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kennedy · Jul 14, 2008, 10:06 PM

I have a MacBook Pro with an 80GB drive running Tiger.
I purchased a 320GB drive which I'll swap into the MacBook Pro eventually.

For now, I threw the 320GB drive into an USB enclosure with the hope that I could install Leopard onto that 320GB and then boot the MacBook Pro off it (until I have time to swap it in). I partitioned it with a GUID Table.

I have no problem using the 320GB... copying files to and from it.
I boot up on the Leopard install disk and then start the installation to the external USB disk.
No complaints from the installer... and it goes to work.
After a half hour or so, though, it has a failure trying to write some file to disk.

I've retried four times... fails at different spots each time... sometimes locking up... and about half the time leaving the external disk corrupted such that I need to repartition it.

I've retried another time using a MacBook as the host machine. Same result.

I've installed two MacBooks using that Leopard DVD, so I'm pretty sure its fine (its a Family Pack DVD).

Any suggestions on what to try next?

analogika · Jul 15, 2008, 07:12 AM

Did you allow it to finish verifying the install DVD?

kennedy · Jul 15, 2008, 09:47 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

Did you allow it to finish verifying the install DVD?

The first time, yes. I skipped it on all the retries.
But since you asked, I decided to try again allowing it to finish.
It verifies fine... goes to the "Installing..." screen where it says it is calculating the time.
Nothing much seems to happen for 2-3 minutes.
Then it says:

Install Failed
Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer
!
The installer could not create the folder "/Volumes/Ash/BaseSystem.pkg.160Sllkbc".
Click Restart to restart your computer and try installing again.

Ugh.

Thinine · Jul 15, 2008, 05:20 PM

Perhaps posting a bit of the install log would help us help you. Off hand I'd say you're looking at a HD problem.

idykenano · Jul 15, 2008, 06:05 PM

Not to be off topic, but will you be able to boot from the external USB drive?
In my jumbled little brain I have marked down you can only boot from firewire drives.

analogika · Jul 15, 2008, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by idykenano

Not to be off topic, but will you be able to boot from the external USB drive?
In my jumbled little brain I have marked down you can only boot from firewire drives.

Welcome to 2006.

All Intel Macs can boot off USB.

analogika · Jul 15, 2008, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by kennedy

The first time, yes. I skipped it on all the retries.
But since you asked, I decided to try again allowing it to finish.
It verifies fine... goes to the "Installing..." screen where it says it is calculating the time.
Nothing much seems to happen for 2-3 minutes.
Then it says:

Install Failed
Mac OS X could not be installed on your computer
!
The installer could not create the folder "/Volumes/Ash/BaseSystem.pkg.160Sllkbc".
Click Restart to restart your computer and try installing again.

Ugh.

Sounds like your hard drive is ****ed. What does Disk Utility say about it (when booted from the install DVD)?

kennedy · Jul 16, 2008, 09:43 AM

Originally Posted by analogika

Sounds like your hard drive is ****ed. What does Disk Utility say about it (when booted from the install DVD)?

Disk Utility is happy with it. Verify Disk has no complaints. And I've tried just using it as a drive... copying files to and from it... no issue there, it seems. But, of course, none of that checks every sector on the disk. And after the failed install, Disk Utility is not happy at all.

In response to your question, I decided to try to zero-out everything... just to make sure every sector gets touched. Of course, zero'ing out 320GB takes a long time... that's still running... it has done about 2/3 without complaint... another 3 hours to go.

kennedy · Jul 16, 2008, 09:52 AM

Originally Posted by Thinine

Perhaps posting a bit of the install log would help us help you. Off hand I'd say you're looking at a HD problem.

Hmmm. I assume that would get written to the disk I'm installing to? But it is not functioning well after the aborted install. After its done zero'ing, I'll try to run the install again and then see if I can pull off any log files. Can you tell me where it would put that log file early in the install process? (browsing / searching may not be easy)

Thanks.

Thinine · Jul 16, 2008, 07:57 PM

No, the install log is visible when booted from the install DVD when you select it from the Utilities menu. If the install is getting stuck or failing at a certain point, it should give you more information.

Big Mac · Jul 16, 2008, 08:05 PM

It sounds like an OS X disc problem rather than a hard drive issue.

kennedy · Jul 27, 2008, 01:38 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

It sounds like an OS X disc problem rather than a hard drive issue.

It turns out it was a defective superdrive... it was mis-reading the OS X install disc. And more experimentation shows that it misreads some discs, but reads others fine. (I used a MacBook with a working superdrive to do the install on the external USB drive just fine.)

Is it possible the superdrive can be cleaned/repaired?
Or am I going to have to replace it?

jmiddel · Jul 29, 2008, 09:40 PM

See here:

http://www.smartcomputing.com/editor...rticleID=31106

That said, opening one of these is easy, if you are moderately handy, and you can see whether there are specks of dust on the lens, which you can remove with a q-tip. If that does not work, it can't be repaired because it would cost way more than to buy a new one, they are really cheap and easy to install.