Macbook 4,2 or 5.1?

C

chas_m

Guest
"Blessing" the system folder died out with Mac OS 9 (15 years ago). Sounds like you got a bad El Capitan installer, or didn't make the Diskmaker X clone correctly (make sure you are using THE latest version, and that the thumb drive is properly formatted for a Mac boot drive). You definitely can't "copy and paste" directories to make this work (I'm not ever sure what it is you thought you were doing with that).

Get another El Capitan installer from the Mac App Store (signed in under your own account), reformat the USB thumb drive, remake the bootable disk using Diskmaker, and try it again.
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
okay made some progress

finally the Mac booted up and I have formatted then created a El Cap USB succesfully bootable.
BUT instead of restarting the booting, I have created a new partition and I installed El Cap there, and it seems to sorted out my problem!
At the moment it has the lightning quick boot time of 7 minutes +login
It is much improved of the previous 45 minutes IF it booted!
so: yes, old HDD plus old HW= loads of booting time
but at least it works! so now I will put it into sleep only, never turn it off properly...
until I get an SSD. I have one in my main computer and I am 100% sure that if I am going to buy and storage for anything, it is going to be an SSD even for mass storage
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
117
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
The Netherlands
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 16 inch 2,6Ghz I7 - MacPro 5,1 3,2Ghz-6Core Xeon
Very smart choice. 7 minutes? For a fresh os? That hard drive must be dying it would be more like 1 minute if the hdd was healthy. However its good to hear you can finaly use your new macbook :)
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Very smart choice. 7 minutes? For a fresh os? That hard drive must be dying it would be more like 1 minute if the hdd was healthy. However its good to hear you can finaly use your new macbook :)

yeah good news and bad news as well :)
Quick question: If I would install El Cap on a pendrive, would I be able to boot from the pendrive in a same manner as I would boot from a HDD/SSD?
If yes, then I am going to create a literal bootdrive (not boot install drive) of the USB stick and just boot from there quicker
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,213
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Quick question: If I would install El Cap on a pendrive, would I be able to boot from the pendrive in a same manner as I would boot from a HDD/SSD?
If yes, then I am going to create a literal bootdrive (not boot install drive) of the USB stick and just boot from there quicker

Why not replace what seems to be a failing internal hard drive and fix things the right way?:) All of this fussing with USB thumb drives is really not a long term solution…and the computer will never run its best this way.

- Nick
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
117
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
The Netherlands
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 16 inch 2,6Ghz I7 - MacPro 5,1 3,2Ghz-6Core Xeon
I would not recommend it. I also wouldn't recommend keeping any important files on that hard drive. Just wait until you get the SSD this wil make things a lot more pleasant :p
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Why not replace what seems to be a failing internal hard drive and fix things the right way?:) All of this fussing with USB thumb drives is really not a long term solution…and the computer will never run its best this way.

- Nick
Reason is simple: At the moment I am managing finances and I am going to order an SSD this Friday
I do not need the laptop, asI bought it more to fix it, learn about OSX`s underlying and experience the OSX and the Apple build quality (note: I do not look at 7 Y-o HDD failure as bad Apple quality)
It is not going to be a long term solution, just a solution for a week(ish) until I get the hang of the mouse gestures, the Launchpad, and other strange things I have met


Quinten
I would not recommend it. I also wouldn't recommend keeping any important files on that hard drive. Just wait until you get the SSD this wil make things a lot more pleasant

I have nothing on the hard drive, and I would not keep anything there. I have a main Windows based PC with an HDD and SSD (boot drive) and I use that for Uni stuff, I will get an SSD but until then I want to tinker!


Basically this laptop is more like a project for me rather than an actual thing that I rely on. I chose a Macbook as I can sell it for the same amount of money or very similar as I bought.
If I would (and probably will next September) need a Macbook to work, then I would buy a Macbook Pro from Apple with my Uni discount, as I want something new and realiable with strong internals

So my question with the pendrive was actually is it possible?
I have never done it on PC as I would need a 64GB or more pendrive to Install Windows, so it is just strange for me, although it makes sense
and a last note: the fact that the OS takes up only 6-8GB installed is a miracle. Windows is way more
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,213
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
So my question with the pendrive was actually is it possible?
I have never done it on PC as I would need a 64GB or more pendrive to Install Windows, so it is just strange for me, although it makes sense
and a last note: the fact that the OS takes up only 6-8GB installed is a miracle. Windows is way more

Most Apple computers (maybe there are some exceptions) can be booted from an external storage device (as long as that external storage device has an OS version installed on it that is compatible with the computer). External hard drive, external SSD, or external thumb/stick drive.

Personally my last choice would be the thumb/stick drive. With all of the writes & rewrites to the drive that the OS does…I don't think that these drives are "built" for this sort of activity. And of course since the data (both ways) is going thru the USB port…things will be slower.

Good luck,

- Nick
 
C

chas_m

Guest
Booting from a USB thumb drive will make that 7 minute bootup time look quick. Bad idea, unless you have USB 3.0 on that machine and are using a USB 3.0 thumb drive.
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Booting from a USB thumb drive will make that 7 minute bootup time look quick. Bad idea, unless you have USB 3.0 on that machine and are using a USB 3.0 thumb drive.

okay, anyway this problem sorted as it seems the HDD completely died.
I just ordered a 120GB SSD, should be here by tomorrow.
Quick question can I format the SSD while booting up the macbook with an installer pen drive? ( eg I used the createinstallmedia command on a pendrive)
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
117
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
The Netherlands
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 16 inch 2,6Ghz I7 - MacPro 5,1 3,2Ghz-6Core Xeon
Yes. When you install it via the drive it will ask what drive you want to install it on. Then go to disk utlity and select the drive and format it mac os journaled. Then simply select that drive to install the os on
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
Thank you for your help everyone

SSD arrived, and it took me like 15 minutes to change the drives...
...because of the fact that the SSD arrived in a very strong plastic packaging that took me 13 minutes to cut open.
After I changed it I noticed another interesting thing: the HDD has 3 pins instead of 4, and they need a special keep (not pentalobe) to undo them.
So at the moment my SSD makes a clunking noise every time I turn my MBP upside down as it is not properly fixed yet, which is not a great problem as it is an SSD but I will get the proper tool shortly
using the MBP: it is really quick, and so far everything seem to work fairly quickly.
HW: nice and quick, both GPU(9400M and 9600M) works, I am about to test the 9600M as I am downloading steam :)
So far only test I have done was FHD youtube video. Startup is less than a minute
OS: It has parts that I like and others that are still need to get used to. I will comment about it later on after I put some hours into this machine
General usage of the laptop so far
I am going to compare it to the last laptop I used, that was an Acer V5 with much much beefier HW (i7+GT720m) but I am not going to talk about the performance
Typing is really pleasant here, my only problem is that while it is in my lap the edge of the wonderful aluminium housing is cutting into my wrist a bit.
it is not too warm, although warmer at my lap than the acer, although that is into the hardware territory, but this is acceptable
Only thing I miss is the touch screen, surprisingly useful thing!
The trackpad and the gestures needs do get used to but I love it so far, best in a laptop I have seen
Sounds is decent
As a person who is not really into laptops, I like it a lot!
 
Joined
Aug 9, 2015
Messages
117
Reaction score
1
Points
18
Location
The Netherlands
Your Mac's Specs
MacBook Pro 16 inch 2,6Ghz I7 - MacPro 5,1 3,2Ghz-6Core Xeon
great to hear :D!
Best of luck with your machine
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,213
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
Reason is simple: At the moment I am managing finances and I am going to order an SSD this Friday...

What I want to know is…where did the money come from to order the SSD so quickly…when it was previously mentioned that finances were tight!;)

Congrats on getting everything working.:)

- Nick
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
What I want to know is…where did the money come from to order the SSD so quickly…when it was previously mentioned that finances were tight!;)

Congrats on getting everything working.:)

- Nick

Basically I sold my Ferrari earlier (Ferrari= 2001 Vauxhall Corsa C 1.0 :D)
But now I have sourced something VERY interesting. I am not going to say anything else until it gets here :)
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,213
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
well, you were right
I got a 2010 Macbook Pro 6,2 with i5 520m and GT330m, 15 and I completely in love with it
it has a 240GB SSD and it is just perfect!
Also, it was a good bargain, as I got it for £300 after I have upgraded to the SSD :)
 

pigoo3

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
May 20, 2008
Messages
44,213
Reaction score
1,424
Points
113
Location
U.S.
Your Mac's Specs
2017 15" MBP, 16gig ram, 1TB SSD, OS 10.15
I'm a little bit confused.

This was stated earlier in the thread:

Good news:
I am a proud owner of a Macbook Pro 5,1 15" 2.8Ghz and it was a bargain!

In the latest post this was mentioned:

I got a 2010 Macbook Pro 6,2 with i5 520m and GT330m, 15 and I completely in love with it
it has a 240GB SSD and it is just perfect!
Also, it was a good bargain, as I got it for £300 after I have upgraded to the SSD :)

Are we talking two different computers…or is there a mixup in the specs?

- Nick
 
OP
N
Joined
Oct 14, 2015
Messages
20
Reaction score
1
Points
3
We are talking about 2 different computers
first one is up for sale now, as I got this one
atm I am really thinking trading my way up for a new MBP, for the next generation/update
or just keeping this. I am in love with MBPs

as mentioned I do have experience in electronics and computers, so I know where to look and how :)
 

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