06-18-2008, 06:37 PM

So I just bought a macbook this afternoon. I got the base model, because only a few weeks ago, I got a 250gb hard drive that I put in my Windows laptop. So I want to use that drive in the macbook. I've got it in the macbook, and it shows up. It actually booted of windows, but then didn't have any mouse or keyboard drivers, so I couldn't do anything.

I put in the restore discs to install OSX, and told it to erase the drive. It got done with the first disc, then gave me a message that it cannot install OSX on this drive, and that I may need to use drive utilities... Looking in drive utilities, there's nothing I can see (as a mac n00b) that is wrong...

So what do I have to do to get this to reinstall on this drive??


*edit*
The error message it gives me says:

Install Failed
Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer.

The installer cannot prepare the volume for installation. You may need to prepare your disk using Disc Utility.

Click restart to restart your computer and try installing again.

*/edit*


Thanks
-Justin

06-18-2008, 06:52 PM

Looks like you may have an NTFS drive on your hands.

When the OS X installer begins, at the top menubar look for Disk Utility. Click on the drive itself (not the partition) and format it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). You should then be able to install OS X on it without a problem.

06-18-2008, 07:03 PM

I set it to format as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before installing, and when I look at it in disc utilities now, the drive has 1 partition, titled Mac OS X, and it says there's 3 files on it.

06-18-2008, 07:07 PM

When I go to try to reinstall now, it says I can't install onto the volume. It says to enable installation to repartition it as a 'GUID Partition Table.'

So i went in to repartition the drive, went into options and set it up as a GUID Partition Table, and am now attempting to reinstall again.

06-18-2008, 07:19 PM

You could try deleting any partitions and then starting fresh.

06-18-2008, 08:17 PM

Setting up the GUID Partition did it! I am now running OS X on my 250gb hd.

06-18-2008, 08:51 PM

Congrats!

06-18-2008, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by riguitargod

Setting up the GUID Partition did it! I am now running OS X on my 250gb hd.

Yep, has to be GUID. That's because Windows machines are BIOS booting animals whereas the new Intel Macs use EFI. Your new HDD actually has two partitions, one small one for EFI and the remainder for OS X.

You might want to enclose the hard drive you removed from your new Mac in a USB case and use it as an external backup drive, or just keep it around for emergency use.

Regards.