MacBook not recognizing new hard drive

[gail19]

Hi,

I just bought a new 2010 Hitachi hard drive (250GB) to replace the old 2008 Fujitsu hard drive (80GB left) in my Macbook. The seller told me that the new drive contained a fresh install of Mountain Lion and that it should work perfectly on my Macbook, which currently has Leopard. When I tried to install the new hard drive, a crossed circle showed up on the screen and nothing else happened. I turned it off and tried again, this time holding the Option key. Same thing again. Tried again and held down the Control key this time. Two folders showed up, and when I clicked on either one of them, the same result again. I am a complete newbie to all of this and need help. I am not sure whether to return the hard drive or keep trying. Any suggestions?

 

[brop52]

Hi,

I just bought a new 2010 Hitachi hard drive (250GB) to replace the old 2008 Fujitsu hard drive (80GB left) in my Macbook. The seller told me that the new drive contained a fresh install of Mountain Lion and that it should work perfectly on my Macbook, which currently has Leopard. When I tried to install the new hard drive, a crossed circle showed up on the screen and nothing else happened. I turned it off and tried again, this time holding the Option key. Same thing again. Tried again and held down the Control key this time. Two folders showed up, and when I clicked on either one of them, the same result again. I am completely newbie to all of this and need help. I am not sure whether to return the hard drive or keep trying. Any suggestions?

This is why you buy new HDDs from reputable sellers. Either that, or you didn't install it correctly. It isn't recognizing an OS. Are you sure all of the SATA connectors are properly connected? Also, follow the ifixit guide for your machine. You also didn't say what machine you have which would help us.

 

[DewGuy1999]

Some MacBooks can't run Mountain Lion, which one do you have?

 

[Blackbeard909]

macbook 2.1's black and white, dont support mountain lion. the highest osx you can run is snow leapord

 

[gail19]

A little more info

I have a white 2008 13" Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook, 2.4GHz, OS X 10.5.8.
The seller I purchased the new drive from on Ebay has a pristine 100% rating and promised to refund me if it didn't work, just to dispel any of your suspicions of a "non-reputable" purveyor. Initially when I bought it, he informed me that upon installation there would only be a prompt for a password, which he gave me. He told me that he had the exact same Macbook that I have, that the drive ran perfectly on it, and that he wasn't sure why it didn't work on mine other than there might be a problem with the logic board not wanting to accept it. Also, I'm pretty sure I installed it correctly since I researched how to do it first.

 

[Blackbeard909]

sorry i meant you can run lion, not ML, if its the white/black series macbook 2.1 you cant run mountain lion, i have the ML os install cd and when booting from that on my macbook i just get the question mark folder. download snow leapord and call it a day. its plenty fast for these machines.

 

[DewGuy1999]

I have a white 2008 13" Intel Core 2 Duo Macbook, 2.4GHz, OS X 10.5.8.
The seller I purchased the new drive from on Ebay has a pristine 100% rating and promised to refund me if it didn't work, just to dispel any of your suspicions of a "non-reputable" purveyor. Initially when I bought it, he informed me that upon installation there would only be a prompt for a password, which he gave me. He told me that he had the exact same Macbook that I have, that the drive ran perfectly on it, and that he wasn't sure why it didn't work on mine other than there might be a problem with the logic board not wanting to accept it. Also, I'm pretty sure I installed it correctly since I researched how to do it first.

Sorry to say that Mountain Lion is not going to run on your MacBook.

According to Everymac.com the latest version of OS X you can run is 10.7.5 Lion.

Also according to Apple's OS X Mountain Lion Tech Specs page supported MacBooks are Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer.