New HDD, won't install from DVD - freezes

Question

Level 1

4 points

New HDD, won't install from DVD - freezes

I have a MBP from 2009 and the hard drive went out last week. I managed to pull a backup off of it with DW 4.4 and my SATA-USB converter. The new drive arrived today, so I installed it (same drive I had, as recommended by OWC), and put in my 10.6 disc.

I hold down "C" and nothing happens. Drive spins, but apple logo never appears. The first time I booted up, I didn't hit a key and I received a folder with a "?" in it. I restarted, and tried "C" and SHIFT and others. When I held OPTION during the boot, I saw the icon for "Mac OS X Install Disc 1" so I clicked it.

NOW IT'S FROZEN. The DVD drive isn't spinning... nothing is happening.

What are my options here?

Thanks,

Blake

MacBook Pro, iOS 6

Posted on Mar 18, 2014 2:43 PM

Reply

Answer 1

BobRz

Level 5

6,138 points

Mar 18, 2014 2:48 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

Try shutting down and putting the new drive in the external case, then see if you can do an install. I'm wondering if your SATA cable is bad.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 18, 2014 2:48 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

my 10.6 disc.

Is this a pressed, sikscreened "Full Retail" DVD for use with any appropriate Mac?

Or perhaps a DVD for a specific model?

Reply

Answer 3

Crimson_Wake Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 18, 2014 2:59 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

This is a full retail, non-stolen, totally legit Snow Leopard install disc from a friend of mine. I can't find my set right now.

The DVD drive seems to stop spinning after about 90 seconds. It's making noise and spinning and my hopes ramp up, and then it just winds down and nothing happens. I reset the PRAM and have tried so many combinations of keystrokes during startup.

Even looking at the boot records during start up, I only get a couple of lines down and then.........................................................

Nothing.

If I take the drive back out of the case, and hook it up with the SATA-USB converter, what then? Should I try to format or install OSX on it with my other laptop?

Reply

Answer 4

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Mar 18, 2014 3:18 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

Crimson_Wake wrote:

If I take the drive back out of the case, and hook it up with the SATA-USB converter, what then? Should I try to format or install OSX on it with my other laptop?

If your other laptop is an early 2011 MBP or earlier. Later ones will not install Snow Leopard 10.6.3.

Ciao.

Reply

Answer 5

Crimson_Wake Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 18, 2014 3:22 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

I have three machines here.

1 - MacPro from late 2007

2 - MacBook Pro late 2007

3 - MackBook Pro mid 2009

Can I attach the new drive to my SATA-USB cable and then to my other machine(s) and pop in the install disc, and have it install onto that drive? That way I can then install the drive into the laptop, fire it up, and update via internet, back to Mountain Lion?

Will that work?

Reply

Answer 6

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Mar 18, 2014 3:30 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

Crimson_Wake wrote:

I have three machines here.

1 - MacPro from late 2007

2 - MacBook Pro late 2007

3 - MackBook Pro mid 2009

Can I attach the new drive to my SATA-USB cable and then to my other machine(s) and pop in the install disc, and have it install onto that drive?

Yes. During the installation process, select the external HDD for the OSX installation.

That way I can then install the drive into the laptop, fire it up, and update via internet, back to Mountain Lion?

Will that work?

Yes, assuming that there are no issues with the laptop in which you are installing the HDD. I would test it first externally to see if it will boot the MBP in question.

Ciao.

Reply

Answer 7

Crimson_Wake Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 18, 2014 5:56 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

Okay, I am trying to do it, but I'm having trouble.

I restarted, but I don't know where to select the drive to install. It clearly can't install over Mountain Lion, but it's not giving me the option to select the new external.

Is there a thread or process I can follow so I can do this correctly?

Thanks for all the advice/insight/instruction/support!

Blake

Reply

Answer 8

Mar 18, 2014 7:30 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

New drive needs to be made into a Macintosh drive before it can be installed on.

When the DVD wakes up, answer only the "what Language question and wait for the menubar to be drawn.

Choose Disk Utility off a menu.

Erase the new drive so that it has only GUID partition table.

Partition the drive to one Mac OS Extended (journaled) partition with a meaningful mnemonic name.

Quit out of that when completed and the drive will be ready to Install, but you may have to start over to run Installer instead of Utilities.

Reply

Answer 9

Crimson_Wake Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 18, 2014 8:26 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hey Grant,

Did not work. I'm apparently using GREY install discs for Snow Leopard, which are device specific. So I'm in my Lion machine with the drive hooked up SATA-USB, and I'm in the app store trying to re-download Lion, which I will then install onto the drive.

Sounds easy, right?

I click to download Lion again, it tells me that it's already installed, I click continue (anyway) and nothing happens. I don't know if it did anything, and nothing shows up in the applications folder.

What a huge pain. I've paid for Lion and Mountain Lion, and I would love to get Lion installed onto this drive so I can fire up the machine. Anyone have any ideas / trick to getting it to actually download?

Reply

Answer 10

Mar 18, 2014 8:33 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

If it shows as a Mac drive, you could clone onto it using one of:

Disk Utility (using the Restore tab)

Carbon Copy Cloner

Super Duper

Cloning from a newer Mac in the same model family for use in an older Mac should provide "Drivers for every appropriate Mac (in that model family).

Reply

Answer 11

Crimson_Wake Author

Level 1

4 points

Mar 18, 2014 9:19 PM in response to Crimson_Wake

Okay, I think I've got it fixed.

The 10.6 DVDs never ran. They got me into disk utility and I formatted the drive so it's ready to go. Then I rebooted into my main OSX, re-downloaded Lion (doesn't show a progress bar, by the way - checking LAUNCHPAD, I watched it download) and then selected the new drive for the install. Once all this is done, I'm going to try and boot from the external. If it works, I'll install it in the other machine, and I should be good to go.

Thanks for the help!

Reply