10.5.8 install issues on an external drive

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10.5.8 install issues on an external drive

I did a fresh install of Leopard onto an external drive I keep for emergencies (I never installed it there -- it's been on Tiger for a while) and ran the update after I booted with that as a startup drive. And now I don't have an external bootable drive. For whatever reason, it boots fine in 10.5, but after downloading the 10.5.8 update and restarting, it hung ad the white screen w/ the apple and spinning circle.

So I turned the computer off, did a fresh clean install (without saving network or user info) and rebooted. Again, no probs with 10.5. I installed all the updates (Quicktime, etc.) first and rebooted....no problem. In downloaded only that monster 10.5.8 update again and let it run through the install. Rebooted and went to bed. I came downstairs this morning to an alarmingly hot imac sitting on the white screen with an apple and spinning white circle. It stayed that way all night while I let the update install, and my imac was alarmingly hot to the touch when I checked it this morning.

For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to like being installed on this external hard drive.

Has anyone had success in installing 10.5.8 to an external drive? I'm trying to determine if it just doesn't like this drive or if this is an issue with the update. I'm leery of installing the 10.5.8 on the computers internal hard drive if I don't have a bootable drive I can use for diagnostics if needed.

Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Aug 6, 2009 6:16 AM

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Answer 1

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:30 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

Mac OS X doesn't have a clean install option.

(without saving network or user info)

That's only an option under Archive and Install.
See my user tip:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=607614

What type of installation did you really do?

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Answer 2

Bryan Mccoy Author

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141 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:34 AM in response to a brody

dude, don't get hung up on semantics, o.k.?

I used the word "clean" instead of "archive and install without saving anything." Now, do you have any suggestions on how to fix the issues I raised?

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Answer 3

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:40 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

Archive and Install without saving user and network preferences still leaves behind system level kernel extensions which may not work with the update. Your only way of genuinely ensuring 10.5.8 is not having an issue with your hard drive is an erase and install, or finding all third party software and drivers and removing them first. Which iMac model do you have?
See this article to identify your iMac:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1463?viewlocale=en_US

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Answer 4

Bryan Mccoy Author

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141 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:42 AM in response to a brody

An aluminum imac (original version).

However, since there was never any software installed other than the osx system software on that drive, there shouldn't be any third party software or drivers on it.

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Answer 5

a brody

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Aug 6, 2009 7:44 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

Any third party RAM?

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Answer 6

Bryan Mccoy Author

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Aug 6, 2009 7:45 AM in response to a brody

Nope, and even if there was I run RAM intensive programs all the time when booted from the internal hd.

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Answer 7

a brody

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85,314 points

Aug 6, 2009 7:55 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

Run the hardware test that came with the machine.

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Answer 8

Bryan Mccoy Author

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141 points

Aug 6, 2009 8:07 AM in response to a brody

Um....my imac is fine. Ram sticks are good, no issues with video card, etc.

Disk utility gives no errors on the external boot drive. (I checked before the Leopard install and after booting to it and trying to install the update).

I have no issues running 10.5.7 on the internal drive that I've been using for a while. I'm using it right now, actually.

While I appreciate your running through the generic tech support "tree of troubleshooting," it's not a hardware error that I'm experiencing.

The problem did not pop up until downloading and running the installer for the 10.5.8 update on the external drive. The bootup process now hangs when using that external drive as the startup disk. While I don't technically NEED a bootable drive in case something goes funky with the internal drive, I like having that level of security.

Has anyone successfully applied the 10.5.8 update to an external drive?

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Answer 9

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Aug 6, 2009 8:16 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

One way to test an operating system update without subjecting your external hard drive to being unbootable, is to backup the data on your internal drive twice to external sources, test the update on the internal drive. If it doesn't work, you can just recover your backup. Contact the vendor who made your external hard drive to verify your drive's firmware has been tested with 10.5.8. If it hasn't, don't use it on your machine until they have tested it.

Message was edited by: a brody

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Answer 10

Bryan Mccoy Author

Level 1

141 points

Aug 6, 2009 8:27 AM in response to a brody

Now that's something I hadn't considered .... that the drive's firmware wouldn't be compatible with 10.5.8. Odd that it would work under 10.5 but not under 10.5.8.

Of course, this implies that if I were to update the system on my internal hd that I could very well not be able to use it anymore for anything.

It's slightly ironic, since one of the features noted in the 10.5.8 is increased compatibility with external usb drives.

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Answer 11

Aug 6, 2009 9:07 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

Just out of curiosity, what partitioning scheme does the drive have? You said it's had Tiger for a while and you never use it, could it be you never partitioned as GUID to make it Intel Mac compatible?

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Answer 12

Bryan Mccoy Author

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141 points

Aug 6, 2009 10:26 AM in response to aboxofjosh

I have been able to boot off of it in both Tiger and Leopard in the past on this intel imac, with just the one partition in an Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. I remember grumbling a little about having to reformat into a different scheme before I could use it to boot from. In double-checking the System Profile, it is, indeed, set up as a GPT (GUID Partition Table).

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Answer 13

Rodmont

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Aug 11, 2009 5:14 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

I am seeing same problem in MBP. I upgraded to a 500GB HD in dec and kept the 250GB original HD as an external/lab/recover USB drive. All updates up to 10.5.7 work on both drives, and 10.5.8 works in the internal drive as well. But like Bryan's setup, the external USB drive won't finish upgrading to 10.5.8. Right after the second reboot it will hang onto spinning circle and after some messages about Mac OS X component in verbose mode. I'll get the messages later to this post.

To make sure I haven't an HD problem, I erased the partitions on it, recreated as GPT (as it was before) single HFS+ journalized partition, freash 10.5.6 install and comboed to 10.5.8 to the same fault. Original installation was from 10.5.7 to 10.5.8 via Software Update (which worked fine in my internal disk).

I also tried using another HD, a desktop 1TB (my Time Capsule archive mirror), erased all data and partitions, installed a fresh 10.5.6 again and ran combo ending up on same issue. Also, trying a small partition (50GB) won't fix this.

Still working on this problem but not more ideas up right now. I am expecting a firewire 400 case to be delivered this week and give a try.

regards

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Answer 14

nojoka

Level 1

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Aug 15, 2009 9:18 AM in response to Bryan Mccoy

I have the same problem with an external fw400 drive that was working fine before...

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Answer 15

Aug 20, 2009 5:19 PM in response to nojoka

I'm seeing the same problem with a 2008 MacBook - I have been doing various experiments for an upcoming imaging project. The USB 2 drive I am currently working with is experiencing the issue; Installation from both a 10.5 retail disc and the MacBook 10.5.6 install discs is successful, but after the 10.5.8 rollup update, the MacBook gets stuck on the gray boot screen and activity across the interface drops away after 30 seceonds.

The afflicted drive is a Samsung HD403LJ 400GB SATA drive in a Masscool USB 2.0 enclosure, MDT-3572-JM20337.

HOWEVER - I was able to install and update an old Firewire (PATA) 30GB drive from SmartDisk, model #FWFL30P, & also on an i-Rocks USB 2 enclosure with a 60GB Apple certified SATA Fujitsu disk, model MHV2060BH. (Unfortunately, they didn't have the capacity I needed)

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