Halcyone

Q: I can't seem to upgrade because I only have one disk, and when i tried to partition it using disk utility, it failed.

I can't seem to upgrade to OSX Yosemite because I only have one disk, and when i tried to partition it using disk utility, it failed.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 13, 2015 10:11 AM

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Q: I can't seem to upgrade because I only have one disk, and when i tried to partition it using disk utility, it failed.

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  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Jun 13, 2015 10:55 AM in response to Halcyone
    Level 7 (32,056 points)
    iPad
    Jun 13, 2015 10:55 AM in response to Halcyone

    You don't need a partition - you should be able to upgrade over your current 10.6.8.

     

    Does your machine have the system requirements needed?

     

    OS X Mavericks system requirements - Apple Support

     

    (Mavericks and Yosemite's are the same).

     

    Please note: an absolute minimum of 4 GB RAM is recommended - more is better.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jun 13, 2015 11:39 AM in response to Halcyone
    Level 5 (5,502 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 13, 2015 11:39 AM in response to Halcyone

    If you are running 10.6.8, then I highly suggest you buy an external drive and clone your Snow Leopard install. With a clone you can easily revert to Snow Leopard if there is a problem.

    Boot from the clone and wipe your internal drive.

    Do a clean install of Yosemite.

    I would not use migration. It will bring over a lot of old files that no longer work on Yosemite. You can manually bring over your data.

     

    A clone is an exact bootable copy of your internal drive. Unlike standard copying of all files to another drive, the clone software copies hidden files along with other in-use files that are not available  when you copy over files to another drive.

     

    Software used to Clone: (free)

     

    SuperDuper! http://www.shirt-pocket.com/

    CCC http://www.bombich.com/download.html

     

    Another advantage of an external drive is you can have a Time Machine backup and a clone backup. Just like a seat belt and an air bag protect you in different ways when driving, you need both Time Machine and a clone for full protection.

     

    I suggest getting a 2T or 3T drive so you have use for both Time Machine and clone backups. If you need suggestions for an external drive, we can suggest options.

  • by Halcyone,

    Halcyone Halcyone Jun 14, 2015 12:54 AM in response to dianeoforegon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 12:54 AM in response to dianeoforegon

    What's 2T and 3T. And if it's not too much to ask, can you do a step by step guide so that I can follow? Because I'm not entirely sure what you are saying

  • by Halcyone,

    Halcyone Halcyone Jun 14, 2015 12:56 AM in response to babowa
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 14, 2015 12:56 AM in response to babowa

    Yes I have the minimum system requirements and the only problem is when selecting the drive to install to which failed, as I only have one drive

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Jun 14, 2015 9:48 AM in response to Halcyone
    Level 7 (32,056 points)
    iPad
    Jun 14, 2015 9:48 AM in response to Halcyone

    I'm not quite sure what exactly you are referring to with "only one drive" - unless you have a fusion drive or added one in the optical bay, you only have one hard drive. Can you please go into Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and post screenshots of the Disk Utility windows like this - one with the top entry highlighted and one with the next entry highlighted (note: I have two drives listed because I partitioned mine, but that is not required - I am running the current OS on the one labeled Macintosh HD):

     

    Screen Shot 2015-06-14 at 9.47.17 AM.png

     

    Also, go to the Apple (upper menu left corner) and click on about this Mac. Post a screenshot of that little window as well.

  • by Eric Root,

    Eric Root Eric Root Jun 14, 2015 10:28 AM in response to Halcyone
    Level 9 (71,487 points)
    iTunes
    Jun 14, 2015 10:28 AM in response to Halcyone

    Before posting the About this Mac, use Preview to cover your serial number.

     

    2T is a 2 TB disk.

  • by dianeoforegon,

    dianeoforegon dianeoforegon Jun 14, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Halcyone
    Level 5 (5,502 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 14, 2015 11:31 AM in response to Halcyone

    G or GB is a Gigabyte

    T or TB is a Terabyte

    1024 GB = 1TB

     

    Open Disk Utility in Applications/Utilities. You'll see your internal drive listed at the top. If you select Macintosh HD you'll see size of drive in the info below. Find the size of your current drive. Many users will look for a backup drive that is the near the same size as their current drive, but larger drives can often be cheaper and the extra space gives you more options. Having a large drive gives you options to make additional partitions. Partitions are like separate drives.


    This example shows an old 2006 iMac with a 2T drive attached.

    The internal drive (Macintosh HD) is a 160 GB drive.


    The attached drive is a 2TB
    I have partitioned the drive into 7 partitions. I used 2T in the name to keep the partitions sorted together. I have other external drives and this helps me keep organized.

     

    drive-example.png

     

     

     

    USB 3.0 drives work on USB 2.0 but you do get 2.0 speed. They are cheaper because they are popular PC drives. If you get a new computer you'll get the bump to 3.0 speed. I don’t recommend FW. The newer computers don’t have FW ports. You would need a connector in order to use the drive on a newer computer.

     

    USB 3.0 is 10x faster than USB 2.0

    Thunderbolt is 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0.

     

    Size:  I recommend either the 2T or 3T drives.  Often they are cheaper than a 1T drive. 4T drives have come down in price now, but that's a lot of data to loose if the drive were to die.

     

    This Western Digital drive has good reviews: Has a 2 yr warranty. It's available as Mac and/or PC. Often PC drives are cheaper than the Mac version. PC drives are easily formatted with Apple's Disk Utility. Even the Mac drive that comes formatted for Mac, I would still format using Disk Utility.

     

    WD My Book 3 TB USB 3.0 Hard Drive with Backup (PC version $91.99)

    WD My Book Hard Drive for Mac 3 TB (WDBYCC0030HBK-NESN) (Mac version $109.00)

     

    Check the warranty when comparing. The longer the warranty the better the drive.

    Locally, most stores will match Amazon pricing. Just ask.

  • by babowa,

    babowa babowa Jun 14, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Halcyone
    Level 7 (32,056 points)
    iPad
    Jun 14, 2015 2:22 PM in response to Halcyone
    Yes I have the minimum system requirements


    You will also want to think about having a minimum 4 GB RAM installed as the newer OS versions do function better with more RAM; if you have only 2 GB, your computing experience will not be all that satisfactory running Yosemite.


    As for external hard drives, my recommendation would be the ones from OWC (Mercury Elite Pro) as they use the Oxford chipset and better enclosures and they have excellent warranties. Whatever drive you choose, make sure you erase the included software - it is not needed and, in the case of WD, may not play nice with Macs (not sure if they've fixed the problem they had about a year ago with their software wiping the drives) - their drives are fine; the cheap enclosures are usually the problem.


    http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/