UPDATE - BOOT FAILURE !!!! First Impressions On SL - odd issues

Did a fresh install on an external drive - want to test before putting it on main drive.

COMPUTER:
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,1

First run through ...

Noticed that neither the external HHD, nor the internal HDD icon was on desktop.

One or two shutdowns and reboots and still no HDD volumes on desktop.

While in SAFARI I noticed when downloading images, some hesitation and " bounce " in the displayed image.

CRASHED while in SAFARI trying to load a new page using FILE/NEW TAB

Got the beacball and NOTHING worked.

Could not FORCE QUIT

Had to force shutdown with Power Button

OK Rebooted ...

HDD Volumes now show up on Desktop


HOWEVER .....

Something about the CLOCK DISPLAY

When I look at the clock I see .... 3 21:38

When I click on the clock the top line reads ......
3, 2009 9 08

I have no idea what the number 3 represents.

Gonna reboot and see what else changes ..........

SL now refusing to boot from external .....

Choose external and boot starts ......

Get the Apple / Spinning Pinwheel

Under the pinwheel is a progress bar ( looks like the bar you see with a firmware update )

Progress bar never gets past 50%

Does this twice and SHUTS DOWN !!!!!


Any ideas ???

 

Now in 10.5.8

The 3 mentioned above is in place of the Day Of The Week

Not sure if I am ready to throw this on the main drive at this time.

Gonna move some apps onto SL and see how they react.

 

Not sure what the sig has to do with the SL things I am experiencing but OK.

In any case a search has got me to thinking that possible it's an issue with external USB drives?

I read where someone was having issues with Time Machine under SL n an external USB drive.

I have installed OSX on the same WD Passport and run from it on an iMac with success in the past. ( 10.5 )

Now when I plug the Passport into the system I get a message stating the drive cannot be repaired / backup / reformat.

That of course sounds like an HDD failure as well.

I'll play with it more today after I manually backup all my data files ... all 230 Gigs of them.

I plan on taking everything off the HDD manually because when I try to do a TM backup, I get the " preparing .... " indication, like forever without a backup beginning. ( under 10.5.8 )

 

That was my first thought, though I did find reference of "some" users having difficulty with external USB drives, in particular WD Passport drives. I wonder though if it might not be a " power issue " where the USB port on the MBP is not quite delivering the power the drive needs?

I recall having that issue in the past and put the drive on a powered hub, once on the powered up the drive chugged along flawlessly. In this case the bus powered drive worked fine on a Macbook Pro but had a problem on an Intel iMac. Once we put the hub online the drive was fine.

Gonna try the hub in a day or two and see how it goes, may be time to dump that drive in the trash.

Yeah I did understand that.

Was just a bit odd that on one Boot Up they appeared, then on subsequent boots they disappeared.

In any case as of this morning things are looking good, the one system we have SL on is functioning as expected. Of course we will begin to install the 3rd party apps one at a time, backing up after each succesful attempt so that in the event one app causes problems we can back off from it until a fix appears.