[turtle]

What's a GUID Partition Table?

I'm trying to upgrade my wife's MB from 10.4.10 to 10.5 but I can't because the volume isn't worthy or something like that. Can someone clue me in please? Layman's terms mixed with tech would be nice.

You cannot install Mac OS X on this volume. To enable installation on this volume open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and repartition this disk as 'GUID Partition Table'. Note: you will lose all data on this disk by repartitioning it.

I don't want to lose all my stuff. It'll be a big pain to back up everything and then put it back once Leopard is installed.

[Taskiss]

Do you have bootcamp installed on this drive? Are you sure you're selecting the correct partition to upgrade?

I've not installed Leopard so I'm not sure if you get the option to select a particular partition, but it sure sounds like the installer doesn't recognize the HFS+ partition correctly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GUID_Partition_Table

[PB PM]

If you have an Intel Mac it should already be formated with the GUID partition table, so that sounds a little strange. That said, it is possible that for some reason that the partition table has been corrupted, thus preventing 10.5 from installing. Backup your data to an external, sounds like the only option if you want to upgrade.

10.4.11 came out yesterday, try upgrading to that and see if it helps.

[turtle]

Yeah, there's now Boot Camp on here. Everything looks normal in DU too.


I'll give 10.4.11 a shot.

[FFL]

The Partition Scheme should read "GUID Partition Table" instead of "Apple Partition Map".

I'm not sure HOW you got a drive in a MacBook with an APM instead of a GPT, (maybe it's a 3rd party replacement drive, and you cloned the previous drive onto it??) but neither 10.4 for Intel or 10.5 for Intel will install on that drive.

You'll probably have to back up everything, and then repartition the drive while selecting "Options" in order to select the proper Partition Scheme.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by FFL ... I'm not sure HOW you got a drive in a MacBook with an APM instead of a GPT, (maybe it's a 3rd party replacement drive, and you cloned the previous drive onto it??) but neither 10.4 for Intel or 10.5 for Intel will install on that drive. ...

This is exactly how this drive was put into service. The original 60GB was replaced with this 160GB and SuperDuper! transfered my data. So now I need another drive to move this stuff onto. Crap. This is going to take a whole lot longer than I had planned.

[Taskiss]

Originally Posted by FFL The Partition Scheme should read "GUID Partition Table" instead of "Apple Partition Map".

I thought it needed to be a GTP to even boot under EFI?

eh, apparently not.

[FFL]

Originally Posted by Taskiss I thought it needed to be a GTP to even boot under EFI? eh, apparently not.

Nope - the limitation is that the OS X Installer for Intel Macs checks for the GPT and won't even attempt to install on an APM drive.

Props to chucker for pointing out this fact a while back...

[chucker]

Indeed. I think OS X will even boot off MBR, just not install onto it. Not sure if there's a hack to remove this check from the Installer.

So you're saying the authorized dealer gave you a 160 GB drive partitioned using APM? Were they aware you were using an Intel Mac?

[turtle]

Originally Posted by chucker Indeed. I think OS X will even boot off MBR, just not install onto it. Not sure if there's a hack to remove this check from the Installer. So you're saying the authorized dealer gave you a 160 GB drive partitioned using APM? Were they aware you were using an Intel Mac?

OWC and I used their Drive selection tool to pick my drive. Plus the MB is the first to use SATA that's "user swappable" if i'm correct. So yeah, I would have expected there to be no issues at all. I never noticed it was partitioned wrong because I've never really done anything to need to know...until Leopard that is.

I have similar problem with 10.4.11 install on my PowerBook G4. I downloaded combo install for PPC, but got the same message (You cannot install on this volume). My drive has Apple Partition Map scheme, but I think is OK in case of PPC computer.

Also, when I use Software Update it doesn't show nythink for my computer (I have 10.4.10). Maybe it's connected with the fact I used Monolingual some time ago (it removes international resources like Chinese etc., but I left English).

Any ideas?

[turtle]

So how about a little assistance here. I just want to check my plan to see if it's best to do it this way. I just bought a WD 250GB for use as my MB's Time Machine drive. I just reformatted it to GUID and am now ready to copy my MB's drive to it so I can reformat the MB's to GUID and then replace my original data back on it under the GUID rather than APS so I can upgrade to Leopard.

So my thought was to place the MB in target disk mode, connect it to the Mini and then connect the WD 250GB to my Mini also.
Copy the MB's 160GB to the WD 250GB.
Verify Data on the 250GB
Format the 160GB to GUID
Copy data from 250GB to the MB's 160GB
Reboot the MB and be up and running on the repartitioned drive
Install Leopard and smile.

Question, should I use SuperDuper! to copy the drive data from the 160GB to the 250GB and then back again? Will it matter if I'm in TDM?

[turtle]

So anyone have any input?

[PB PM]

SuperDuper! will maintain the APM partition scheme if you do a clone of your data. Best bet is to clone to the external, install Leopard and use migration assistant to move everything back. That works really well in my experience.

[turtle]

Ok. I'm in the middle of using SuperDuper! to clone to the 250GB right now.

So when it finishes I should just us the install disk to us DU and reformat the 160GB drive and then install. I've never used the Migration Assistant so it'll be new to me. Where is the Migration Assistant?

At least I'd have a replica in case of issues.

[PB PM]

Migration assistant will lunch once the install has completed and rebooted, it will ask you if you want to move accounts, files, appellations etc. Basically if used correctly, you wouldn't even notice any different settings after MA is done, other than the changes in Leopard of course. I see that your drive is USB2 (not firewire) so MA may not work during that phase, I cannot say for sure. If it doesn't work, just find and use Migration Assistant, under Utilities in your Application folder once everything is up and running.

[turtle]

Thanks. I'll let you know how it works out.

[turtle]

Since I never posted, here it is.

The migration went well. I have had to find all my serial numbers again for things like Aperture, etc. though and it has been the biggest pain. I thought they were all together.

I've also had a few issues getting Mail to work right with original settings. just a little quirky, nothing over the top.

It too about 4 hours for Migration Assistant to pull everything off of my HDD. I just chose to have my system import from a connected drive. I selected the portable and everything worked out well. Thanks for the tips!