Dancepal1948
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Q: Can't install MAC OS X Lion - Macintosh HD "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."

I downloaded OS X Lion this morning and when I went to install it I got a "Screen - Select the disk where you want to install OS X."  -- Had two disk my Macintosh HD and my Time Machine (both are 1TB).  The top and most important is the Macintosh HD (999.86GB - 739.75GB available states "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer".  What do I need to do to install OS X Lion?

20" intel-based iMac, Mac OS X (10.5.7)

Posted on Jul 20, 2011 8:48 AM

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Dancepal1948

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

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  • by andrew167,

    andrew167 andrew167 Jul 20, 2011 12:43 PM in response to Dancepal1948
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    Jul 20, 2011 12:43 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    For all affected users: Please open Disk Utility > Highlight the boot HD > click on the partition tab. Just move the partition size a bit and return to original value. Then hit apply. Then see if the install works. Thanks.

  • by Dancepal1948,

    Dancepal1948 Dancepal1948 Jul 20, 2011 12:46 PM in response to Dancepal1948
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 12:46 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    I tried making a DVD didn't work, I've tried about everything.  But after approx 5 hours - I finally resized my HD from 999GB to 900GB and it worked, I'm now installing on my iMac.  Unfortunately my MacBook on has 4GB available - guess I'll have to wait for a HD upgrade on that.

     

    Thanks for everyone and their help.  & I wish the ones having problems will be corrected soon.  Try resizing HD to a bit smaller.  Good luck.

     

    Charlie

  • by thomasgruebler,

    thomasgruebler thomasgruebler Jul 20, 2011 12:47 PM in response to andrew167
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 12:47 PM in response to andrew167

    Hello,

     

    I have additionally Ubuntu installed on my hard drive. So there are additionally 4 partitions (boot, root, home, swap) and rEFI as bootloader on my hard drive. Is andrew167's solution also capable for me? Do I need to delete all these partitions?

     

    Thanks

  • by mephisto8,

    mephisto8 mephisto8 Jul 20, 2011 12:50 PM in response to andrew167
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 12:50 PM in response to andrew167

    andrew167 wrote:

     

    For all affected users: Please open Disk Utility > Highlight the boot HD > click on the partition tab. Just move the partition size a bit and return to original value. Then hit apply. Then see if the install works. Thanks.

    Tried hitting apply and got this:

     

    Screen shot 2011-07-20 at 20.48.43.png

  • by fengyun,

    fengyun fengyun Jul 20, 2011 12:56 PM in response to thomasgruebler
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 12:56 PM in response to thomasgruebler

    I deleted rEFit completely (search google and you will find detailed information on their own website), backed up all my important files in ubuntu and then erased ubuntu partition and linux swap partition. Then I did a repair disk permission on the only partition ( mac os x) left, and now I can install lion.

     

    I guess you may try delete rEFit only and see if it works?

  • by Harvey55,

    Harvey55 Harvey55 Jul 20, 2011 12:57 PM in response to Alexander Chan1
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    Jul 20, 2011 12:57 PM in response to Alexander Chan1

    Hey I've been having this problem as well, what I did was find  Backups.backupdb file in finder of my Macintosh HD and dragged it to the trash then did empty trash, then went back and checked browse other time machine disks and it was gone, I then opened up the osx lion install app and it finally recognised my Macintosh HD to install to. Hope that sorts it for you like it has done for me.

  • by thomasgruebler,

    thomasgruebler thomasgruebler Jul 20, 2011 1:05 PM in response to fengyun
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    Jul 20, 2011 1:05 PM in response to fengyun

    Thanks. No I didn't try to delete rEFI, I'm toooo scared to delete a bootloader ^^. Can I delete it without problems? I don't find the instructions on their homepage...

     

    How can I delete a partition using disk utility?

     

    Thanks

  • by phubai,

    phubai phubai Jul 20, 2011 1:19 PM in response to Harvey55
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    Jul 20, 2011 1:19 PM in response to Harvey55

    That's what worked for me! Thanks! It's installing now.

  • by mephisto8,

    mephisto8 mephisto8 Jul 20, 2011 1:44 PM in response to Dancepal1948
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 1:44 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    OK, now installing.

    Deleted rEFIt and my linux swap and linux partitions in order to get it to work. Pretty miffed I had to do this. Will try out Lion for a while but then probably switch over to Linux entirely as a sole OS. Far too many problems with Apple in recent months and have lost confidence. Who's with me in moving completely to Linux?

  • by cygnus93,

    cygnus93 cygnus93 Jul 20, 2011 2:06 PM in response to Dancepal1948
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    Jul 20, 2011 2:06 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    For those with the "this disk is a timemachine disk" problem:

     

    Do a search on your HD for "Backups.backupdb"

     

    Delete it and empty trash, you should be good to go (thanks Harvey)

  • by garibaldi5,

    garibaldi5 garibaldi5 Jul 20, 2011 2:25 PM in response to Harvey55
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    Jul 20, 2011 2:25 PM in response to Harvey55

    Excellent solution Harvey 55. I was about to explode. Working with Lion now but find it dissappointingly slow and sluggish. I've no idea what all the fuss is about. Leopard - faster, cooler and reliable.

  • by jlipscomb,

    jlipscomb jlipscomb Jul 20, 2011 2:44 PM in response to Dancepal1948
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    Jul 20, 2011 2:44 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    I've tried every method here and I still get the "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer."  Any ideas?  I've looked for the Backups.backupdb file, and it doesn't exist on my computer, or if it does spotlight can't find it.  I've also changed the size of my disk partition using disk utility and it still will not install.  Would love some help on this issue.

  • by davidIL,

    davidIL davidIL Jul 20, 2011 3:14 PM in response to Dancepal1948
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    Jul 20, 2011 3:14 PM in response to Dancepal1948

    I too could not install because my HD "was used for Time Machine."  In fact, I had used it to back up my laptop. I located the "Backups.backupdb" file, and moved it to the trash. (There was nothing in it I couldn't afford not to lose.)  Then I used the terminal to delete the large file (1. Open terminal  2.Type sudo rm -rf  (type a space after "-rf" otherwise it doesn't work). Do not hit return yet. 3. Open trash. Select "Backups.backupdb" file and move it to the terminal window.  4. Then press return.)  This should delete the ""Backups.backupdb" file.  After completing this, I tried the Lion install again.  It presented me with the HD target disc, without the previous "used for Time Machine" message. The install then completed without problems.

  • by Mr.Popadopolis,

    Mr.Popadopolis Mr.Popadopolis Jul 20, 2011 4:14 PM in response to davidIL
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Jul 20, 2011 4:14 PM in response to davidIL

    Thank you so much David! I didn't need to go into terminal but instead I just delete the file from the trash. Then I did a restart and it showed my selected disk and started the install

     

    Your the Man!!

  • by paulfromhere,

    paulfromhere paulfromhere Jul 20, 2011 4:20 PM in response to jlipscomb
    Level 1 (33 points)
    iBooks
    Jul 20, 2011 4:20 PM in response to jlipscomb

    same here on imac. fixed by reducing macintosh hd partition by 10 gb and restarting installer.

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