How do you do a 'clean install'?

[bravenewmalden]

Hello there. First time caller, as they say.

Basically, the guys at the Apple store said the hard drive on my 2008 entry-level Mac book had died so I went out and bought a new one from Western Digital. But when reinstalling, the screen froze on 'verifying destination volume', then packs up and suggests I start again.

Searching this forum I see that others have had this problem and that one solution is to perform a 'clean install'. My question is, how do I go about doing that?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

BNM.

 

[MacDawg]

Boot from the Leopard disk
Use Disk Utility to format the new drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Install Leopard from the disk

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

Wow, that was quick. I'll give it a try.

 

[bravenewmalden]

Hmm. I got as far as the Disk Utility bit and identifying the new Drive. Now the options are First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID & Restore. None of which seems an obvious route to go down. Am I missing something?

 

[MacDawg]

Hmm. I got as far as the Disk Utility bit and identifying the new Drive. Now the options are First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID & Restore. None of which seems an obvious route to go down. Am I missing something?

Erase... that will allow you to format the drive
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Note: Make sure this is your new drive, and there is nothing on it you need
This will completely erase and format the drive

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

Erase... that will allow you to format the drive
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

OK, did that. It's erased. But I can't see the f-word anywhere. Format. Thanks for your help, and sorry if it feels like you're talking to a six year old.

 

[MacDawg]

Sorry for the confusion

So, are you good to go at this point?
Were you able to install Leopard?

Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

Not yet, no. I just can't see how to go about formatting the drive. Unless it happened automatically, in which case Leopard should have installed but a message comes up about not finding Mac OS X v10.4 on the computer.

 

[MacDawg]

Not yet, no. I just can't see how to go about formatting the drive. Unless it happened automatically, in which case Leopard should have installed but a message comes up about not finding Mac OS X v10.4 on the computer.

When you selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) you did format the drive (sorry)

You should then choose to install Leopard from the DVD
Are you using a Leopard install disk?


Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

Yes, I am. Not the grey ones. And it says that it can't find Mac OS X. Hmm. Again, thanks for your help. We'll get there in the end I'm sure.

 

[MacDawg]

It can't find OSX on your drive because it isn't there
You just erased/formatted the drive

Are you trying to do an archive and install?
Because that will look for a previous installation

You want a full install

I am not in front of my Mac... so I can't check my DVD
Sorry


Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

I've ejected the Leopard disk and am trying again with the installation disks. You never know.

 

[bravenewmalden]

*crosses fingers*

 

[MacDawg]

Sorry... you have lost me

I am *guessing* you have ejected a Leopard retail disk
And you are now using the disk that came with your computer

???

This should not be this hard


Woof, Woof - Dawg

 

[bravenewmalden]

I am *guessing* you have ejected a Leopard retail disk
And you are now using the disk that came with your computer

That's right. And it's just gone past the troublesome 'verifying destination volume' stage. So things are looking good.

This should not be this hard

That's probably because I have no idea of what I am doing. But thanks to your patient help, things are starting to happen.

'Time remaining: About 1 hour and 8 minutes.'