Lion Vs. Time Machine.. Help!

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Hi all,

Would appreciate some advice here like you wouldn't believe. Only a small bit geeky on this stuff, so really after some layman's stuff if indeed someone feels like helping!

I've got an iMac G5 Intel Processor - 10.5.8. I have updated my iPad/ iPhone to OS6 so can no longer synch up with my iMac, which is surprisingly short on Hard Drive space too but that may or may not be relevant.

I have a copy of Mountain Lion, but when I try and install, the error message says it can't because the HD is " A time machine" thing. I think I may have once (the comp is 5 years old) used Time Machine, and uninstalled it incorrectly (basically dragging stuff to trash).

I've done a lot of Googling, but all the advice I read din't work for me. I eventually found the backups.backup files and deleted as instructed, but it still won't work.

I've Time Machined to an external hard drive, but I'm a bit scared to reformat (and not entirely sure how either!) as all my music and photos are too valuable to risk.

If anyone feels like helping me out, it'd be awesome. I can get free preview tickets or premiere tickets for anyone in London that wants to help me!! Hope this is the right place to post...

Rich
 

pigoo3

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I've got an iMac G5 Intel Processor - 10.5.8. I have updated my iPad/ iPhone to OS6 so can no longer synch up with my iMac, which is surprisingly short on Hard Drive space too but that may or may not be relevant.

I have a copy of Mountain Lion, but when I try and install, the error message says it can't because the HD is " A time machine" thing.

First we need to determine what sort of computer you have. You mentioned that it's an "iMac G5 Intel Processor"…which it cannot be. It's either an "iMac G5" or it's an "Intel iMac"…it cannot be both (two completely different processors). If it is an "Intel iMac"…then we would need to know EXACTLY what model it is…so we can figure out if it can run Mountain Lion.

By the way…where did this "copy" of Mountain Lion come from??

- Nick
 
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Thanks Nick!

It says....

Processor: 10.5.8 - 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Mountain Lion was sold over the counter!
 

pigoo3

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Thanks Nick!

It says....

Processor: 10.5.8 - 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM

Thanks for the info. According to Apple…you need a "mid-2007 or newer" iMac to be able to run Mountain Lion. Your iMac was introduced September, 2006 (too old).

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5444

Mountain Lion was sold over the counter!

Sorry…but Mountain Lion is not sold over-the-counter. It is a download only version of the Mac OS…so I would seriously question the authenticity of this product!

The newest OS version this iMac can run is OS 10.7 "Lion".

- Nick
 
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Well it's in a box... looks like it came over a counter haha... a colleague at work provided it. Didn't like to say... sure that's not the best thing to do... Guess it's useless now though *gets in car and heads to PC World*

Thanks for your help, much appreciated.
 
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Ok, I can now officially wear a dunce's hat for the rest of my Mac-using days. It's not Mountain Lion, it's Snow Leopard!
 

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Ok, I can now officially wear a dunce's hat for the rest of my Mac-using days. It's not Mountain Lion, it's Snow Leopard!

Yes…I was just going to suggest that what you have may not be OS 10.8 "Mountain Lion". OS 10.6 "Snow Leopard" was the last Mac OS version that could be purchased in a box over the counter.

What you need to do is…use that disk and install OS 10.6. Then use "Software Update" (under the Apple menu)…to update it to at least version 10.6.6 (latest version of 10.6 is 10.6.8). Then call Apple (corporate offices…not an Apple Store)…to find out how you can go about getting/purchasing OS 10.7 (it was primarily a download only version of the Mac OS…but it is no longer available for download).

Once you have OS 10.7…then install it. 10.7 is still a perfectly good OS to run. Your iMac running OS 10.7 is far from useless! And even if it was…there would be no reason you couldn't purchase a newer Macintosh computer…rather than "gets in car and heads to PC World"!!!;)

- Nick
 
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The install is where I am getting stuck - it thinks the Mac has Time Machine running on it so won't install...
 

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The install is where I am getting stuck - it thinks the Mac is has a Time Machine running on it so won't install...

Have you actually booted the computer from the OS install disk (hold down the "c" key when rebooting).

The whole "Time Machine" thing shouldn't happen if you boot from the OS disk.

- Nick
 
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Like you say, it's from 2006... been a long time since I saw that disc... I'll get searching...
 

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Like you say, it's from 2006... been a long time since I saw that disc... I'll get searching...

So are you saying that you started this thread…with information from a long time ago (the last time you used this disk)??

Snow Leopard was released in 2009…so it wouldn't be more then 3 years…but still…it would be nice to discuss "new info" in this thread…rather than "old info" from memory...which may contain inaccuracies due to the gap in time.

How about trying to install OS 10.6 again…then get back with us.:)

- Nick
 

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