[SOLVED] Hard drive installation

[zbar]

Hi..need some help as I am new to Mac's.
My wifes Mac Pro suddenly would not boot. I tried running the tiger os disk to access repair utilities but nothing happens, the screen is on but has a flashing folder with a ? on it. I figured that it was the hard drive so removed that and connected it to my win7 pc and ran MacDrive 8 to access it. I managed to retrieve important data from it but still could no repair it.
With the drive still connected to my pc, I booted with acronis to repair the drive. I found that the drive had a 2meg fat32 and 465meg efi partitions. I could not repair them so deleted the partitions and installed a single partition of 465 gigs formatted with Fat32 thinking that the Tiger os would install if it at least found the drive. The drive seems ok as it is as I can see it in win7 and is ready for use. I put it back into the Mac but the tiger os still wont see it.
I am not sure what the problem is here but can anyone advise on how I can prepare the drive so that the Tiger os will see it and install the os?.

 

[Springerone]

Re: Hard drive installation

Hi, I have seen and corrected this problem many times using Disk Warrior. Get yourself a copy and save some heavy repair bills from your local Mac guy.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Thanks Springerone... I will try that an post the result back here.

 

[Walrus666]

Re: Hard drive installation

Hello,
Tiger won't run on a FAT32 formatted drive. Try Mac OS Extended (Journaled). In addition, I recommend following Springerone's advice on purchasing Disk Warrior, but bear in mind that Disk Warrior will not work on a FAT32 formatted drive.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Thanks guys, but how do I partition and format the drive under win7. I dont have another mac. I have the drive connected to my pc with an adapter and have acronis 2010 but it doesnt have the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) in its list of partition and formatting types as you have advised. How can I fix the drive from my pc?.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

I forgot to mention that writeup about Disk Warrior says that it is a program to retrieve data from a bad drive and does not have functions to repair the drive which is what I want to do. I have reformatted the drive with fat32 and it seems to be ok as I dont have problems accessing it in win7. I assume that the drive is ok so now want to partition and format it to put back into the mac to be able to reinstall the Leopard OS. Need some help with this thanks.

 

[Walrus666]

Re: Hard drive installation

Actually, Disk Warrior does quite a bit more than recovering data. However, as I indicated, it will not work on FAT32. Try placing the drive back in to your wife's Mac and boot up with either the Tiger or Leopard disc and reformat the drive to a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk Utility.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Thanks for your response. I tried putting the drive back into the mac and installing the Leopard OS but nothing happens. All I see is a folder on the screen with a question mark, either that or it will ask for the computer to be rebooted. Win 7 and acronis shows the HD to be healthy and without problems. Could there be something wrong with the Mac?.

 

[Walrus666]

Re: Hard drive installation

Did you boot up with the Leopard disc by loading the Leopard disc in the drive and restarting the mac, holding down the C key as soon as you hear the chime until the spinning gear stops spinning?

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Thanks Wallrus666, yes did that.

 

[Walrus666]

Re: Hard drive installation

Have you tried resetting the PRAM? If not, give it a shot and try booting up with the Leopard disc again. Make sure the Leopard disc is clean. If this doesn't work I'd suggest either trying another hard drive, having your hard drive reformatted on a friend's Mac, or unfortunately, bringing the Mac to a repair shop. Hopefully, someone will chime in with more suggestions.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Thank you for all your help, I will try that and post the results.

 

[maans]

Re: Hard drive installation

I try to install os x 10.6 0n my mini mac 10.4 its stop instaling in the middle of the instalation, saying i cant install on the this volume. i then restart. and its not starting at all.....it re-boot till the mac icon comes then shut down the computer power off

can some one help. and i dont have my original dvd 10.

 

[zbar]

Re: Hard drive installation

Just getting back with a result. The drive that I was trying to repair turned out to be irreparable. It was a 2 year old 500gig Seagate, not much service out of that. Thanks to everyone for their time and help, much appreciated. I'm marking this thread as resolved.

 

[Walrus666]

Glad that you figured it out. Thanks for letting us know, zbar.
maans, you might want to consider starting another thread, this thread is solved. Also, it will help to provide more info about your Mac. Intel or PowerPC, etc.