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Installing OS X Snow Leopard on a new hard drive

G

grantseltzer

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 5, 2014
5
0
So I'm trying to fix my friends Macbook Pro that he got in 2009. He was having trouble with it, so he brought it into a repair service that told him he had to replace his hard drive. I told him I could do it so he can save money.

I took all the right steps to physically replace the hard drive. I'm currently trying to install OS X Snow Leopard from the install disc. When I get to the screen that asks what disc I want to install the OS on it doesn't list the new hard drive.

I went into disc utility, tried to format and partition the drive but keep getting error messages that say "Input/output error" or "Can't allocate memory"

One possible solution that I found was replacing the SATA cable but I figure that should be the last thing I try. I'm hoping it's a software issue.

I have a USB thumb drive that when I plug it in gives me the option to install the OS on that. Should I try this? Would I not be able to use the disc after that? Can I install it on the hard drive from the USB after I do that?

All advice is greatly appreciated.
 
The error you're getting does indicate a hard ware problem. The new drive could be bad, but it could also be the SATA cable. Installing OS X onto a USB drive is possible, but it would be rather slow for everyday use.
 
Intell said:
The error you're getting does indicate a hard ware problem. The new drive could be bad, but it could also be the SATA cable. Installing OS X onto a USB drive is possible, but it would be rather slow for everyday use.
Click to expand...

That's what I figure. Do you know if I were to live boot, let says, ubuntu onto it there would be a way to test the hardware?
 
Ubuntu may be able to do some tests, but Apple's tests would be better as they are designed for that machine.
 
Intell said:
Ubuntu may be able to do some tests, but Apple's tests would be better as they are designed for that machine.
Click to expand...

So would you recommend I install the OS onto the USB or an external hard drive and then do hardware tests?
 
Reuse the USB drive or the hard drive? You'll be able to reuse them both as long as the hard drive is not faulty.
 
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