Chosen Solution
issues with original hdd,tried to wipe&reload, still showed more space used than size of drive! and then it locked me out of root,system,library, and app folders entirely, stating i did not have privilege to see files, decided to replace hard drive,wiped the original internal drive-thought i mite use for an external time machine drive in external enclosure,i upgraded from seagate 1TB to Seagate 2TB internal hdd, also added additional RAM -2 more 4GB strips(total 16GB-4x4GB) . fired up hitting options key, accepts my firmware password,but when i click with mouse after entering firmware password all i get is grey screen with mouse cursor(able to move cursor), but it does not display the iMac install disk that is inserted in superdrive and just stops, remains in this state… i did not format the seagate drive, it is as removed from box, optical drive was installing from install cd fine earlier today… i was careful , on reassembly, but only thought i have is could i have disconnected the optical drive accidentally, do not believe so, may reopen and check, but thought i would see if i am “missing something” you may be aware of…? appreciate the advice, used your PDF instructions from the website, they are great, made it simple to complete process.
This drive may be a 3 GB transfer rate drive and your machine may only see a 1.5 rate drive. See page 3.2 of this manual and place jumpers on the left two pins of the jumper block to slow it to 1.5: http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/suppo…
You must always format a new hard drive for Mac. Power on and insert your Snow Leopard disc, restart and press option key, select the Snow Leopard disc and press enter, go into disk utilities and format the new hard drive as Mac OS Extended Journaled, and name it Macintosh HD or whatever you want. Then select security options and zero out data. Then select the erase button to format the new hard drive. This takes a while depending on hard drive size, so go read you a book or go grocery shopping. Sometimes this computer acts stupid when trying to install software, so remove the RAM chip and re-insert firmly and try again. If this don’t work, then remove the RAM chip again and try install without the RAM chip or insert a different RAM chip with larger memory. Alternatively, you can use another working computer and hook the two up via firewire and install using target disk mode. Your working computer with Snow Leopard disc would be the master and the other computer with new hard drive would be where you want to install the OS. Hope this has enlightened you and given you a path of direction.
