How do i install snow leopard on a internal hard drive that was formatted for windows 7 in a i mac with out taking hard drive out im stuck on apple screen with start up disk in drive

Clean Install of Snow Leopard

Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase

the drive and everything on it.

1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same

username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup

Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh

install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software

Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

Booting From An OS X Installer Disc

1. Insert OS X Installer Disc into the optical drive.

2. Restart the computer.

3. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "C" key.

4. Release the key when the spinning gear below the dark gray Apple

logo appears.

5. Wait for installer to finish loading.

It's possible the Snow Leopard DVD verson cannot boot your computer. But that's impossible to know without knowing exactly which Mac model you have.

Also, remember you are trying to boot from a DVD, so the startup process takes a while. Be sure you are holding down the C key long enough.

If that model number is correct, you have a Late 2009 iMac and it should boot from a retail Snow Leopard disk. To confirm, the 10.6 installer disk you have has a white background and a picture of a snow leopard on it, yes?

If it's a 2010 model, then you will need the original discs that came with the computer. I suspect that's the case because a retail Snow Leopard disc should boot the 2009 model.

Your iMac model is the same as mine. A late 2009, 27 inch screen model.

The original installed OS X version was either OS X Snow Leopard OS X 10.6.1 or 10.6.2.

The white retail OS X Snow Leopard DVD that the Apple Store sell has version OS X 10.6.3.

So, your iMac should boot this disc with no issue.

Try starting from the DVD, again and continue to hold down the C key until the iMac actually begins to boot and you see evidence of this on your iMac's screen.

if it's a 2009 model. The 2010 models, however, require a system later than the retail Snow Leopard DVD. There are several A1312 versions. The 2009 is a 10,1 model.

Too many chefs in the kitchen.

Kappy,

You could be right. It maybe a later 2010 iMac that needed OS X 10.6.4 as its base minimum OS X version.