Help With Mac OS X installation on Macbook Pro

MacBook Pro started giving me grey screen, no progress bar, no chime, then shutting down. Tried everything I could think of and finally got chimes and option to start from recognized startup hd. But still shut down. I started from DVD and ran disk repair, but got too many errors and could not fix. Started from DVD and only other option is to install, but message says cannot install in current HD - to save all data, reformat and re-install. Problem is I can't figure out how to save any data. Is my only solution to remove HD and replace. Still need way to recover old data. Are there some connectors to get at the old drive once it is out? Any ideas or help appreciated. BTW is it a major pain to change HD? Sure would be nice if Apple didn't make it necessary to remove a million screws (some with very tiny star head patterns). I feel like a watchmaker trying to do anything - even upgrade RAM chips.

 

Nonetheless, I will post for anyone who runs into same problem as I did, as I figured out how to solve the problem on my own.

I removed the hard drive, connected it via SATA and power cables to my PC.

I ran RTT's R-Studio available here http://www.r-studio.com/. It immediately recognized the data and I was able to recover my data files. I didn't bother with any programs, since I have them to re-install on new drive.

I don't know what went wrong with the drive. It's the original Fujitsu 200 Gig. For some reason disk utility was not able to repair it. It's sad that Apple does not offer any solution other than "save your data," without any explanation of how you might do that since the drive does not start.

BTW how much hard disk space is required to make a minimal installation of OS X on a drive? I took a 60 Gig Seagate drive, erased the NTFS system on it and formatted ("erased") it with the Mac OS X. I verified the disk with no errors and tried to install OS X on it. The installation tells me OS X cannot be installed on the drive. It was formatted as "journaled Mac OS X" with no errors and verified after formatting. So, what's up there?

That is the precise error message that I get. First of all, the exact OS X was installed on the computer in question - a Macbook Pro. I have made sure the partition is formatted to boot and tried journaled and non-journaled. Still, I cannot install OS X...What is it that I'm missing here?

 

No longer having problem with shutting down. That's what it did at the beginning, but booting with option command and R P reflashed PRAM and/or NVRAM so it got back the chime and I was then able to get a little farther...now it booted from the Startup DVD. The next problem was to install the OS - after I got the data I needed saved elsewhere....now, I don't discount possibility FD is bad, but I do have an extra SATA lying around...that's been reformatted for booting with HFS...Disk Utility verifies and finds no errors (the old drive gave errors and DU said it was unable to repair it - that I should save my data and reformat it)...OK, so now, even verififed, I get the error message. I just went out and bought a brand new Seagate and I will try to install the system in that one. The one I had lying around only had 60 Gig, so I wondered if the OS requires more room than that!? I keep hearing everybody referring to the logic board - what the "H" is that in PC terms? Would that be the circuit board on the HD? On a PC if that goes bad you will hear clicking. No strange sounds at all. Besides, as I said, I connected it to my PC and was able to read and recover the data with RTT's R-Studio, which recovers Mac data as well as Linux, FAT, NTFS, etc.

Went through whole routine again with brand new drive...nothing wrong with it...formatted, partitioned, verified...still no install

So, can I boot from some DVD utility that tests the system motherboard? I can do that with a PC. We should be able to isolate the problem...I really doubt that the mobo has gone wrong...the utilities system info is extensive and says POST passed...it recognizes the SATA device tree and my new drive without displaying any errors.

Installer log:
localhost OSInstaller [141]: Installation checks failed.
localhost OSInstaller [141]: Installation checks failures:
localhost Unknown[80]: time & date stamp System Profiler [148:903] Error loading /system/Library/SystemProfiler/SPFirewallRfeporter.spreporter: Error domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=3587 UserInfo="memlocation" "The bundle "SPFirewallReporter" couldn't be loaded because it is damaged or missing necessary resources." (dlopen_preflight(/System/Library/SystemProfiler/SPFirewallReporter.spreporter/Contents/MacOS/SPFfirewallReporter): Library not loaded: /System/Library/Frameworks/ServiceMmanagement.framework/Versions/A/ServiceManagement

and so on

ending with

Error Domain=NSCocoaErrorDomain Code=642 UserInfo="mem location" "You can't save the file "Autosave Information" because the volume "Mac OS X Install DVD" is read only."

What the "H" is that all about?

 

Important Notice To Apple Novices

If you have been dealing with PCs and operating systems such as Linux or the Microsoft stuff, be aware that Apple has a scheme far more insidious than Bill Gates devised to protect OS licensing. Whereas if you have a PC with a Windows OS installed you merely need to know your passkey (and you can actually detect that if you forget it); consequently if you need to reinstall the OS you could just borrow your friend's disk to do so. Activation is the method Windows uses to make sure you are using your own legal license to the OS (they also have Windows Genuine Advantage that can check that). Jobs and Apple in their extreme paranoia has completely individualized the installation disk itself, insuring that you will have a bigger pain in the rear if you find yourself in that situation. Of course, Apple answers you could buy OS disks. This is like some OEMs do selling you the OS on a PC already installed without any disks and then offers to charge you for "replacement" disks. Anyway, I discovered that part of my problem with installing the Macbook's original OS is that I had to have the original disks that were sold with it - or pay some more money. I complained to Apple Support and must admit they were kind enough to make what they called a "one time exception" and send me the disks. Some of you at least may be having the same problem - you may be trying to install the OS from what you think is a generic disk - when in fact it needs to be the exact specific disk that shipped with your Mac.

 

East and West shall never meet

Funny, but I find the windows license keys much more useful and intuitive...if you lose your disk, you can reinstall your system with any disk...keys are usually on labels easily affixed to computer case (inside or out). The real pain is if you could only reinstall from the disk originally shipped with your purchased computer. It seems pretty easy to see that this presents more of a problem. Also, the "buy your own retail version" solution sounds a bit like what some OEMs do in the PC field. They pre-install the OS, and when your system crashes irretrievably, they want you to pay for "replacement" disks that you never got in the first place.