Can't Install Mac OSX Snow/Leopard on New 750GB HDD in MBP 2K9

[daxomni]

I bought a new WD 750GB Scorpio Blue and popped it into a 2009 MBP 15". Everything went fine on the hardware side, but when it came time to install the OS on the new drive everything went downhill. Leopard said it couldn't install because something was wrong with the drive. Snow Leopard just never gets past "30 minutes" remaining. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, but I'm guessing I have a bad HDD unless I'm somehow missing a step. Both versions of Leopard can see the HDD and can partition it and say that it's OK when I have them check it. I never had much trouble installing Windows, but for some reason installing OSX is eluding me. Any thoughts besides just sending the drive back? I've already disconnected and reconnected it without any improvement.

 

[gr8tfly]

When you partitioned it, did you make sure the partition map was GUID?

(just in case: format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled))

 

[daxomni]

When you partitioned it, did you make sure the partition map was GUID? (just in case: format is Mac OS Extended (Journaled))

The drive was blank so I used the Disk Utility to format it and it shows as...

Partition Map Scheme: GUID Partition Table

At first I tried three partitions of various types with Mac OS Extended Journaled as the first partition. After that I tried one huge Mac OS Extended Journaled partition. In both cases it failed.

Here's what it says right now...

-----------------
Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer
Yellow Exclamation Mark
The installer could not copy the necessary support files.
Click Restart to restart your computer and try installing again.
Restart button
-----------------

I'm under the impression that this should be a no-brainer upgrade, but I'm still new to Macs so I'm hoping that I'm just missing something really simple that won't require an RMA and all that jazz.

 

[gr8tfly]

Sounds like you're doing the right things.

When you first received the drive, were there any partitions on it? It should have been uninitialized, but I was just curious. (I believe my Scorpio Black 320 was uninitialized.)

 

[daxomni]

Sounds like you're doing the right things.

When you first received the drive, were there any partitions on it? It should have been uninitialized, but I was just curious. (I believe my Scorpio Black 320 was uninitialized.)

There were no partitions on it when I started.

It was a brand new WD drive from Newegg. I guess now the only decision is, do I send it back to New Egg or just get a replacement directly from WD. I'm wondering if Newegg's flimsy packaging on their OEM drives puts them in more jeopardy that whatever WD might send them in. Or maybe WD will send me a refurb while Newegg will send another brand new drive. I also have a portable 500GB WD that I suppose I could cannibalize, but I don't want that as my primary drive since it only has a measly 2MB cache from what I've read.