05-10-2011, 08:14 PM

Last week my two year old MacBook Pro had problems booting up, and the Apple Store people told me the hard drive was on its way out and to get a new one. I got a WesternDigital 500GB Scorpio Black and installed it today.

I ran the Snow Leopard Installer, went to Disk Utility, and saw the hard drive being read - good I thought, I didn't put it in backwards!

However, I then went to partition the Hard Drive and am getting the same error. "POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory".

I called WD and spoke to someone who admitted he didn't have much Mac knowledge, but he said to check my RAM to see if there is no problem with that and if that's clean, to replace to drive.

Has anyone ever encountered this problem? Could it be my RAM? If so how do I check that with no OS installed? Could a brand new Hard Drive really be bad right out of the case? I got it from Amazon.com.

Thanks for your help.

05-10-2011, 08:18 PM

Do you still have your original Install Discs, the gray ones? If so, put Disc 1 in and restart the computer while holding down the "D" key. You'll boot into a hardware test and you can test everything.

05-10-2011, 08:28 PM

I know I have them lying around somewhere, but I couldn't find them before. Will the Snow Leopard disk allow a hardware test or no?

05-10-2011, 08:30 PM

However, I then went to partition the Hard Drive and am getting the same error. "POSIX reports: The operation couldn't be completed. Cannot allocate memory".

First, run the Apple Hardware Test as Stretch suggested.

I noticed you said above: "the same error" and then went on to describe the error. My question is - the same as what? Was that the same error you were getting with your old hard drive in the machine?

Also, did you try to format the drive?

05-10-2011, 08:32 PM

Originally Posted by pre1321

I know I have them lying around somewhere, but I couldn't find them before. Will the Snow Leopard disk allow a hardware test or no?

No, you need the original discs to do the hardware test.

05-10-2011, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by chscag

First, run the Apple Hardware Test as Stretch suggested.

I noticed you said above: "the same error" and then went on to describe the error. My question is - the same as what? Was that the same error you were getting with your old hard drive in the machine?

Also, did you try to format the drive?

Sorry, that was just sloppy grammar. The old hard drive just wasn't being responsive, I wasn't getting this error at all.

Also, I did try formatting the drive. I went to the Erase tab and tried to do that, but got the same Cannot Allocate Memory error. My "Partition Map Scheme" at the bottom right hand corner of Disk Utility is 'Unformatted', which I know should be GUID Partition Table.

I just rummaged around for the install disks... can't find 'em. I recently moved so things are all mixed up. I might just go into the Apple Store and have them run the hardware test and also look directly at the partition issue. I'm really hoping this isn't a RAM issue... the prospect of spending $400 on new RAM for a less than two year old computer is very frustrating, especially after buying a new hard drive.

05-10-2011, 11:30 PM

SL disk will allow you to repair permissions which fixed my problem when I was having the same problem.

05-11-2011, 09:32 AM

None of the First Aid options are available through SL disk, they are all unclickable - Verify Disk, Repair Disk, Verify Permissions, Repair Permissions, etc. Would this be a sign of a bad drive, even though the drive is being read and shows up under the Partition Tab?

05-11-2011, 02:32 PM

It's difficult to say. I've never encountered that error before and the Snow Leopard DVD should have been able to run the Disk Utility functions on the new hard drive. It's beginning to sound like there may be another hardware problem with the machine.

I doubt it's a memory error but even if it is, replacing the memory is not expensive at today's prices. If your machine is covered by Apple Care, take it on in and let Apple deal with it. If you're not covered and decide to take it in, make sure you get an estimate of repairs first.

Another thought.... Did you try to reset the PRAM-NVRAM? If not, go ahead and do it. Let us know.

05-12-2011, 08:16 PM

I got my hands on an Install disk and tried to run the Hardware test... I got stuck at the grey Apple screen. I also tried resetting the PRAM NVRAM to no avail.

It looks like there might be something serious wrong with the computer. I'm just going to bring it in tomorrow and hope for the best. Frankly I'm very disappointed, since the computer is not even two years old and has been treated very well.

05-13-2011, 12:04 PM

Hi there,

First, did you ever get your HD to work? (Fingers crossed - I do hope you did!)

(In case you didn't) I'm probably reading this incorrectly, but it sounds like the hard drive isn't properly formatted for your MBP. Do you have access to another Mac and a firewire? If you connect it another Mac, you might be able to use that disk utility to re-format the drive.

I found this article (if you'd like to check it out) about the error you received:

Partitioning USB hard drives that fail in Disk Utility with 'POSIX' error | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews

Let us know how it all turned out!

Amy

05-19-2011, 01:52 PM

Just to close the loop on the thread in case anyone was interested...

I took my computer into the Apple Store and had them look at it. The Genius was able to start installing the OS onto the hard drive from another computer, so it wasn't the drive itself.

He changed the hard drive ribbon and viola... problem solved! And, he didn't charge me 17.xx for the ribbon.

Thanks for the help everyone.