08-24-2011, 08:43 AM

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and still very much getting the feel for what's here and how to navigate the site. If the answers to my questions are already here and I just haven't stumbled across them, please excuse the extraneous posting and point me to them!

Ok, I'm being given a "hand-me-down" MBP tomorrow afternoon that is a year or two old. I'm not sure yet exactly how old, or what it's hardware configuration is, but I do know that there is a disc for the Tiger OS in there, as well as a disc for Leopard. The previous owner (a relative who's been kind enough to give me his old MBP after a recent upgrade) I believe has "wiped" the system clean so his data isn't on there, and is passing everything on to me.

I'm a PC guy (I know, I know....), and to say that I have ZERO knowledge of Macs is giving me a lot credit! My first question is, what resource should I reference for re-installing the OS and getting the machine up and running? Is there anything I should know about doing that? If there are discs present for Tiger and Leopard, is it safe to assume that I should put Leopard on the machine to start with, and then look into moving up from there if the hardware will support it?

Thanks for any help and pointers you guys can give. I'm looking forward to learning the Mac system soon. I've owned a iPhone for years and have an appreciation for what Apple is capable of.

08-24-2011, 09:01 AM

Originally Posted by Lsuber

Hi, I'm new to this forum, and still very much getting the feel for what's here and how to navigate the site. If the answers to my questions are already here and I just haven't stumbled across them, please excuse the extraneous posting and point me to them!

Ok, I'm being given a "hand-me-down" MBP tomorrow afternoon that is a year or two old. I'm not sure yet exactly how old, or what it's hardware configuration is, but I do know that there is a disc for the Tiger OS in there, as well as a disc for Leopard. The previous owner (a relative who's been kind enough to give me his old MBP after a recent upgrade) I believe has "wiped" the system clean so his data isn't on there, and is passing everything on to me.

I'm a PC guy (I know, I know....), and to say that I have ZERO knowledge of Macs is giving me a lot credit! My first question is, what resource should I reference for re-installing the OS and getting the machine up and running? Is there anything I should know about doing that? If there are discs present for Tiger and Leopard, is it safe to assume that I should put Leopard on the machine to start with, and then look into moving up from there if the hardware will support it?

Thanks for any help and pointers you guys can give. I'm looking forward to learning the Mac system soon. I've owned a iPhone for years and have an appreciation for what Apple is capable of.

When you get your Mac click on the Apple icon in the tool bar and drop down to About this Mac. Post the results in this thread and we can give you more specifics.
As far as the OS, if you have Leopard and can run it by all means stay with it because the latest iteration of iTunes (your interface with your iPhone) don't support Tiger.

As far as references, read the Stickies in each of the major sub-forums, especially the one in this the "Switcher" forum.

And welcome to the Mac family. Enjoy!

EDIT: As far as doing an OS install, if he wiped the system it is likely that he did a clean re-install of the OS so you should be good to go. If not, post back and we will guide you through the process. I am assuming since you have both Tiger and Leopard Disks, that Tiger was the original OS. If that is the case, the Leopard Disks should be retail OS disks (black). If they are gray disks, they are machine specific and may not install

08-24-2011, 09:02 AM

Yes, use the Leopard (10.5) disc to install Mac OS. To boot, insert the disc and press C (for CDRom) or the Alt key to select the boot device.

More information:
Installing Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard

08-24-2011, 09:03 AM

Deleted: Three of of said the same thing at the same time!

08-24-2011, 09:53 AM

Until I have the machine (tomorrow afternoon, it looks like), I won't know for sure, but I believe that the system was wiped, but the OS not re-installed yet. I'm assuming at this point that will be where I start the process, with a clean install of the OS from disc. If that's the case, is it as easy as simply inserting the disc? I found this link, and I believe it's what he followed prior to sending it to me:

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

I'm thinking that Part One - Erasing The Hard Drive has been done, and I'll have to pick up the process with Part Two. Can I follow these instructions, substituting the Leopard disc as opposed to the Snow Leopard disc, and get the OS going?

08-24-2011, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Lsuber

Until I have the machine (tomorrow afternoon, it looks like), I won't know for sure, but I believe that the system was wiped, but the OS not re-installed yet. I'm assuming at this point that will be where I start the process, with a clean install of the OS from disc. If that's the case, is it as easy as simply inserting the disc? I found this link, and I believe it's what he followed prior to sending it to me:

Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

I'm thinking that Part One - Erasing The Hard Drive has been done, and I'll have to pick up the process with Part Two. Can I follow these instructions, substituting the Leopard disc as opposed to the Snow Leopard disc, and get the OS going?

Essentially yes, with the caveat I stated in the EDIT portion of my post. Assuming the disks were previously installed on that machine should be no problem.

EDIT: Just noticed your link was for installing Snow Leopard (same procedure as for Leopard, but Snow Leopard Retail Disk is White, not Black as it is for Leopard).

08-24-2011, 09:59 AM

To my knowledge, they are all specific to that machine. His new machine would presumably have come with Lion installed, so the Tiger and Leopard discs wouldn't have been needed or used with it. But I'll know for certain tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions later on.

08-24-2011, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Lsuber

To my knowledge, they are all specific to that machine. His new machine would presumably have come with Lion installed, so the Tiger and Leopard discs wouldn't have been needed or used with it. But I'll know for certain tomorrow. Thanks for the help so far. I'm sure I'll have a few more questions later one.

You're welcome.
We'll be here.

08-24-2011, 10:01 AM

You might like to visit here:
Sage advice for the new Mac switcher

Courtesy of chas_m

08-25-2011, 05:10 PM

Ok, so I have the MBP in hand, and it appears that it was handed down to me as-is (no wipe or anything done). Is there an easy way to remove the previous owners files and settings, essentially resetting it back to original configuration as if it were new? It appears to have Leopard installed on it, has a 2.16Ghz dual-core processor and 2Gb of RAM.

08-25-2011, 06:22 PM

Originally Posted by Lsuber

Ok, so I have the MBP in hand, and it appears that it was handed down to me as-is (no wipe or anything done). Is there an easy way to remove the previous owners files and settings, essentially resetting it back to original configuration as if it were new? It appears to have Leopard installed on it, has a 2.16Ghz dual-core processor and 2Gb of RAM.

Follow the link in the 3rd post in this thread for step by step directions. Choose the Erase and Install option.

12-09-2012, 09:24 AM

I'm interested in upgrading the hard drive to an SSD now. I'm not concerned with keeping any of the files currently on the hard drive, as nothing is saved on the internal drive that is needed.

Can I pull the current hard drive, install the new SSD, and then install the OS fresh from CD-ROM? Any reason why it can't be that simple?

12-09-2012, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Lsuber

I'm interested in upgrading the hard drive to an SSD now. I'm not concerned with keeping any of the files currently on the hard drive, as nothing is saved on the internal drive that is needed.

Can I pull the current hard drive, install the new SSD, and then install the OS fresh from CD-ROM? Any reason why it can't be that simple?

Probably not, but I will remind you of one of my earlier posts. There have been many MBP models (even in the last two years). Please post your Mac specs including the Model number and we can give specific advice.

12-09-2012, 10:02 AM

This is a copy/paste of what I see in About This Mac (minus the serial number):

Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro1,1
Processor Name: Intel Core Duo
Processor Speed: 2.16 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 2 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MBP11.0055.B08
SMC Version (system): 1.2f10

12-09-2012, 10:22 AM

Ah!
That is why we ask for Specs. The Model 1150 (15 in MBP 1,1) is actually 6 years old at this point. It was discontinued in Oct 2006.
The latest OS supported is Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and you are already maxed out on RAM.

I am going to defer to the older Mac experts here for specific advice on running an SSD in your MBP, but will reccomend you visit ifixit.com for repair and installation instructions.