# Solved: Macbook reinstall help please



## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Hi. I'm trying to use my start-up disks to reinstall my MacBook. I'm at "Select Destination" and the instruction says "Select a destination volume to install the Mac OS X software." It gives me nothing to select, no options, nothing. What am I supposed to type in the blank box? 

Anyone? Anyone? Please?

Dorothy


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## halloweennut (Jan 3, 2009)

Try this. Back up one step to the software license agreement. Go up to the top of your screen and click on Utilities. Open up Disk Utility. Make sure Disk Utility sees your drives. You could even run a Repair Disk if you want. I've had the same problem you are having and just having Disk Utility recognize the disk solved it. After Disk Utility sees your disk, close it out then click continue to the Select a Destination screen. See if your drive shows up.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Hi Halloweennut. Thanks for your response. I did as you suggested, but the computer then has to be closed down and when it starts up again goes through the same process right from the beginning. I love my Mac, but when it goes wonky, it really goes wonky.


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## techy689 (Jan 9, 2007)

Open up Disk Utility again, however, this time select the hard drive which you need to install OS X onto. Format the hard drive using the default Mac OS X (journaled) format and see if it shows up now.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Hi techy689. Thanks for your suggestion. I tried it out, but alas, the same thing keeps happening - the computer then has to shut down, and when it starts up again, starts from the beginning, asking me what language I prefer. Do you think my hard drive might be shot? All I tried to do was delete a photograph from photobooth, and presto, nothing works any more. 

Dorothy


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## halloweennut (Jan 3, 2009)

Does your MacBook currently boot to the hard drive? Go back to the Utilities pull down from before and open up Terminal, then type the command "mount" ( no quotes of course) and press enter. Assuming that you left the OS partition at the original name, you should have an entry like: /dev/disk* on /Volumes/Macintosh HD show up. When you tried to use Disk Utility, Did you get far enough to see your hard drive in the app.?


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Hi again. Once I typed in "mount" the following came up:
/dev/disk0x3 on / (local, read-only)
devfs on / dev (local)
fdesc on / dev (union)
<volfs> on / .vol
/dev/disk1 on / Volumes (asynchronous, local, union)
/dev/disk2 on /private/var/tmp (asynchronous, local, union)
/dev/disk 3 on /private/var/run (asynchronous, local, union)
-bah-2.05b#

I have no idea what any of this means.

Dorothy


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## halloweennut (Jan 3, 2009)

Your out-put looks exactly like mine except the last line showing the OS partition is not present. My guess is that the partition is corrupt. I notice that you had other open threads here which looked like the same subject. Are they? Lastly, Does Disk Utility see your hard drive or does it just ask to reboot when you try to open the app.?


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Yes, the two topics result from the same problem. 

Disk Utility shows two icons, one for the hard drive, and one for the disk. When I click on the hard drive icon, I get a screen with First Aid, Erase, Partition, Restore options. Below them are four options, one of which is "To repair your startup disk, start from your Mac OS X Install disk (CD or DVD), then choose Utilities>Disk Utility...which of course, puts me right back to the beginning. 

Dorothy


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## techy689 (Jan 9, 2007)

Do you have the Apple Hardware Test CD? If not you can download from Apple's website for free.

Try running that and see what it says.


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## halloweennut (Jan 3, 2009)

After reading both threads, it sounds like your drive is done. You have no OS partition and the hard drive won't respond normally to Disk Utility. I've been trying to think of a way to reproduce what's happening to you. No joy there. I would check to see if you are under warranty or even go to your local Genius Bar if possible. They should diagnose a problem without charging you. Sorry I couldn't come up with an easier answer.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Well, my MacBook is still under warranty, so I guess I'll make the 2hr drive to my nearest Mac repair store and see what happens there. Sincere thanks to both of you for helping me with this. 

Best wishes to you both,

Dorothy


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## MacGuyver (Sep 12, 2007)

From your description of what Disk Utility was presenting you, were you able to click the ERASE tab?


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Hi MacGuyver. I was able to do that, yes. But I must give you an update...yesterday afternoon, I surrendered and drove the 2hrs to the nearest Mac repair shop. The man started up my laptop and said that he could hear a clicking noise on startup and that meant that the hard drive wouldn't engage no matter what I tried. So I guess all that wasn't saved is gone and I'll acquire a new hard drive some time next week. The repair man said he would magnetically remove the info from my hard drive before sending it back to the Mac people, which apparently, is what he has to do. 

I'm disappointed that after only two years, and never having dropped the machine on its head, this is the third time I've had to have a major repair done. I guess I don't think this is reasonable considering the purchase price of these devices. 

Ok, I'm down off my soapbox now. 

Thanks to everyone for their help.


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## halloweennut (Jan 3, 2009)

Depends on how important that data is to you. There are plenty of data retrieval companies that may be able to get your data off the broken hard drive for a price. I don't have a particular one in mind. Maybe someone else has a suggestion for one that they have had good luck with. 
I agree with you about the hard drive. I've installed several arrays and find sometimes - within months- I will lose hard drives. Of course a percentage will fail. Just wish it wasn't part of the percentage I bought! lol That's why, as painful as it may be, I buy the extended warranty. At least you are covered for 3 years with that.


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## MacGuyver (Sep 12, 2007)

I am sorry to hear that, dorothyp. 

While hard drives are not made as robust as they used to be, it saddens me when someone has multiple failures that sour them on a model, manufacturer or computing in general. I say the same for Windows/PC users as Mac users, even though I am a Mac fellow overall.

Hard drives are really made to be disposable parts these days. I know someone who used to have a business that made hard drive testing/repair equipment for corporate clients. He closed his company in the late '90s as the demand for cheaper/bigger drives pushed quality aside. The market demand forced this transition and we now must be extra careful to back up important data.

I have *some* hope for the future with the development of solid state hard drive technology. (Solid state drives are essentially a lot of flash ram packed together in a hard drive sized form factor.) If the memory chips used will hold up for even 5 years before deteriorating it could be a major leap in data security. Not to mention the energy savings. The techs at Corsair say their USB flash drive memory has an expected life of around 10 years. If similar life expectancies could be attained in the solid state drive replacements we might have something.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Well, truthfully, I would've liked to have had a chance to get the material off the hard drive. I probably wouldn't have paid a company to do it, but I know of a techie whiz who might have been willing to play around with it just for the challenge involved. However, the man at the Mac repair store tells me that for every new piece of equipment they put into a Mac, they have to return the piece that they're replacing, so he wouldn't even return my wrecked hard drive to me. Seems like more than just a lack of trust in those they've contracted with, but I don't have much of an argument for it. 

Dorothy


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## MacGuyver (Sep 12, 2007)

Whoa... the repair shop installed a new hard drive for you, charged you money for the part and service (am I correct so far?), and then said they could not return the old drive to you?

May I ask what they charged? (Ideally a breakdown of part + labor costs)

If they replaced the drive for free/warranty I might understand them not returning the replaced unit, but generally hard drives are not refurbished.

Forgive me, I am not intending to grill you dorothyp, just want to make sure you were treated fairly.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

MacGuyver said:


> While hard drives are not made as robust as they used to be, it saddens me when someone has multiple failures that sour them on a model, manufacturer or computing in general. I say the same for Windows/PC users as Mac users, even though I am a Mac fellow overall.QUOTE]
> 
> Hi MacGuyver. Well, I was looking at some computers in a local store this afternoon. They were selling for $500 or slightly below. The prices have really come down for people looking for computer equipment. Macs are right up there price wise. My MacBook was $2,000 (Cdn) two years ago, and to have had the number of failures I've had just doesn't seem right for that kind of money.
> 
> ...


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

No problem! My extended warranty is still in effect (even though Apple put an expiry date of 3 months premature on it). So I shouldn't have to pay anything, and don't anticipate I will actually have to part with money for this, MacGuyver.

Dorothy


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## MacGuyver (Sep 12, 2007)

dorothyp said:


> No problem! My extended warranty is still in effect (even though Apple put an expiry date of 3 months premature on it). So I shouldn't have to pay anything, and don't anticipate I will actually have to part with money for this, MacGuyver.
> 
> Dorothy


Whew! That is good to hear. So in this case they were doing the work under a warranty/coverage plan and I can see why they would keep the replaced parts. It would have been nice if they could let you attempt to get the data off the old drive one more time, but alas.

At least you didn't have to pay additional money for this service.


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## dorothyp (Jun 7, 2002)

Well, if I'd kept the computer to let someone else attempt hard drive recovery it would have meant that I would have been that much longer without a computer to use. As it is, I'll only get my Mac back some time next week. If the weather turns bad, it may even be the week after. Such are the problems of living in the snow belt! 

Dorothy


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