Help: Reinstalling Mac OS X

Hi all -

I just upgraded my MBP 13" hard drive from 160 GB to 500 GB. I'm now reinstalling Mac OS X. I'm at the window that says "Install Mac OS X" and then "Select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X". There is an EMPTY white Box where I was hoping I'd see a choice for me to pick from. The only other options are GO BACK, and 2 others that are gray'd out....Customize and Install (unavailable for me to click). What am I doing wrong?

I upgraded my older MB 3 yrs ago, and reinstalling was a breeze. This MBP is giving a bit of trouble.

Please help.

Did you format the 500 GB hard drive? You can't install OS X to a bare hard drive. Go to the top menu, click on Utilities, Disk Utility, highlight the drive on the left, and proceed with formatting. Format it as HFS Extended Journaled and name the drive "MacIntosh HD".

Once the drive is formatted and ready to go, proceed with installing OS X.

Thx for the quick reply chscag.

Ok I'm following your advise....I'm in Disk Utility, and I highlighted the drive on on the left....my options are Info, Burn, First Aid, erase, Partition, RAID, Restore.....which of those will take me to formatting.....the rest of the buttons gray'd out....

thanks again...

oh and New Image is also available for me to click on.

chscag said:

Did you format the 500 GB hard drive? You can't install OS X to a bare hard drive. Go to the top menu, click on Utilities, Disk Utility, highlight the drive on the left, and proceed with formatting. Format it as HFS Extended Journaled and name the drive "MacIntosh HD".

Once the drive is formatted and ready to go, proceed with installing OS X.

Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, why does it matter that the drive is named MacIntosh HD?

Use the erase function but be sure to select the correct format at the same time. Use HFS Extended Journaled. Also remember to name the hard drive.

I went to ERASE....HFS Extended Journaled is not available for me to choose. I can choose:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Mac OS Extended
Mac OS Extended (case-sensitive, journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive)
MS-DOS (FAT)

Do I pick - Mac OS Extended (Journaled) ?

I went ahead and chose Mac OS Extended (Journaled).....it looks to me as the closest thing possible to HFS Extended Journaled

I'll keep you posted, chscag, if I have any more q's .....thanks !!!!

You chose the right format. (It's the same as I gave you.) And it doesn't matter what you name your hard drive... however, some programs will use MacIntosh HD in the install routine as the default. Keeps you out of trouble.

Great! It's now in progress! Thx a bunch!!!

Jason

I wanted to upgrade my HD too, I have a 2010 15" MBP. The warranty expires in a few weeks, is it very difficult to change a HD in there machines?
Do they just use any kind of laptop hd or do i need a particular kind?
Thank you!

Other than the questions I asked earlier (which was clarified by chscag - thank you very much), the install was a breeze. This is what I went through:

a. Identified the size of internal Hard drive I wanted to upgrade to, in my case 160GB to 500GB

b. Ordered a HD (it had to be 2.5" SATA - the RPM is up to you). This is what I got....Western Digital Scorpio Black WD5000BEKT 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive

c. When the HD arrived via UPS, I started my upgrade. I went to this link for a step by step guide with pictures:

Installing MacBook Pro 13" Unibody Mid 2009 Hard Drive Replacement - iFixit

WARNING: I had to use 2 different tools get this done, I only had 1 of the suggested 3 tools:

• Phillips #00 Screwdriver (I have this one myself)
• Spudger (I don't know what this is for - I guess I didn't use it) hahahaa
• T6 Torx Screwdriver (I got this from a co-worker)

d. I replaced the HD, it was time to actually reinstall Mac OS X, and that was the time when I posted my question here. Once I got the advise, the install was a breeze......it did all by itself within 30 minutes.

Hope that helps!

jason

soulnchain said:

I wanted to upgrade my HD too, I have a 2010 15" MBP. The warranty expires in a few weeks, is it very difficult to change a HD in there machines?
Do they just use any kind of laptop hd or do i need a particular kind?
Thank you!

Click to expand...

I upgraded my HD on the day my new MBP 13" arrived. And it's the very first Mac I've owned or worked on. Very easy. Just get a 2.5" SATA drive. I think 750gb is the largest you can get that won't be too thick. My MBP user's guide had instructions with pictures.

-Jim