Installing Mac OS X 10.5.8 problems

I am having trouble installing a standard software update

I am currently at Mac OS X: Version 10.5.2

I need to upgrade at least Version 10.5.7 or higher for various projects I need to work on.

I have tried updating simply from the "About this Mac" screen button which restarts the computer and says that "the installation cannot be preformed, to contact the manufacturer."

I called Apple and the CSR said to download from the update Apple/support forum as a means of troubleshooting but during the installation it marks my HD with a red exclamation mark and says that the volume is insufficient to perform the update.

I've never had any problem installing an update before and I really need this software upgrade to continue with work. Please advise on any suggestions! Thank you!



Here is the information on my Mac Mini:

Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini2,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 1.83 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 2 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 667 MHz
Boot ROM Version: MM21.009A.B00
SMC Version: 1.19f2
Serial Number: YM815126YL1

somnambulating said:

...says that the volume is insufficient to perform the update.

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You need to tell us how much disk drive space you have.

Currently it says I have 5.62 GB available. If I were to restart the computer it would probably say something closer to 6GB of free space.

If I remember correctly, the install requires something around 700mb so I would think this is more than enough space to simply update my software?

I assume, from your first post, that you have downloaded the 10.5.8 combo update from Apple, and this is what won't install?
First thing to do, IMO, is to get your install disc, and run disk utility from the file menu. Verify your permissions and check your HDD out too. See if that throws any errors up and repair anything necessary.
After that I would then try running software update, which really should bring you up to 10.5.8 without using the combo updater you downloaded.
I know others prefer to do their updates that way, but I have only ever suffered one issue using software update.

I would say it's highly unlikely that you're going to get that size update to install on a drive that's been in use for, what - going on 5 years now and has less than 5% free space and that free space is fragmented all to....

I'm even more surprised you haven't been somewhere asking "Why is my Mac running so slow?".

You seriously need to upgrade your drive or find a way to dump about 30% of the data that's on it to an external drive.

And you do have a backup, right? On a 5 year old drive?

Some things I just don't get, and this is one of them!
Kind of like running on empty while driving, but still keep ignoring the low fuel warning light while driving past service stations hoping for the best
Please take bobtomay's advise ASAP.

Well, I've freed it up to about 8GB of free space and it still won't install the update so, my next question is, to what amount would you folks suggest freeing-up space on this hard drive?

I have a few externals and believe me, if I could just drag over every last bit of data to the external drives I would but I work with a lot of media files as a filmmaker and that's just not going to be able to happen. As for upgrading my drive, I bought this mac in 2008 and if I need to upgrade to do the very straightforward work that I do, I'd just as soon buy a new mac. So, any further help would be much appreciated as I've deadlines to meet so's I can have food in the fridge: how many GB do I need in total to perform a simple update on a computer which is a couple of years old (every bit of data I have to free up is detrimental in other facets of my work and I do it grudgingly) so, if I could have the minimum suggestion that would rectify everything 100%

Thanks!

How big is the hard drive?

75 GB in total on a Mac Mini purchased in 2008. As I've mentioned before, it's important for me to retain as much of the data stored as possible.

As for upgrading my drive, I bought this mac in 2008 and if I need to upgrade to do the very straightforward work that I do, I'd just as soon buy a new mac.

Click to expand...

As a professional film maker you should be concerned with using the best possible tools to get the job done. If you continue to limit yourself then putting "food in the fridge" is going to be more difficult. I realize you're trying to be frugal but being overly frugal has negative results.

The bottom line: Either purchase and install a larger faster hard drive, or as you say above, buy a new Mac.

Step by step instructions for installing a new hard drive in the Mini can be found at iFixit: The free repair manual.

Have you tried doing the updates one at a time: 10.5.2 - 10.5.3, 10.5.3 - 10.5.4, etc.? It's time consuming but it may work.

In terms of free space, you should be trying to go for 15% or so. If you have an 80GB disk, you should be aiming for about 12GB. Is it not possible to move some of that content to externals that you keep plugged in?

You do need some 15% free space on the hard drive just for it to work anywhere near peak efficiency as vansmith advised. You do need to install a larger hard drive in the Mini, say 250GB at least.