How to clean install on a Powerbook G4 with a new hard drive

I have a Powerbook G4 with MAC OS X v10.2. The hard drive on my computer went and I recently bought and installed a new 80GB hard drive. I am unsure about how to go about doing a clean install. Do I use the install software disc or the restore disc? I tried with the install disc 1 and it lets me get to a certain point where I am supposed to chose a directory but there are none to chose from. What am I doing wrong or what should I be doing?? I have never attempted to work on my computer before so I am new at this.

Powerbook G4, Mac OS X (10.2.x)

Posted on Jan 6, 2006 9:36 AM

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2 replies

Jan 6, 2006 2:11 PM in response to Latinga

Hi Latinga, and welcome to the discussions.

With any luck, your problem is simply that your new hard drive has not been initialized, which is why the installer can't find anyplace to put the OS. It's a simple fix:

1. Boot from the first Install disk.
2. At the first window (in 10.3 is the Language window), go to the Install menu at the top of the screen, and select "Launch Disk Utility". Disk Utility should show your new hard drive in the left-hand column as an icon with the manufacturer's name followed by a series of letters and numbers (depends on the manufacturer and size, ie. Toshiba MK3018GAS). Select this icon.
3. On the right-hand side, choose Erase. Your Volume Format should be Mac OS Extended. Give the volume a meaningful name, hit the return key, then click on Erase. In a few seconds, the left-hand column will show the icon with the manufacturer's name, and, below that and indented, another icon with the name you just gave it.
4. Quit Disk Utility. You'll return to the Installer program and the language window. Continue the installation, and when it reaches the point where you choose your directory, your volume should be listed.

Let us know how this goes. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to post back.

Andrew

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How to clean install on a Powerbook G4 with a new hard drive

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