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Rico S

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 28, 2009
12
0
Hi, I have a problem, My boss gave me his macbook with a bad hard drive and bought a new macbook but he lost the original disks for the one he gave me, i tried installing os x 10.5.2 that came with the new one and was able to format and partition the new HD that i puershased for it but then i get the error message saying it cannot be install on this computer. It has 2 512 ram of memory but I dont know how fast of processor or if its intel. How do i find out what version of OS i need. or can I put my hard drive in his mac run setup then install the HD in mine would it work? Please anyone!
 
You need to buy the retail copy. Restore discs are tied to the model and revision.
 
Is it even a Macbook? If it's an iBook, it needs to be at least G4 867mhz to install without a firmware hack.

To tell what it is, what's it say right under the screen? "MacBook," "iBook," etc...
 
Its a Macbook 13" in white also the one he bought is the same but newer and I guess faster
 
I believe you can get replacement discs from apple for less than a full retail copy. Go to a store or give them a call. (obviously if the macbook was sold with tiger they won't give you leopard install discs.)
 
I believe you can get replacement discs from apple for less than a full retail copy. Go to a store or give them a call.

Best bet it to call Applecare, and give them the serial number of the computer. They'll send out a replacement set @ ~$32 I believe.
 
I just found out His is a 13" 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo w/ 2GB Ram & 160GB HD and the new hard drive that I purchased is also a 160 but when it found it and formatted it says is about 149GB.
 
Best bet it to call Applecare, and give them the serial number of the computer. They'll send out a replacement set @ ~$32 I believe.

Of Tiger, if that is what it came installed with. For Leopard, the OP needs to buy the retail version.

I just found out His is a 13" 2.4Ghz Core 2 Duo w/ 2GB Ram & 160GB HD and the new hard drive that I purchased is also a 160 but when it found it and formatted it says is about 149GB.

Normal.
 
Can I just Install the HD on his MAc and run setup and then put it in my mac?
 
They were both his and he paid full price at apple store so I dont see why would it be illegal?
 
What u mean he bought the one that broke and handed to me then he went out and bought a new one
 
What u mean he bought the one that broke and handed to me then he went out and bought a new one

He bought one MB with Tiger - call Apple, they'll replace the lost discs for ~$35.

He bought another MB with Leopard, he cannot just give away the restore discs and keep on using the Leopard install on that machine.

He only bought one license for Leopard, not two.
 
I'll be back If some one can answer me if it will work before I try it.
 
You never mentioned, was it sold with tiger or leopard?

Anyhooo I'd just get a set of new discs from apple rather than mess around swapping drives. You never know when you might need to reinstall again.
 
Im to to this , what's the difference between the Tiger and leopard?
 
Im to to this , what's the difference between the Tiger and leopard?

Tiger is the major OS version prior to Leopard, which is the current version.

There are quite a few feature differences, too many to name.
 
I see so most likely mine had Tiger and thats why the 10.5.2 since is leopard it doesn't work. so what version will be Tiger, would it be the OS 9?
 
So then most likely any of the tigers would work on my macbook or i have to find the exact version
 
So then most likely any of the tigers would work on my macbook or i have to find the exact version

If you are looking for restore discs, you need the exact version that came on the computer. The Tiger retail disc will not install on the MB, it's PPC only.
 
So the only way to find out what version is calling apple with the serial #?
 
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