MBP installed without this problem.

Barbara
Reply
User profile for user: nerowolfe
nerowolfe
User level: Level 6
13,090 points

Oct 26, 2007 7:35 PM in response to Barbara Batchelder

What are all the people using MBPs and updating without the knowledge of this board going to do?
I suspect Apple rushed this one out.
I am also glad my Leopard is not arriving until next week, when I shall be able to digest all this information. Hokey Smokes, Bullwinkle, the Leopard is upon us.
Reply
User profile for user: clancrean
clancrean
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 26, 2007 7:47 PM in response to Majicman

Majicman rocks. Family looking over my shoulder let loose the words 'Vista' and 'Early Adopter' as I sat looking at no volume to install to. I took M's advice and after about 30 seconds the volume came up and all is right with the world. Nothing like a little humble apple pie to eat in front of family....

Thanks for the ghetto tip!
Reply
User profile for user: dchome
dchome
User level: Level 1
4 points

Oct 26, 2007 8:36 PM in response to nerowolfe

Thanks, asked this question and got referred to this thread. Went into terminal and just played around a minute or two. When exited about 10-15 seconds later drive appeared faded and then active in another 15-20 seconds. Installation is currently in progress on that computer. I kind of agree with last post, looks a little buggy. I installed a few this afternoon, crashed finder and system prefs a few times. This is after I bragged all day to my tech guys (who do windows only) that with a Mac you didn't have to wait until 1st service pack before you could rely on the software. Here's to 10.5.1
Reply
User profile for user: rgswff
rgswff
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 26, 2007 9:09 PM in response to Josh Pigford

My HD shows up but not my partition and I've waited about 20 minutes. I can open disk utility and it shows the partition. When I verify disk, I get errors on the partition and it can't repair them. I then booted with the tiger disc and it says there are no errors. On leopard, I can go into terminal, run df -k and it shows the partition but the partition never shows up during the 'Select A Destination' screen. Any ideas?
Reply
User profile for user: Michael McLennan
Michael McLennan
User level: Level 1
34 points

Oct 26, 2007 10:34 PM in response to Gerry Panganiban

I don't even think you need to do the disk utility thing that was suggested, nor any of the other selections (at least I didn't) - For whatever reason it just took the drive a long time to appear (5 mins) but ultimately it showed up - it showed up while I was looking this up on the discussion board. Technically I guess there is nothing wrong but I think this violates Apples Interface guideline (i.e. always give the user an indication of when they are waiting on something to happen so that they do not fear that there is a problem) - or something like that. There is not harddrive spinning sound, no onscreen indication, no message saying it might take several minutes, nothing, just a big blankscreen. Obviously this is not a confidence building start when you have this type of thing right out of the gate, but I hope this is the only issue I experience. If so, then I will be able to live with this little issue.
Reply
User profile for user: Nevin Kapur
Nevin Kapur
User level: Level 1
0 points

Oct 28, 2007 1:20 PM in response to Josh Pigford

I had the same problem. What worked for me isn't mentioned in this thread: In the Installer start Disk Utility. Select the missing hard drive. Select the Partitions tab. Then select one of options other than "Current" in the Volume Scheme drop box. (Magically, my old volume appeared at this point.) Quit Disk Utility and the drive will show up as a Destination.
Reply
User profile for user: Daniel Peebles
Daniel Peebles
User level: Level 1
35 points

Oct 29, 2007 9:16 PM in response to Josh Pigford

All the solutions I've seen are circumstantial (like the df -k and open Disk Utility.)

The issue is that the installer is checking your disks and doesn't provide any UI feedback on it. Sometimes that'll be quick, others it won't. If you want to cancel the disk check (shouldn't be anything wrong with it, especially if you plan to erase and install) just open up the terminal, type "ps ax" (without the quotes) and look for an fsck process checking a disk0sX disk. Note its process ID. Now, type kill <process id> to stop the disk check. Now if you return from the terminal, you should have your disks available to install 🙂

Hope this helps,

Daniel Peebles

Message was edited by: Daniel Peebles
Reply

No drives in "Select A Destination" screen

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up