Q: Can't install MAC OS X Lion - Macintosh HD "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."

Thanks to you and putnik for your replies.

I actually spent $300 buying Time Capsule a couple days ago just so I could back up everything from my comp as per suggestions to installing Lion. I need to backup anyway so it was a sound investment, especially since I have Murphy's Law seemingly embedded into everything related to computer instalations. After I started downloading Lion but before installing it is that I find about these problems, else I would have waited (I know, my mistake). You are right, everything might go smoothly, but given my personal history of bs happening when I try to install something simple (for example, doing the aforementioned partition was a pain in the *** because it turned out there's a problem specific to 27 inch iMacs) I am being very cautious. I am not computer savyy besides the basic stuff, I can follow recommendations on forums like this but that doesn't mean I know exactly what I'm doing, just that those are the steps.

I think I will give it a shot. Everything is backed up on the Time Capsule so I don't fear losing stuff, at least.

Backup both OSs.

Be ready with an external drive to install Lion to, not your internal.

Let Setup Assistant import your old system settings and data.

Restore

A clean install on a drive formatted with Lion gives you the best experience, insures that the recovery parition is there and the new partition tables are properly tested. Lion's Disk Utility can also manage, edit and inspect the health of hidden partitions (and make them visible, a hidden feature).

Check partition table health in Lion's Disk Utility

Manage all partitions with Disk Utility in OS X

OS X Lion Install to Different Drive

Great post.

The 1st error I received mentioned Time Machine.  Resizing the Mac HD partition didn't help.  Deleting Backups.backupdb fixed it.  I could then install Lion.

I received my 2nd error trying to start my Windows 7 BootCamp VM.  Fusion gave me "Cannot open the disk '/Users/<me>/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp.vmwarevm/Boot Camp.vmdk or one of the snapshot disks it depends on."  I fixed that by deleting the Bootcamp VM and recreating it.

Everything is running fine now.

Hey man, can you help me out? My problem is even worse. I have everything up to date. And I have been trying to update to Lion, but, when I click on "Download" in the AppStore, the icon will appear in the Dock, but would not start downloading. I have checked the requirements and I have them all: iCore 7, Mac OS X v. 10.6.8, 7 GB of memory and 2 GB of RAM (My computer is almost new, I bought it on May). The receipt has been mailed to me, so I don't know why it is not downloading. Please, help me out.

MacAlbert wrote:

I have checked the requirements and I have them all: iCore 7, Mac OS X v. 10.6.8, 7 GB of memory and 2 GB of RAM...

Memory is RAM so I'm a bit confused. Are you maybe saying that you have only 7 GB of free space on your hard drive? If so, this may be part of your problem.

Also check the info in the If nothing happens after clicking Buy when purchasing an app section of http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3624 to see if it helps.

I'm sorry. What I meant by "memory" was free space. Actually, I have used only around 10% of my computer's total space and RAM. What I meant was that I meet (by far) the requirements for downloading Mac OS X Lion. Anyway you can help?

Have you checked out http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3624 & tried what it suggests?

Yes, what it says does not apply to my case. The most similar-to-my-case is about when you purchase an app and nothing else happens. But my case is different, because Lion starts to download. But the download never gets farther than 0%.

Just finished installing Lion, had no problems whatsoever with the installation. Hopefully I won't have to endure the Kernel panics either.

Thank God, I could finally download Lion to my MacBook Pro,. But, I've got another problem… I have also an iMac from 2009, and I was foolish enogh not to actualize it Snow Leopard when I had to. How can I actualize to Snow Leopard (to then actualize to Lion)? Can I use the Snow Leopard CD my MacBook Pro brought to install it in the iMac? Or do I have to download (and probably pay) from some Apple site?

Hope you can help me.

Try to install Lion booting from DVD or USB instead of login in Snow Leopard. If you want to know how to make a Lion install DVD or USB read here: http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-install-dvd-or-flash-dri ve

So you're telling me to install Lion directly? But, isn'te Lion based on Snow Leopard? I mean, so far from what I've read, Lion is supposed to be based on Snow Leopard's system. What I read is that Lion changed and added parts to the Snow Leopard code (producing the new features present in Lion), so installing it directly from Leopard would not be possible.

Anyways, I already updated my MacBook Pro to Lion, I can't do anything else because the  Mac AppStore runs from Snow Leopard and on, and not Leopard.

What I was wondering was if I could use the Snow Leopard Installation CD that my MacBook Pro brought, to install Snow Leopard in my iMac, and, then, download the Mac AppStore and finally actualize to Lion (This, however, seems infinitely tedious, but I think it is the only solution).

Correct. You only need Snow Leopard to download Lion installer from Mac App Store or to upgrade from Snow Leopard but you can always perform a clean install of Lion without having Snow Leopard installed. Look: http://osxdaily.com/2011/06/21/mac-os-x-lion-clean-install-explained/

Think a bit about it. If you buy a new MacBook Air preinstalled with Lion, one of these that never had installed Snow Leopard and you want to reinstall Lion (for any reason), how do you do it if you dont have any Snow Leopard disc? Using a Revovery partition or a bootable Lion DVD/USB. That simple.

As you already have Snow Leopard on your MacBook and you have downloaded the installer (And upgraded to lion aswell) you can make a bootable DVD/USB as i said in the post above and use it to boot your iMac from it and do a clean and fresh install of Lion without having Snow Leopard. Note that all your data in the iMac will be lost so do a backup of the importat first.

Just one more clarification, to perform a clean install you dont need any OS installed previously (Not Leopard, not Snow, not nothing), just a blank partition included in a GUID table.

I would prefer not to a backup. My iMac, differently from my MacBook, has A LOT of files. Most of them (at least 90%) is very important. So, making a backup would take a lot of time. Either way, since I've already installed Lion, I can't get back to Snow Leopard.

So, do you know if could install Snow Leopard from the CD my MacBook Pro brought?