Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

Level 1

8 points

Mac Pro won't clean install OSX on new HDD

I have a Mac Pro early 2008 and I was running windows and mac on 2 separate hard drives. I was using the 500gb WD hdd that came with the mac that had mac installed and I just upgraded to mavericks, and I was also using a new WD 1TB hdd for Windows (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0088PUEPK/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1394048774&sr=8-1). I was using windows more because I was having trouble switching back and forth and sometimes the mac hdd wouldn't show up. I tried a few different things with the harddrive and I just came to the conclusion that the mac hdd was dead. It was the original hdd that came with the Mac Pro so it was pretty old I figured it just died, it wouldn't show up anywhere. Anyways, I bought. 2TB WD hdd (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008YAHW6I) to use for mac and now when I tried to install it with the retail mac snow leopard install disk from apple, it gets to the grey apple logo with the loading circle and just stays there forever. I've left it on for a while and it still stays there, which is the same thing that happened when I tired to reinstall it to the old mac harddrive that I think is dead. I've started up into boot option and the new hdd doesn't show up, idk if it's supposed to show up being that's it's a new hdd or what. So I'm not sure if the hard drive is incompatible or the installer disc is incompatible with this Mac Pro. Or the 2tb is too big, I've heard people run up to 3tb on one hard drive on mac pros and they still run good. So I'm not sure, if anybody could please help I'm sure it's probably something simple. Links to the harddrives I have are above. Thanks a lot !

Mac Pro

Posted on Mar 5, 2014 11:52 AM

21 replies

Rich Ay Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2014 2:27 PM in response to Kappy

Could i still clone it even though this hdd is not showing up anywhere. Where can i check to see if this hard drive is woring because it doesnt come up anywhere. Also, the only other mac I have would be my iMac, could i clone from there?

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Mar 5, 2014 2:42 PM in response to Rich Ay

If it's new then it is not prepped. However, something will appear for it in Disk Utility. Usually just a disk entry. The following requires that you boot from a separate device first. This would be from your iMac, for example. In Target Disk Mode you will see the MP's HDD in Disk Utility.

Drive Partition and Format

1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Apply button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

After you have partitioned and formatted the new drive you can clone to it. So quit Disk Utility. Use Carbon Copy Cloner 3.5.4 to clone your iMac to the MP. Note, that CCC will also allow you to install a Recovery HD onto the MP, but that process is separate from the file cloning process.

Rich Ay Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2014 5:19 PM in response to Kappy

I brought my iMac down from upstairs and connected my Mac Pro and all that good stuff. Now i have mac pro connected in target disk mode and i got to about the end of step 2 and then it gives me the POSIX error that it cannot allocate the memory. I've heard that this is a problem with 10.6 which I am running. So im upgrading to mavericks now and will post results after.

Rich Ay Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 5, 2014 7:02 PM in response to Rich Ay

Now im getting the message unable to write to the last block of the device. I dont know whats wrong :/

Rich Ay Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 12, 2014 11:04 PM in response to Rich Ay

For anyone having this problem, I finally found a solution.

I was trying to install Mac OS on my new 2TB Hard Drive on my mac pro with the apple Snow Leopard Installer disk and kept failing (the Apple logo would come on and show it was loading but never fully finished loading.) I'm not sure if the disk was faulty which I dont think it was because it worked on other computers and still loads up on a computer that already has an OS installed. Anyways I had so much trouble I eventually started up my Mac in Target Disk Mode via firewire connected to my iMac and the Hard Drive showed up but kept giving me errors when I tried to partition it and format for Mac. So I started up my Mac Pro with my Windows Hard Drive and went to Computer Management and formatted the 2TB Hard Drive there for NTFS. Then I connected my Mac Pro in Target Disk Mode to my iMac and cloned my 1TB Hard Drive over to my new 2TB because I wanted to have more space for operating Windows which I decided I rather run on the 2TB. Next I cloned my iMac Hard Drive to my 1TB Hard Drive that had Windows and used it as my Mac Hard Drive. After all the cloning and confusion I forgot what actually made this work. I'm not sure if formatting the drive to NTFS first was what did the trick or I forgot if I even tried to format it for Mac after that or if I just went straight to cloning. I'm pretty sure the formatting of it first to NTFS did the trick though; but cloning was definitley the way to go and then just use the recovery partition to erase everything on the drive in disk utility and install Mac OS again to get a fresh install.

I know all that sounded complicated but bottom line I believe is to format first to whatever you can, NTFS and then Mac or if it lets you format on Mac as is, go straight to Mac, and then clone from another Mac Hard Drive.

I am now running my Mac Pro, with 2TB Windows 7 HDD and 1TB Mac Mavericks HDD and everything is running smoothly.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Mar 13, 2014 3:53 AM in response to Rich Ay

No, I do the same - sortof - but I use the Windows WD Lifeguard to erase, zero, extended test. Sometimes there are issues that require removing all the partition tables and volumes first to get it working.

As for cloning, a must. Paragon has some good tools for Macs and Windows, their NTFS driver is a must. WinClone and CCC also.

Mac Pro won't clean install OSX on new HDD