Solution to "POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory"

I'm sharing this information because a) I had this problem this week and b) I've seen others with the same problem recently, but with little in the way of solutions in the Apple Support Community for this specfic issue.

After installing a new hard drive yesterday (my old one was corrupted), I attempted to partition the new disk to prepare it for installing Snow Leopard from my install disk, as many blogs and discussions had instructed me to do. However, when I attemped to partition, I got this message: "POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory."

Of the blogs and discussions I read about this problem, only a few suggested that the rubbon that connects the hard drive to the rest of the machine might need to be replaced. Indeed, this was exactly the case with my machine.

Chilling with the Genius at the Winnipeg Apple Store, we were able to troubleshoot the problem. What tipped him off to the ribbon was that my machine was very slow to load any diagnostic programs; at first he thought it might have been a problem with the RAM, but we chose the least expensive option first. The ribbon cost me CA$23, and the Genius didnt chage me labour because I had been to see him several times before installing the new hard drive, days earlier. He installed it right there in front of me, and it fired up and re-installed OSX with no problem.

I'm not saying replacing the ribbon will solve everyone's POSIX reports problem, but it worked like a charm for me. Keep in mind my case involved installing a new internal hard drive - this was not a problem with connecting an external hard disk.

I asked the Genius what could have caused the ribbon malfunction. He wasnt sure, but his guess was that the ribbon might have gotten corroded somehow - there was some white/greyish discolouring to the ribbon itself. But this was purely his guess and he couldnt be sure.

Hopefully this helps.