R
Ranger 9
Guest
One Snow Leopard install glitch
As noted in my previous post, my original attempt to install Snow Leopard got sidetracked when I found that my hard disk wasn't formatted with GUID partitions (instead I had used the older Apple Partition Map format.)
This meant I had to restart from the Snow Leopard install disc, then use the copy of Disk Utility on it to image my hard disk to an external disk, THEN reformat the internal disk (erasing all data.)
I did a quick web search and found a few other reports of this, but not many. People who had it were trying to attribute it to a defective install disc, but their reports weren't either numerous or consistent, so I wasn't sure.
Anyway, I went back and tried again, this time doing the install the way Apple recommends installing Snow Leopard: right over your previous installation.
Anyway, following the Apple recommendation meant that I had to restore my previous Leopard system from the backup image I had made. Once I had done that, I started up the computer in Leopard and made sure everything was back to the way it had been.
Once I had done that, I put the Snow Leopard disc in and just clicked the Install icon -- no reboot from the disc, no reformat, no nuthin.' Then I just walked away.
When I came back about an hour later, Snow Leopard had installed with no errors, and everything seems to be fine.
Moral of this story: Do your Snow Leopard install the easy way, not the way you've always thought of as the "right" way. Just start up your Mac, shove in the disc, and let the installer do its thing. That's what worked for me, anyway...
As noted in my previous post, my original attempt to install Snow Leopard got sidetracked when I found that my hard disk wasn't formatted with GUID partitions (instead I had used the older Apple Partition Map format.)
This meant I had to restart from the Snow Leopard install disc, then use the copy of Disk Utility on it to image my hard disk to an external disk, THEN reformat the internal disk (erasing all data.)
Trip-up #1: The first time I did this, I assumed that Snow Leopard's Disk Utility would partition the disk as GUID by default; oops, it didn't. That meant I had to repeat the process, this time clicking the "Options" button first to specify that I wanted my partition to be GUID.
Trip-up #2: Once I had reformatted the hard disk correctly, I was still started up from the Snow Leopard install disc. I decided to run the installer from there, since that's what I've always done with previous MacOS installs. When I came back a few minutes later, I found the installer had stopped and was displaying a big "INSTALL FAILED" screen.
I did a quick web search and found a few other reports of this, but not many. People who had it were trying to attribute it to a defective install disc, but their reports weren't either numerous or consistent, so I wasn't sure.
Anyway, I went back and tried again, this time doing the install the way Apple recommends installing Snow Leopard: right over your previous installation.
[This is a big change from what people in the Mac-geek community have always considered "best-practice": The right way to install a new OS has always been considered to be to erase your hard disk and do a "clean install." Apple's alternative of installing right over your old system is usually dismissed by the geeks as a corner-cutting short-cut method that's more likely to cause trouble down the road. Now, however, it's Apple's preferred installation method.]
Anyway, following the Apple recommendation meant that I had to restore my previous Leopard system from the backup image I had made. Once I had done that, I started up the computer in Leopard and made sure everything was back to the way it had been.
Once I had done that, I put the Snow Leopard disc in and just clicked the Install icon -- no reboot from the disc, no reformat, no nuthin.' Then I just walked away.
When I came back about an hour later, Snow Leopard had installed with no errors, and everything seems to be fine.
Moral of this story: Do your Snow Leopard install the easy way, not the way you've always thought of as the "right" way. Just start up your Mac, shove in the disc, and let the installer do its thing. That's what worked for me, anyway...