Problem installing lion on SSD

Question

Level 1

9 points

Problem installing lion on SSD

I have a 2008 Mac Pro. I have 5 tb hard drives in bays 2 and 4 and SSDs in 1 and 3. One of the hard drives has lion on it which works fine but the ssd which has lion is malfunctioning so I replaced it with a new one (1TB 6G from OWC).

I am unable to install the Mac OS on the ssd although it seems to be working fine. I could not install snow leopard nor lion on the new ssd.

I tried to boot the computer with a USB that had snow leopard or lion and got the falling curtain. I could boot the computer with a usb that had mavericks or El Capitan.

I have tried everything I can think of and would appreciate any ideas.

Thanks!

(Ignore the mountain lion icon. This is about lion and snow leopard)

Mac Pro, 10.11

Posted on Mar 22, 2023 1:36 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Ken Zaner Author

Level 1

9 points

Mar 27, 2023 10:25 AM in response to HWTech

I was able to install Lion on my SSD.

I have 12 partitions as part of the two HDs and I had installed, sometime in 2018, a Lion OS on one of the partitions which I was able to copy to the SSD using the restore function of the disk utility (which I have not used before).

Installing Lion conventionally did not work. The instructions to the Lion installer page does mention snow leopard is required to install Lion and when I tried to install snow leopard, using the installer CD, the computer eventually gave me the “curtain coming down” and crashed. I used 2 CD drives and same thing.

I also tried the Lion installer by itself and it gave me a yellow triangle and would not install to any partition other than the one with Lion. I also tried using command-R but this also would only go so far and said “there are missing parts”.

I should also mention the Mac Pro would boot from a USB drive that had mavericks or better but not lion or below.

It came as a surprise when I found that the snow leopard disk installed fine, and subsequently Lion when the installation was performed with my 13” white macbook (which was released in 2008 as was the Mac Pro).

I wonder if Apple changed the installation procedure for Lion and below at some point over the last 5 years.

Many thanks to those who had tried to figure out my dilemma. I do now have a work around but I have no idea why the standard approach failed.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 25, 2023 1:30 PM in response to Ken Zaner

Maybe the old SSD was not bad, but the drive sled adapter or perhaps even the backplane connector is bad instead. Have you tried the SSD(s) in one of the other known good bays? You should also be able to test the SSDs by connecting them externally using a USB to SATA Adapter.

I thought the problem may have been due to using a 6G model SSD instead of the 3G verson since according to EveryMac.com the 2008 Mac Pro only has a SATA II controller, but I see that OWC seems to suggest using the 6G version with this Mac which surprises me.

Reply

Answer 3

genieen16

Community Specialist

Mar 23, 2023 1:57 PM in response to Ken Zaner

Hello Ken Zaner,

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities. There are a few details you may want to consider including in your reply to help others in the Apple Support Communities know more specifics about your issue, to ensure the best solution is offered.

Do you see an error message when you try to install the macOS onto the SSD? If so, what does the error say?
You mentioned that you tried troubleshooting steps on your own. What troubleshooting steps did you perform? The more info you provide about the steps you've taken, the less likely you'll be offered to same steps to repeat.

That being said, you may want to look over and follow the guidance offered on this page: If you can’t install macOS on an external disk - Apple Support. It provides steps you can take to help with getting the macOS installed on an external disk.

We hope this information helps you out.

Cheers!

Reply

Problem installing lion on SSD

Similar questions