advice for a recently "fixed" Macbook

Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
ok, so long story short, cousin gave me his macbook becuz he got a new one, and he thought his late 2007 macbook was broken. turns out, the HDD was bad, and the optical drive is shot. i swaped out the HDD for my friends, i bought a snow leopard 10.6 os x cd from CL, and tried to copy the files and open them on the macbook but it couldnt read them. now when i put the os x cd i bought into my windows 7 pc, it says "windows support" next to DVD RW DRIVE. how can i put the files from the cd to a flash drive? also i tried to use my flash drive to copy and paste the files but i had to format the disk, so now it doesnt read the flash drive on my windows 7 pc.
(just a reminder i CAN NOT use my optical drive, so i need to use a usb drive)
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
You can do three things:

- replace the MacBook's bad optical drive
- you could get/use an external USB optical drive
- If you have access to two Macintosh computers...you can install Snow Leopard onto your MacBook with the new HD via "target disk Mode"

How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

You will need a firewire cable...AND...the "other" Macintosh computer must be able to boot from the Snow Leopard disk. If this 2nd Mac is too new to boot from the SL disk...then it won't work (you cannot boot a Mac with an OS version older than what it originally shipped with).

HTH,

- Nick
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Take a can of compressed air and shoot 3-4 quick blasts through the slot of the optical drive in different directions - see if that will clean the lens and allow you to boot from the 10.6 disc.
 
OP
X
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Take a can of compressed air and shoot 3-4 quick blasts through the slot of the optical drive in different directions - see if that will clean the lens and allow you to boot from the 10.6 disc.

ok thanks, will do. and also, for some reason the optical drive doesnt seem to read any of the disc's i insert in it, be it a CD or DVD it just spits it out without even so much as having the little rainbow loading thing spin. might the compressed air help with that ??
 

bobtomay

,
Retired Staff
Joined
Dec 22, 2006
Messages
26,561
Reaction score
677
Points
113
Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
It might... While slot load drives do tend to die more frequently than tray load drives, my '06 MBP quits reading discs about once a year. So far, that has done the trick to get it working again.
 
OP
X
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
You can do three things:

- replace the MacBook's bad optical drive
- you could get/use an external USB optical drive
- If you have access to two Macintosh computers...you can install Snow Leopard onto your MacBook with the new HD via "target disk Mode"

How to use and troubleshoot FireWire target disk mode

You will need a firewire cable...AND...the "other" Macintosh computer must be able to boot from the Snow Leopard disk. If this 2nd Mac is too new to boot from the SL disk...then it won't work (you cannot boot a Mac with an OS version older than what it originally shipped with).

HTH,

- Nick

**** it, my cousin has a new macbook with OSX Mountain Lion, so he wouldnt be able to do the whole 2 macbook SL install.
so would it still work to use an external dvd drive even tho the os x cd now for some reason says "windows supported" or i think it says "windows compatable" when its inserted in the dvd drive on my pc.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
...so would it still work to use an external dvd drive even tho the os x cd now for some reason says "windows supported" or i think it says "windows compatable" when its inserted in the dvd drive on my pc.

Let's just say there's no reason to be inserting a Mac OS X install disk into a Windows computer!

If you have an external USB optical drive compatible with a Macintosh computer...then yes...it should work.

- Nick
 
Joined
Sep 18, 2008
Messages
827
Reaction score
14
Points
18
Location
Cairo
Your Mac's Specs
13" 2015 MacBook Pro Retina / 15" 2010 MacBook Pro
It might... While slot load drives do tend to die more frequently than tray load drives, my '06 MBP quits reading discs about once a year. So far, that has done the trick to get it working again.

The optical drive on my early '08 MacBook Pro died about a year after purchase, and I kept using cleaner discs with the tiny brushes and the solution until the lens had just about enough and quit working forever. My friends had the same issues on their Macs as well, I truly am disappointed with the optical drives on the MacBooks. I sure wish my '10 Mac's optical drive doesn't die on me, but then again I rarely use it so it won't matter much. lol
 
OP
X
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Let's just say there's no reason to be inserting a Mac OS X install disk into a Windows computer!

If you have an external USB optical drive compatible with a Macintosh computer...then yes...it should work.

- Nick

thanks for that i just put the osx onto a usb and booted from a usb. thanks though. hey i was wondering, i want to wipe out my hard drive and install the osx via usb with a clean hard drive, but i have no idea if i can do it, or how i would do it.
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,210
Reaction score
1,418
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
thanks for that i just put the osx onto a usb and booted from a usb. thanks though. hey i was wondering, i want to wipe out my hard drive and install the osx via usb with a clean hard drive, but i have no idea if i can do it, or how i would do it.

Regardless of the method used to boot the computer...you need to launch Disk Utility to do what you want to do to prepare the HD for the 10.6 install.

-Nick
 
OP
X
Joined
Jun 19, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Regardless of the method used to boot the computer...you need to launch Disk Utility to do what you want to do to prepare the HD for the 10.6 install.

-Nick

thanks everyone for all the great advice, i found a video on how to wipe the HD and do a fully fresh, clean install. if i wanted to watch videos from my macbook to my HDTV. i know i'd need an adapter, but since my macbook doesnt have "thunderbolt" i'd need an audio cable but at the same time this video i saw said i'd need a video cable as well, i will post a link to the video here.

How to connect my macbook to my TV - YouTube
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top