Problems installing snow leopard from disk

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Problems installing snow leopard from disk

Hi All,

I am currently running an early 2008 white Macbook with OSX 10.5.8.

In order to prolong it's lifespan slightly and allow me to update browsers, flash etc I recently purchased Snow Leopard on disk with the intention of updating my operating system.

Unfortunately, my CD drive is having trouble reading the disk. I wanted to know whether there was any alternative way to upgrade my operating system without the need for a CD.

Any help or advice gratefully received and thanks in advance for your time.

Cheers,

johnnyfox

MacBook (13-inch Early 2008), Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 21, 2015 11:50 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Niel

Level 10

726,629 points

Sep 22, 2015 3:13 AM in response to johnnyfox

Basically, no; there are Lion USB thumbdrives, but they’re hard to find and far more expensive than the DVD.

(133772)

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Answer 2

johnnyfox Author

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Sep 22, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Niel

Hi Niel,

Thanks for your reply.

Do you know if it would be possible ot transfer the content from the CD to an external memory stick and install it that way?

Thanks,

johnnyfox

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Answer 3

Lanny

Level 6

13,183 points

Sep 22, 2015 5:52 AM in response to johnnyfox

Unfortunately, my CD drive is having trouble reading the disk.

Describe the troubles. Does the disk mount? Can you see the contents of the disk?

Is your Snow Leopard DVD the commercial one with the Snow Leopard pictured on a white background, or is it a grey colored disk? You would need the commercial DVD, grey ones won't work.

Do you know if it would be possible ot transfer the content from the CD to an external memory stick and install it that way?

If your drive is not working properly, or the DVD is defective, then, no.

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Answer 4

johnnyfox Author

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Sep 22, 2015 11:37 AM in response to Lanny

Hi Lanny,

Thanks for your reply.

The DVD is the commercial one with the leopard on a white background.

The DVD does not mount on my laptop - it spins a few times and is then automatically ejected. This is the case for around 50% of disks I try try it with.

However, when I try the disk on my work computer it does load and I am able to view the contents. I once tried copying the contents onto a memory stick to transfer to my laptop but the files were not recognised by my computer. Could this be because I need a specially formatted stick for the files?

Thanks again for your help.

Johnnyfox

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Answer 5

Lanny

Level 6

13,183 points

Sep 22, 2015 2:38 PM in response to johnnyfox

Then you'll need to buy or borrow someone's external USB DVD drive. Simply copying the files to a flash drive will not create a bootable flash drive. And creating a bootable flash drive or DVD, AFAIK, can't be done on a PC.

Note: The Apple USB external drive doesn't work with Macs that have built in drives.

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=mac+usb+external+dvd+drives

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Answer 6

johnnyfox Author

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Sep 23, 2015 3:18 AM in response to Lanny

Hi Lanny,

Thanks for your reply.

My work computer is a desktop Mac running OSX 10.7.5 and reads the disk perfectly. Could I create a bootable flash drive using this computer?

Thanks again for your help.

John

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Answer 7

Lanny

Level 6

13,183 points

Sep 23, 2015 6:04 AM in response to johnnyfox

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=lion+bootable+flashdrive

http://www.macworld.com/article/1161069/make_a_bootable_lion_installer.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0IUBw_DskU

You should make a backup or a bootable clone of your current internal drive to an external hard drive, otherwise you will not be able to uninstall Lion if you decide that you don't like it.

Personally, if you don't need the partial iCloud capability that Lion offers, I would prefer using Snow Leopard. IMHO, Lion is the worst OS X version.

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Answer 8

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Sep 23, 2015 8:21 AM in response to johnnyfox

CD/DVD Loading Problems

CD/DVD Drive - Troubleshooting See troubleshooting section.

CD/DVD Drive - Troubleshooting (2)

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