Need Help Solving Mystery

[Donxdogx]

Please help me solve this mystery. I have a 500 GB Toshiba HD model DT01ACA050 which was taken from an Optipex 755 and had been used to run Windows 7. I connected it to my Custo Mac Mini Delux via USB port and erased it using the the first level of the secure erase (it took five hours) and formatted it GUID Partition Map, Journaled. I wanted to install Snow Leopard on it so I mounted it inside my MacPro 1,1. The MacPro said that the new disk was unreadable so I used the MacPro to reformat it GUID/Journaled. Then using my Snow Leopard Install Disk I tried to install SL on the Toshiba drive. Everything seemed to be working right up to the registration point. At this point the screen froze at the SL blue login screen. After a minute or two my MacPro started talking to me. In effect it said something like: “System 10 has voice assist to help you. If you are familiar with voice assist press such and such to continue. If you are not familiar with voice assist but would like to learn press this other button.” The voice assist referred to things on the screen which were not visible to me. I had to abort.

I had earlier setup the optiplex755 to run Snow Leopard so I added the Toshiba drive to the Optiplex as a second drive. I booted the Optiplex from the first drive. It said that it could not read the Toshiba drive. I reformatted the Toshiba drive GUID/Journaled and used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the boot drive to the Toshiba. That seemed to work OK except that I can’t boot the optiplex from the Toshiba drive.

It acts like there is some Windows information imbedded in the Toshiba drive that I’m unable to erase. I’ve even tried erasing the EFI partition.

Can anyone explain this?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Please help me solve this mystery. I have a 500 GB Toshiba HD model DT01ACA050 which was taken from an Optipex 755 and had been used to run Windows 7. I connected it to my Custo Mac Mini Delux via USB port and erased it using the the first level of the secure erase (it took five hours) and formatted it GUID Partition Map, Journaled. I wanted to install Snow Leopard on it so I mounted it inside my MacPro 1,1. The MacPro said that the new disk was unreadable so I used the MacPro to reformat it GUID/Journaled. Then using my Snow Leopard Install Disk I tried to install SL on the Toshiba drive. Everything seemed to be working right up to the registration point. At this point the screen froze at the SL blue login screen. After a minute or two my MacPro started talking to me. In effect it said something like: “System 10 has voice assist to help you. If you are familiar with voice assist press such and such to continue. If you are not familiar with voice assist but would like to learn press this other button.” The voice assist referred to things on the screen which were not visible to me. I had to abort.

I had earlier setup the optiplex755 to run Snow Leopard so I added the Toshiba drive to the Optiplex as a second drive. I booted the Optiplex from the first drive. It said that it could not read the Toshiba drive. I reformatted the Toshiba drive GUID/Journaled and used Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the boot drive to the Toshiba. That seemed to work OK except that I can’t boot the optiplex from the Toshiba drive.

It acts like there is some Windows information imbedded in the Toshiba drive that I’m unable to erase. I’ve even tried erasing the EFI partition.

Can anyone explain this?

Hi there.

As you are using Clover ...

Use "diskutil list" from Terminal to check if there is an EFI partition on the Toshiba drive.

If there is mount it using EFI Mounter v3 then copy the EFI folder from your working SL system into it, replacing anything else there.

You should then be able to boot from it

 

[Donxdogx]

On the Optiplex I'm using Chameleon. Both drives do have EFI partitions. These partitions contain only invisible folders. These folders do contain a couple visible files which I did move but with no success. Thank you for your response.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

On the Optiplex I'm using Chameleon. Both drives do have EFI partitions. These partitions contain only invisible folders. These folders do contain a couple visible files which I did move but with no success. Thank you for your response.

Okay. I miss-understood.

Check Carbon Copy Cloner. I think by default it doesn't create a bootable image. See here : https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/eficlone-automatic-backup-of-the-efi-partition.246540/

You may know this already, I realise.

Are you planning on sticking with SL or updating?

Yes, a pre-existing Windows install can leave a boot manager. To completely clear there are a few methods. Easiest is to change the Partition type to something else, then go back to GUID.

 

[Donxdogx]

Okay. I miss-understood.

Check Carbon Copy Cloner. I think by default it doesn't create a bootable image. See here : https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/eficlone-automatic-backup-of-the-efi-partition.246540/

You may know this already, I realise.

Are you planning on sticking with SL or updating?

Yes, a pre-existing Windows install can leave a boot manager. To completely clear there are a few methods. Easiest is to change the Partition type to something else, then go back to GUID.

Thanks for your help, UD. The link you sent concerning the cloning of EFI partitions was interesting but I can’t make use of it now since it requires OS 9 or better. Your suggestion that I reformat the drive in several different formats before going back to GUID seemed to help. Now I can boot to the Boot0 error point. But there is still something odd about that Toshiba drive. If I format it GUID in my Snow Leopard Hack (OS 10.6.8) then my CustoMac (OS 10.14.3) can’t read it. If I do the formatting in the CustoMac then the SL hack can’t read it. My boot disk in the SL hack can be read by both machines.

The reason that I’m trying to make a second boot drive for the SL hack is because I wanted to upgrade it to Yosemite and if that went bad I wanted something to fall back on. The only reason I’m doing any of this is because I’m 80 years old and stuck in the house until better weather. Short term memory problems make it possible for me to retry failed attempts after about five days.

I think I’ll give up on the used Toshiba Drive and buy a brand new drive.

Thanks for your help.

Don

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Thanks for your help, UD. The link you sent concerning the cloning of EFI partitions was interesting but I can’t make use of it now since it requires OS 9 or better. Your suggestion that I reformat the drive in several different formats before going back to GUID seemed to help. Now I can boot to the Boot0 error point. But there is still something odd about that Toshiba drive. If I format it GUID in my Snow Leopard Hack (OS 10.6.8) then my CustoMac (OS 10.14.3) can’t read it. If I do the formatting in the CustoMac then the SL hack can’t read it. My boot disk in the SL hack can be read by both machines.

The reason that I’m trying to make a second boot drive for the SL hack is because I wanted to upgrade it to Yosemite and if that went bad I wanted something to fall back on. The only reason I’m doing any of this is because I’m 80 years old and stuck in the house until better weather. Short term memory problems make it possible for me to retry failed attempts after about five days.

I think I’ll give up on the used Toshiba Drive and buy a brand new drive.

Thanks for your help.

Don

Okay. Well good luck however you approach the problem.

You basic hardware shouldn't cause any problems. The Toshiba drive should still be worth keeping.

If you are feeling adventurous and still have a system that boots Windows you could attach the Toshiba drive and then use a utility called DISKPART from within the Command, CMD.EXE utility. That will certainly help you completely remove any hidden boot partitions that are causing a problem, back to a bare drive ready for formatting. Probably worth Googling to see what the DISKPART commands are as they are very powerful.