I'm desperate!!! New hard drive, no OS

[revmkpb]

I have a brand new, blank hard drive in my iBook (G4). When I try to install the 10.4, it won't install. It will start up, but the message comes up to tell me that the program cannot be installed on my computer.

Any ideas out there?

 

[eva01]

you have to format the drive first

 

[jimsowden]

Format the drive using the disk utility under the utilities dropdown from the toolbar at the top. Once you do that, it should be smooth sailing.

 

[revmkpb]

More help!

How do I format the drive?

 

[revmkpb]

I'll give it a try!

OK, here I go -- off to get the iBook . . ..

 

[revmkpb]

another question

I'm in the disk utility.

Do I erase? or partition? or what?

 

[neocell]

Before installing the OS think about partitioning the drive. Better to do it now rather than 6 months later when you decide that you want to install a different OS but don't want to wipe your drive clean to partition it then. Just a thought.

 

[neocell]

I'm in the disk utility.

Do I erase? or partition? or what?

Use partition and set it to the number of partitions that you want (read my above post) and then set the format option (Mac OS Extended (journaled)) was how both my PB and iMac came

 

[revmkpb]

partitions

how many partitions do I want?

I don't really know why I would want any. My husband has set up all of our other computers.

 

[revmkpb]

I tried

I did erase and named my disk -- still says "The Software cannot be installed on this computer."

 

[neocell]

how many partitions do I want?

I don't really know why I would want any. My husband has set up all of our other computers.

Well you need to have at least one, it's what the OS will write data too, no partition, no place to write data to. Multiple partitions is very similar to having multiple hard drives in your computer. Since only one operating system can be on 1 partition, if you want to use multiple OSs it would be wise to make at least 2 partitions, one for each OS. As Macs come already pre-loaded with the OS and software and the drives only come with one partition, very few people actually use this option. Using multiple partitions can be useful for organizing your files and applications and whatnot, but it is a bit more intensive for the initial setup. This isn't the only chance you have to do this, so if you want to pass on it, don't worry, as all the shipped Macs come this way. I just wanted to bring this up incase it might be useful for you and you may have forgotten about it.

 

[PCheese]

You probably only need one partition (aka no need to partition).

Basically, partitioning creates multiple virtual hard drives out of one... it's like having more than one hard drive in your computer. You might want to store music on one partition and the system software on another.

However, you won't benefit much from partitioning a hard drive under 60GB like those of the iBooks.

Make sure you erase your disk as HFS+ (Journaled). You probably have to restart (hold down C again to boot from the CD) after partitioning it for the Installer to realize that it can now install on that disk.

 

[neocell]

I did erase and named my disk -- still says "The Software cannot be installed on this computer."

You NEED to PARTITION it to at least 1 partition, and select the appropriate FORMAT for the partition

 

[revmkpb]

another ???

First --- thanks so much for trying to help me.

What if I did erase and now when I go to disk utility there is no "Partition Disk" option? Is there another way to do it?

Also -- this is a 100G hard drive.

How much do you allot for each partition?

 

[neocell]

First --- thanks so much for trying to help me.

What if I did erase and now when I go to disk utility there is no "Partition Disk" option? Is there another way to do it?

Also -- this is a 100G hard drive.

How much do you allot for each partition?

It all depends what you want to store on each one. As PCheese said it's probably just best to do 1 partition (ie 1 drive of 100GB). Make sure you're selecting the top most drive on the upper left, the one with the GB available on the line, if you select the volume that you named Partitioning will not be an option

 

[revmkpb]

still no luck

I did the partition.
Restarted. Still won't install.

How long do you have to hold the C key down?

I guess I'll go to bed. If you have any other suggestions, I'll try them tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

 

[PCheese]

You only have to hold the C key down from right after you hear the initial "booong" sound to when the Apple logo appears and the spinner starts going.

Click the line with the hard drive icon and the size in GB on the line as neocell mentioned. It should not be indented. Click the Erase tab, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as Volume Format, and hit erase. (This is the Panther disk utility, the Tiger one might differ slightly.) Restart, hold down C key, select hard drive.

I'm not sure if you did it exactly like that ^^ already?

 

[IJ Reilly]

You don't even need to hold the "c" key down. If the hard drive doesn't have a startup volume on it and the install CD in inserted, the Mac will start on the CD.

 

[neocell]

I did the partition.
Restarted. Still won't install.

How long do you have to hold the C key down?

I guess I'll go to bed. If you have any other suggestions, I'll try them tomorrow.

Thanks guys!

What format did you use? Was it MacOS Extended (Journaled)?
Hold the key down until the disc starts up or not at all as IJ Reilly indicates

 

[Skareb]

Just to ask the idiot question. (Since noone else has)

You actually have the 10.4 Operating system? Not just the updater?

Jordan

 

[mvc]

Another dumb question...

You do have the disks that came with that computer, not some other installer disc from some other machine....?

I can't remember for sure, but I thought some 10.4 installer discs won't install on systems they weren't made for, i.e PowerMac installer disks not working on iBooks. (If this is completely wrong, do please correct me before I send the O.P. in the wrong direction)

 

[Makosuke]

I can't remember for sure, but I thought some 10.4 installer discs won't install on systems they weren't made for, i.e PowerMac installer disks not working on iBooks. (If this is completely wrong, do please correct me before I send the O.P. in the wrong direction)

This is correct. It's very inconsistent so far as I can tell, but at least some "came with computer" discs will only install on the machine they came with (or maybe something similar).

Also, as said, if it's an *updater* disc, not a full install, it will refuse to install on any disk that does not have a previous version of the MacOS on it. The solution to this is usually to use the discs that came with your computer to reinstall whatever OS the computer came with, then use the updater disc to install the latest version (doing an "erase and install", since there's nothing on the disk anyway).

Since I'm running Tiger, here's exactly what the Disk utility will say, just so you can confirm what you've done:

First, click on the line on the left that says "93.2GB Somemodelname" (or something very similar to that; it's probably the only disk in the list), and make sure you've selected the un-indented item, not anything underneath it.

Then, click the "Partition" tab on the left. From there, select "1 Partition" from the "Volume Scheme" popup list. Make sure that "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" is selected from the "Format" popup on the right. The size box should automatically say something close to "93.20GB", since it should automatically make one large partiton the same size as the drive. You can type a name in the "Name" box if you want, or just leave it.

Finally, click the "Partition" button down in the bottom right corner; it should ask you if you're sure you want to erase the disk, and you should of course click yes (or ok, or whatever).

You will then see a progress bar for a few seconds, and when it's finished you should now see an indented name listed underneath the drive's listing over on the right; it will probably be called "Untitled" or whatever name you gave it; it's not important as long as it is there.

Now you can quit Disk Utility and try to install the OS. When I did exactly what you're trying to do, I needed to restart once after formatting the disk, even though I shouldn't have had to; apparently the installer only recognizes disks that were ready to install when it is first started.

Hopefully that gets you pointed in the right direction. Good luck!

 

[revmkpb]

Thanks

Well, I did have discs from another computer (which were actually the installers, not the updater) -- so I had to go all the way back to 10.1.? I did update to 10.1.5. Our 10.2. discs are missing, but we are searching for them. They will work, because that's what I had on the other hard drive.

The good news is -- the new hard drive works -- even if it is with ancient software. Hopefully, I'll be able to install all of my newer software by the weekend.

I may just have to break down and buy Tiger.

Thanks again!
MK