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  • MY disc shows up as EFI Boot?!Someone pls help thanks!

  • I wonder if you can help me?? My macbook crashed and I cannot reinstall because it says 'this disk cannot be changed'. Disk utility cannot repair the disk (which has become unmounted) and after doing some research it seems as though I will have to do what you have done in this video and erase before reinsatlling. Do you know of any way to backup files before I erase the disk or is it too late to do so? Any advice would be very welcome... Thanks

  • it took only seconds for me o.O

    is that bad? o.O

  • Thank you very very much cuz this vid was very helpful

  • Thanks so much for this. i followed all your steps and it worked perfectly :)

  • Great Video very helpful

  • Hi mate, I'm having the same problem as an earlier post. I followed your steps exactly using an upgrade disc on a completely wiped hard drive. But before installation starts it says "mac OSX cannot be installed on this computer". I thought this would be due to this being an upgrade disc? But you state that it is possible to do a clean install with only an upgrade disc. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

  • Hello!

    I have the osx 10.4.11 version on an intel core duo macbook.

    I want to install the leopard osx 10.5 but i want to clean the osx 10.4.11.

    It is possible to do that?

    Thanks

  • When I bo from disc it says "Mac OS X can't be installed on this computer? Can you tellme how to get ths corrected?

  • Thank u this was very helpful!

  • Thank you subscribing right now :0)

  • I installed Lion but not in a partition, but with wifi drop out issues I want to go back to SL. I inserted the SL disk for install, chose my language, clicked continue but it says I cannot install from this disk. I go into disk utility but it says I cannot erase the HD. Any suggestions?

  • @chrs168 Yes try changing the channel you are using on your router. I had this problem but switched to a different channel which fixed it.

  • @bullychris Thank you. Will give that a try.

  • fool

  • What if you have just done a clean install and installed all your most basic programs. Is it possible to make an image or some sort of backup in that state, so you'd at any time could return to exactly that state? as far as i've understood timemachine overwrites the oldest backups as soon as the disk is full. Or is there any way to override this so that you always have a fresh clean state ready?

  • I hate Maccccccccccccccc

  • thanks mate, very helpful, and professional video

  • Man, thank you so fucking much

  • what exactly are the benefits of doing a clean install?

    what's wrong with letting snow leopard install on top of the old leopard files?

  • Thanks

  • Great video!!! Thanks for the help. I just added a 1 TB to my black macbook late 2008 model.

  • you're the BEST!!!

  • Do I need a serial number for this OS?

  • Hey man I hope you are still answering questions as I am in a bit of a situation. I desperately need to do a fresh install, but when I click to erase the HDD it starts but after about 5 seconds it says it "timed out" and it will not erase it. I am using a OS X disk that is a friend of mines because I do not have the disk for mine. We have the exact same model of Macbook Pro though. Any Ideas? Thanks

  • if i buy the lion disk from the apple store will i be able to do this with my iMac ??

  • my disc ejects after i boot the computer?

  • can i buy a windows computer take out the windows drive buy a new drive then boot os x to that then when i want windows i just switch drives?

  • cheers mate :^D

  • My macs memory got whipped when.I tried downloading an anti-virus program -norton- and now all it shows on the screen is the apple and a loading sign below is there ANYWAY I can fix it!!! PLEASE HELP

  • Good job, bullychris. Thanks

  • is there a way to restore your RAM memory?

  • I can't restore my iMac with the Snow Leopard installation disk the apple logo is there forever.it wont start from the disc after restart

  • I dont think That you can do that ... u must have a mac os x disk

  • SOMEBODY HELP!!! can i use a mac os x operating disk from a 27 inch imac to retore my macbook pro? i do not have the disk that i got with my macbok pro.

  • Im trying to install mac os x 10.4.9 on my new, blank HD but it comes up with an error message "this software cannot be installed on this computer". i formatted the drive in mac os x extended and extended (journaled) and fat32 but none of them will show up as a hard disk. this software worked on my old hard drive many times. Please help !

  • can i install it on my macbook, without deleting all my files?

    thank you

  • @Tibo0072 create a backup of your files then just do a clean install

  • hi, how come when I want to install or its better to say reinstall snow leopard, when it gets to choosing HD, there is a quotation mark next to it and I cant choose it? pleassseeee heeeellllppp meeeee. I installed macafee and now the bootup speed has gone to 3 mins!! thats why i want to reinstall. help

  • GREAT JOB !!! MY FRIEND... THANKS TO YOU I DID A CLEAN INSTALLED ON MY MACBOOK PRO 17" WITH A NEW 750GB HARD DRIVE .... VERY HAPPY!

  • THANKS HELPED SO MUCH! other videos were confusing

  • Is there any way to restore my macbook pro without any discs and without knowing my old password

  • PS: i have an intel mac, running 10.4.11, and meet all system requirements {obviously other than having Leopard installed )

  • *DOES NOT WORK FOR ME*

    any advice would be GREATLY appreciated, but when i boot up with the Option key down and select the SnowLeopard disk or boot up with the 'C' key down to boot straight from the disk, EITHER WAY it DOES take me to that 'Language Select' screen just like in your video....

    ...then it just says

    "Mac OSX can't be installed on this computer. This disc requires that Mac OS x 10.5 or later already be installed on your computer"

  • I have a problem when i want to format my mbp. When i select the DVD install it takes forver and nothing happens. Ive waited like 2 hours and still nothing.

    What can i do to fix it? Ive tried remote install do from another mbp but it still dosent work!

  • aww man i lost my movies pictures everything i guess theres no way of getting it back is there?

  • @PuffSmelly nop there isn't, unless you have backup

  • AWSOME!!.. thank you so much :)

  • Thank you so much for this super useful video!

  • hey, if i did this and didnt erase my hard drive, would i keep all the things on it and still have 10.6?

  • I've noticed on some videos that some format/erase the core instead of the Mac HD and all takes well as formatting the Mac HD. I'm wondering is this another way of doing a clean install. Most of the videos show folk clicking on the Mac HD icon to format and not the core which is first on the list.

  • What a great piece of info ..thank you so much for saving my Macbook !

  • Thank You, awesome guide, way better than looking online for one that has words, some don't even work, this is perfect! Thanks again!

  • Hmm. At first I didn't want to upgrade but I reformatted my Mac using oem cd and for some reason it would only partially install. I gave up and upgrade to leopard. Now it says I cannot install on disk.. What should I do.

  • perfect, no more words needed

  • I followed all your steps but i'm stuck on the screen with the white back ground and the apple logo help!!!

  • I've been sequentially upgrading from a G3 iMac to G4 Mac mini then to a MacBook 1.83Ghz Core Duo with 2GB of RAM and the thing is slow as hell. I've been migrating all my info across each time and I think there must be some old PowerPC code amongst my settings that have slowed everything down. Anyone got any other suggestions about migrating so that when I do upgrade to Snow Leopard I wont copy over useless code & things might be faster?

    Thanks in advance.

  • i followed all your steps and i click on the mac osx cd after holding down alt but the cd never boots up... i hear the disk spinning and all of a sudden it just stop and im stuck on the white screen with the apple logo help!!!

  • very helpful guide, thanks.

  • Ah, thank you so much for this video! I just upgraded my macbook 1.83 Ghz which had 512 mbs to 2 gigs (it's max) and finally took the step to upgrade from Tiger to Snow Leopard! And it wooooorks so much faster and cleaner! :)

  • I have just successfully installed Snow Leopard useing this tutorial.

    Thanks man, it works great! 

  • Thumbs UP if You are #100 comment LOL

    Good video, really helpful!

  • I've just got my dads old mac powerbook g4 and I want to format it. Does it also remove the os X (tiger)? because i don't have the install disk anymore

  • Is it possible to not do a clean install and keep data from a OSX 10.4 Tiger Macbook?

  • Perfect tutorial. Thanks!

  • Thanks man you RULE! This is a great and easy to follow video!

  • ok when i click on the mac osx install dvd the apple thing pops up along with the swirly thing but after like 2 mins its just shuts off why and my keyboard and mouse drivers on it are messed up so i cant log in not less its a different cd of os ill give more details if you can help me but email me at teamala11@yahoo. com for more details regarding my macbook

  • Well, this just bricked my Mac trying to upgrade from Tiger. I now have a blank HD, a Snow Leopard disk that won't eject, and the terrifying message, "Mac OSX cannot be installed on your computer". To top it off, it doesn't recognize my backup firewire drive.

  • Welp, this just bricked my mac. I now have a blank HD, can't eject the snow leopard disk, get the message that "Mac OSX cannot be installed on this comuter", and can't even power off the damned thing. Oh well.

  • How to you prep (I'm upgrading from Tiger) and backup the disc that you later migrate back into fresh OS? This video is pretty clear what to do after a backup is made...but how do you make the backup? Thanks in advance.

  • @ortizdisease You need to follow my cloning guide.

  • @ortizdisease Hey dude, I used an external HD (borrowed from my uncle) and backuped all my essential files. Just use that. In fact, I would recommend buying one as you need it to take full advantage of Time Machine. They are very inexpensive, actually.

    For the record, after I backedup all my info, I also upgraded to Snow Leopard from Tiger and it all went SMOOOOTH as hell. It was amazing. No issues whatsoever.

    Still, I wouldn't risk it. Just get an external hard drive dude, it's worth it.

  • Though terminal is not present in this CD which is my sole reason for i used to compile my whole program through it, i am really grateful to you. And thank you very much!! I will try to copy utility package from my friend and try whether it will work or not. If its not then i have nag you again so, please i hope you will not mind.Thanking you once again for sharing your expertise int his field!! Cheers!!

  • Sir, I was using macbook with leopard and my hard disk got problem so, i purchase a new hard disk and i am confident with hard disk compatibility. While I was installing snow leopard, its saying mac OS can't install on this disk and moreover, while pressing "Option" button Mac hard disk is not visible, only MAC-OS-CD is visible. Please help me...

    Thanking you in advance..

    I will be glad to share the knowledge of ethical hacking with you. Thanks

  • @zeroice0 You need to format the HDD by going into disk utility and selecting the MAC OS Journaled option.

  • how do i put my mac back to the way it came straight from the apple factory with nothing on it in case i wanted to sell it sometime.i mean so no files are left on it like my photos movies letters etc.

  • @paulallen34 Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility..... Select Erase, select security options to make sure that the disk is not recoverable, then click Erase.

    Personally though I would buy a new disk and replace it as data can ALWAYS be retrieved [In my experience in working in IT].

  • Does the snow leopard disc come with iLife? iMovie garageband etc..

  • I'm also interested in this. I don't want to lose Garageband when updating - how do I avoid this?

  • @jptics If your using a superduper copied backup then no. If your doing a clean install then you will need your iLife disks.

  • 30 minutes & fingers crossed

    ~ Later ~

  • Video was a bit shaky.. but otherwise the sound was good enough.. and also when u show the options on the screen try to hold the cam more steadily.. cos its hard to read..

    Thanks

    Keep up the good work...!!!

  • Thanks so much, very useful vid. I went into the apple store and they told me that you need Leopard installed on your system 1st... bollocks! Just trying to squeze as much cash out of people as possible.

    Thanks again

    Skilf

  • TYVM. So happy to have stumbled upon your video. I got so much crap on it, a clean install just feels much better :)

  • I have an old macbook pro (intel based) that ran on tiger 10.4.11 and i tried to follow this technique of erasing the harddrive and doing a clean install and the install always stops about a third of the way in and comes up with an error that says "mac os x could not installed on your computer:

    the installer could not copy the necessary support files".. any ideas on what to do?

  • so does this mean you can install 10.6 from Tiger ??

  • hi, this is the closest thing to a guide to installing Snow Leopard from Tiger. Model Name:MacBook Pro 15" Model Identifier:MacBookPro1,1 Processor Name:Intel Core Duo Processor Speed:2 GHz Number Of Processors:1 Total Number Of Cores:2 L2 Cache (per processor):2 MB Memory:1 GB

    my Superdrive is broken, so I am using an external disc drive. When I reboot with option held, and SL disc loaded, it  only shows the Mac HD drive... ??? Any suggestions?

  • nice one chris

  • Should I unplug the backup hard drive while I'm doing this clean install?

  • @TheStevarn

    I did.

  • Yea six I'm in the same exact boat.

  • This worked on my 2009 MacBook Pro 13" and my wife's MacBook White 2.1ghz (2008). No problems at all.

    It did NOT work on my work's 2006 iMac Intel 1.8ghz. I'm getting the "10.5 must be installed" window some have referred to.

    I've tried formatting, deleting the partition and then not formatting, booting from "C", booting from "OPTION"... no tricks are working.

    Bummer.

    Oops. Found this out AFTER I wiped out the work iMac.

  • So it seems, as others have posted, that it's CRITICAL that 10.5 be floating around on your HDD somewhere. The work iMac had 10.4.11 on it, hence the problem.

  • @SixPantsMaloney

    You should always backup your HDD before doing any upgrades - I use Superduper. You can then revert to things easily.

    So it looks like Intel Macs can follow my guide but earlier machines may need 10.5 ......... hmmm

  • im running tiger, when i boot from the CD it says that i need to have 10.5 or later installed. i understand that you do this clean with no OS on it, but it wont let me select disk utility at the top of the screen once i boot from the CD. should i erase everything THEN boot from the CD? but then i dont want to be left with no OS at all if it doesnt work. im confused why it lets you select disc utility with the install menu open and doesnt let me get that far... :( any ideas?!?!

  • Do I have to use SuperDuper to backup my files or is it OK that I have them backed up in Time Machine? Also, should I unplug the backup hard drive while I'm doing this?

    Thanks for this video!

  • Comment removed

  • doesn't work for me. I continue to receive the mac os x can't be installed on this computer. It sees the new hard drive and verifys it and partitions it etc but after the language screen NO GO>

  • Hi, great video.

    When I put my snowleopard upgrade disc in, I get to the language part, then it says, "Cannot upgrade to 10.6 without 10.5. I am running TIGER (10.4) I just plug in the disc, I diden't turn it off and hold the apple button, is that what I should do or what?

  • Hi there, brilliant video, just wondering before i do a clean install if when you use SuperDuper do clone your drive onto an external hard drive, when you import the information after you have installed snow leopard will all the applications run fine, networks keys still be saved etc?

    As if it does it will save me a lot of bother trying to back up everything manually and trying to find old instlations discs that. Many thanks

  • @juneaucraig

    Hi, if you clone your HD using Superduper then everything will be as it did before the process. Thanks.

  • Comment removed

  • so can you back up entire applications like iphoto and garageband?..even word? i don't have the ilife discs from when i bought the computer, so how do i keep these?

  • Yes, use Superduper to clone your hard drive.

  • Super!!!!

    Great help, thank you!

  • how do you clean up people that threaten to frame your family? How do you clean trash like that? How do you clean up those that can have you killed?

    you need to make a video on that...

  • I just got forced into doing a clean install after a failed update. Restoring from Time Machine just gave me kernel panics whenever I switched it on.

    Anyway, having erased the drive, installed from disc, reinstalled all the software (except CS3 and Final Cut Studio), scavenged all my personal files from the Time Machine drive and run all updates available, I find I'm now using up 42GB of my drive. It used to be about 130GB!

    Surely Final Cut Studio and CS3 aren't THAT big?

  • Nice guide to the clean install, but I think it's important to clarify that Snow Leopard will not let you do the install if you do not already have Leopard installed.

    If 10.5 isn't installed, 10.6 will tell you this just after you select language for installation. It will then give you options to restore.

    In your case, the MBP already had 10.5 and did not give you this message. Therefore, you probably shouldn't say it can be done without 10.5 installed.

    Spot on with the clean install though!

  • I proved this for the macforums by inserting a brand new blank hard drive formatted to Mac OS Extended Journaled [with no other OS installed inc 10.5]. and it allowed me to install Snow Leopard.

  • If I were to erase my time machine drive and also erase my OS HD for clean install, would it be possible to reinstall ILIFE from the installation disks that came with the Mac? I heard you could do it that way, to start completely new, but I'm not one hundred percent sure. In other words lets say I did clean install with no back up drive. What options would I have to install ILIFE?

  • Yes you can install iLife separately.

  • Thanks, I just read up on it, but wanted to make sure before doing anything regrettable. It took some time to get used to Macs but now that I have, things are so much more simple with less head aches.

  • My point is that for this specific video, you infer that you are installing 10.6 onto your MB Pro without 10.5 already installed. But you do have 10.5 already installed. If you didn't,  you would have received the message that 10.6 can't be installed on this computer just after you select language. You would then be given the options to restore or restart. Instead, your MBP went straight to "Install Mac OS X". That's all I'm saying. Done it on Macforums? How about showing it here? Thanks.

  • There was no OS X 10.5, he erased the drive so it's starting from a clean slate. It works, I've just done this!

    There's no way an OS running off a CD is going to stop you in the installation process before you've even specified a drive to install on. There are no checks with this disc at all in fact. The only restriction is that 'Erase and install' isn't on a button, one quick trip to Disk Utility and you're good to go

  • The drive was erased using Disk Utility BUT in order to get to that point, 10.6 detected that 10.5 was installed. Otherwise, it would not have let him get into the installation process.

    I'm not saying you can't do an clean install, I'm saying that you can't do a clean install of 10.6 without have 10.5 on the drive first.

    I just replaced my HD in my iMac and the 10.6 DVD simply will not let you install 10.6 on a completely blank, formatted drive without putting 10.5 on first. Try it!

  • Are you sure it wasn't the way the drive was formatted?

  • Yes, I formatted the blank drive to Mac OS Extended Journaled using Disk Utility. When the install disk says it can't install 10.6 it gives option to restore. I clicked restore and at that point could open Disk Utility and format. I then when to file menu, opened disk image from my ext HD and then copied that new image to new drive.

    FYI notice at :27 seconds there is option to boot from disk AND HD. 10.6 saw this HD, confirmed 10.5 was installed, and allowed him to continue with clean install.

  • thx. very helpful video.

  • Thanks for the vid. Very helpful. I've never upgraded from Tiger, so I was wondering how to get my cloned data back. Appreciate it!

  • Can i do this with a Snow Leopard Upgrade disk that comes along with a refurbished Mac book Pro?

  • It's 'OS ten', not 'OS eks'!

    Otherwise, thanks!

  • really good tutorial

    but i have couple questions

    what about the applications (garageband all these applications ofcourse latest version )?

  • Thanks for the brilliant video mate, saved me £100 as I didn't need to buy the mac box set as some idiot in the Apple stores suggested. Good Karma coming your way. Cheers!

  • I didn't erase the hard drive before I loaded snow leopard.. Did i need to to that?

  • can i do a clean reinstall of snow leopard?

  • Thanks a lot. Someone gave me a Mac book to reformat and reinstall the OS X.

    I just got the newer edition for $30.

    I am mainly a windows/Linux user. This was all greek to me when I loaded the cd.

    Its up and running now. Thanks again

  • Doing this today, thanks to your clear and wonderful instructions! I'm really nervous about it, though, as I have never done this sort of thing before!! I bought my Snow Leopard yesterday and I'm hoping they haven't reconfigured the disks recently to prevent you from doing a clean install!!

  • Thanks so much!

  • Thanks

  • just wanna say thank you. I clean installed snow leopard with ease.

  • Thanks for this great video. No one wanted to explain this to me. However, you used a MBP and everyone else is talking about the Pro as well. I just have a plain ol' macbook, is installing snow leopard from tiger going to be a problem? Will I experience severe lagging once it's installed?

  • No you will be fine!

  • Thanks a milion for the video. Can I ask you and others who have recently bought a mbp? I bought mine about 2 weeks ago and it came with the SL cd to download. I did so and after doing so my HD had lost 15GB of memory without any migration,downloads etc.

    I just followed your video and it has now used 8GB, is that normal or should it be less? Thanks again for the vid!

  • Thanks, SL displays the hard drive capacity differently to 10.5, so after upgrading it will look like you have gained some free space.

    SL is around 6-8GB in size on disk.

  • thanks! just another question - does SL have iPhoto? because i no longer seem to have it, or is there another programme that they use? Garage Band (not that i want that at all) is gone too and perhaps others that i haven't noticed yet. Did i do something wrong?

  • You need to install the application disk that came with your mackbook.

  • ok, thank you! you are very helpful. one last (hopefully)question, when i install the cd is it possible to download only certain application? i only want a few and don't want to fill the comp with apps i never use

  • TYVM. I have so much crap on my current HD, it's good to know that you can start fresh again :D

  • Hey, I'm still getting a message saying "This disc requires Mac OS X 10.5 in order to install." I used the Snow Leopard disc to wipe my hard drive, rebooted... same thing. What gives? Any advice?

  • What disk are you using the install SL? I used the cheapest 'update' disk [that Apple say that you need 10.5 to install] yet as you can see in my guide - it is simply not needed.

  • very useful, I'm getting Snow Leopard on Monday and want to do a clean install, I've never done one before sine my first mac came with Leopard so this will be useful, thanks!

  • Good luck!

  • thank you very much, it was a pleassure!

  • Thanks for the feedback.

  • Thanks!

  • No probs!

  • did you use a external harddrive for your programs and other stuff to put back in your new os?

  • Yes. I coned my hard drive prior to any work done. I did a guide on how to do this. See my 'cloning' guide in my videos.

    Good luck!

  • thank u my friend thats cool

  • Thanks for the feeddback!

  • so this works if you already have Tiger installed?

  • Personally - I have never tried.

    However, if you have an Intel Mac then there should be no reason why a Full Clean install will not work, as detailed in this guide.

  • great video.

    sorry to be a pain - it's "mac oh es ten," not "mac oh eh sex"

  • Ha ha! - So true sorry guys! Its annoying when I hear people say things wrong. My excuse is being Welsh!

  • hahhaah, I am just being an asshole. it doesn't matter. your intelligence and computer savvy make up for it. fellow celt.

    greetings from an irishman.

  • Ha ha - your forgiven considering your a fellow Celt.

  • Thanks for the video .. Keep up the good work

  • Thank you! :)

  • Reassuring, thanks.

  • i used the 'case sensitive journaled' option from the disk utility menu - should this be an issue?

  • You should use Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

  • Thanks a lot for showing us this! I really needed to do a clean install because my MacBook is getting a little old and it has got very slow with all the crap I had on my drive. And a clean install seems so fresh. :)

  • I dont like 'upgrading' because eventhough it is designed to go flawlessly I feel that it is better to go in fresh so that there are no little bugs from converting OS.

  • I am having to replace my harddrive and have my backup on time machine and lost my osx disk in a move across the pond. Will I have any problems using time machine to get my data back using your method?

    Thanks for the great video.... I rated it up.

  • Hi,

    I never use Time Machine because I like to have an exact image of my hard drive stored on a spare hard drive. This means I can either just pop it in if my existing drive fails or migrate the data across.

    I would always suggest getting the OS X disks, you can buy them very cheap on the internet, Snow Leopard is also very cheap so you could purchase that instead.

    Regarding Time Machine, you would need to load your OS X Snow Leopard first, when it boots up go into Time Machine and restore

  • "I never use Time Machine because I like to have an exact image of my hard drive stored on a spare hard drive"

    That's exactly what Time Machine does. If you open the mounted drive, it's all there in 'Backups', just a long series of copies of the Computer folder (except it's Time Machine so it saves space along the way). Otherwise, no different to just copying it all yourself. All the zooming through the cosmos stuff is purely a software extra

  • Also...... If I were you I would just do an 'upgrade' to install Snow Leopard, mainly because you have not cloned your existing drive like I have.

  • Thanks for the great video!

  • Thanks so much for posting this video. I was able to do a clean install after watching it. Much appreciated.

  • Cool, enjoy Snow Leopard.

  • i watched your video 5 times forgot to press option key didn't matter works like a charm and so much faster too. 41 minute install.

    cheers

    BullyChris

  • No worries, glad I can be of some help!

  • bullychris: thanks for the clear, concise video. I have a quick question. I'd like to do exactly as you've done--wipe my hard disk to clean it up, install Snow Leopard (I'm jumping from Tiger), and then try to migrate what I can using the Migration Assistant. I couldn't tell how you had your cloned computer volume connected to the laptop. It looked as if it was already on there, even though you'd just wiped the whole hard drive. Am I missing something?

    thanks.

  • Hi, I should have explained better in the vid.

    My 'Cloned' hard drive was attached via a USB. I coned it to a portable USB [2.5"] Hard Drive. Have a look at my cloning vid for a 'how to'.