I have two partitions on my HD. DiskB is a CarbonCopy Clone of DiskA, but without most the User files. I want to install LIon on DiskB, but the installer says "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer". However, DiskB does start up fine in Snow Leopard. I get the same installer message whether I have booted from DiskA or DiskB. There are 21GB available on DiskB, so its not a memory problem. Any ideas?
Peter
There is maybe a solution to your problem, check this site:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3926
enjoy Lion
Thanks. Weird, but it works.
Perfect…
enjoy Lion
Hey I am having similar problem. I have two partitions, one is the system partition (Macintosh HD) and the other one is just an extended journaled (Martin's HD). When I try to install Lion on the Machintosh HD, it says "This disk is used for the Time Machine backups" and the partition is inactive. I tried the offered solution above an resized the partition, but no luck.
Any ideas?
Hmm, chek in "System Preferences" your TimeMachine settings, do you use Martin's HD for TimeMachine??
enjoy Lion
Well gotta be honest with you, I tried, even called apple care where they also gave another solution (see links:)
http://www.trickyways.com/2011/07/how-to-make-mac-os-x-lion-10-7-bootable-usb-fl ash-drive/
http://theappledaily.com/2011/07/20/how-to-install-os-x-lion-from-usb-pen-drive- clean-install/
Yet none of these actually worked in my case. So the situation seems to be that IF you have 2 partitions on your HD, then the only way to install Lion, is to completely erease your disk, make 1 partition SnowLeopard, upgrade to SL 16.8 whatever and then upgrade to Lion, and then reinstall your original harddrive.
I believe, if apple throws a new product on the market for $34 they should have done the some trials on installation problems, and this problem should have came up. And if this is the case, they should just put a big sign on the BUY button saying IF YOU HAVE 2 PARTITIONS, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A **** OF A TIME INSTALLING THIS BRAND NEW SOFTWARE!!!
But apple didnt do this, so I did not only spent $34 on a program that I cannot install, but I spent another $30 on calling to customer support and finding out what type of a challenge I am facing here. so now I spent $64 on a software that I cannot use + frustrations.
THANK YOU APPLE!
Sorry, as long as you are not giving me some useful informations, i can't help you…
For me it just worked perfect.
enjoy Lion
I have a macbook pro 2.53GHz Intel Core i5 with 8GB memory and 500GB hard drive. Currently running 10.6.8 SnowLeopartd. I have two partitions one is the system partition (Macintosh HD 350GB) and the other one is an extented journaled partitition (Martin's HD 150GB). When I install Lion it only offers Martin's HD for install and says that the other one (Machintosh HD) is used for Time Machine backup therefore OSX Lion cannot be installed on that partition. Now I use an external HD for Time Machine, and I only back up Machintosh HD partition as the other partition only containes pictures that I use for my work and they do not need to be saved all the time. I already tried various methods of extanding the partition or changing the time machine preferences, even installed OS Lion on external drive and tried to do it from there. My Macintosh HD partition is still recognized as Time Machine backup and hence does not offer for install.
My frustration is stemming from the additional costs and time constraints of trying to get help such as calling, writing emails and so on...
Let me know if you have ideas.
Can't install Lion on second partition
