Solve : Swap a Windows Hard Drive into an iMac?

1.	Solve : Swap a Windows Hard Drive into an iMac?
Answer» I have a SITUATION where i am trying to swap my toshiba laptop hard drive into my iMac. iMac 2008 24"inch So in order to do so, i have used diskpart on my other computer, i have "clean all" the disk in diskpart, and formatted it to HFS+ which is similar to (MAC OS Extended (journaled)) i guess. After the whole process was complete, i connected the hard drive into the internal of the iMac. When i powered on the iMac, i pressed "command" "option" "P" "R" to clear the memory, and pressed "option" afterwards. I then saw a Hard drive called "windows" (Its the same hard drive i put in). So by selecting it to run the system, i get a black screen saying "no operating system found_". Which is something a windows system would say. So im wondering, what did i do wrong, and why isnt it working. I am doing this because i want to reuse the Toshiba Laptop hard drive on my iMac. I want to run the Mac Os on the Toshiba hard drive. p.s I have an Os X Mountain Installation Disk Install the disk to your working macOS system. Use Disk Utility to format the drive as macOS Extended file system. Download the macOS installer from the App Store. Run the installer. Specify the secondary disk as the drive to install the system. To boot from the secondary drive, set it as the boot drive in System Preferences -> Startup Disk, or hold down Option when you boot for a boot menu and select the new disk. I would have done that, but unfortunately my iMac is only capable of connecting to one drive internally at a time. I have a different windows computer and it has more then one hard drive connectors. I have tried formatting to HFS+ and doing "clean all", when the hard drive was connected to my other windows computer, but this method didn't IMPACT the hard drives OS apparently. When trying to boot to the hard drive on my iMac, it shows a dark screen saying "Operating system not found_"....and i'm pretty sure thats a windows sign. You aren't going to be able to boot to a blank Hard Drive. I'm unsure what you expect to happen- presumably there is a misunderstanding about file systems and operating systems? formatting to HFS+ doesn't mean a drive can boot into OS X. That said, you mention formatting to HFS+ via a Windows computer. I find that somewhat unusual because you cannot format a drive to HFS+ on Windows. I suspect that you formatted it to NTFS. That would explain why it is labelled as "Windows" by the mac and why it switches into a traditional BIOS when attempting to boot it. Regardless of what File system is used, the disk still would have no Operating System. You need to Install OSX onto the hard drive. You do that by having the drive installed and booting to the OS X Installation Disc. (I expect with the disc inserted it APPEARS in the same boot menu you accessed)BakedHardDrive, Why did you not just buy a new hard drive? BC_Programer I formatted to hfs+ with this website "https://smallbusiness.chron.com/format-disk-hfs-mac-49229.html"....but considering my computer knowledge, i had no idea if it was it or not, since i just followed the instructions. I read that hfs+ was supposed to be a format similar to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)....It makes sense when you said "i probably formated to NTfS, and thats why it shows "windows".... But as i try to install the Mac Os Installation disk, it still redirects me to a black screen with a "Operating system not found_" sign. I still think i need to format the hard drive to a non windows format, that mac will see, and install the OS on, because the windows doesn't want to install mac. Geek 9PM I want to learn how to reuse hard drives with different operating systems. Maybe its the hard drive, or maybe im doing something wrong. Because im having no luck with it so far.Quote from: BakedHardDrive on January 06, 2019, 03:40:05 PM But as i try to install the Mac Os Installation disk, it still redirects me to a black screen with a "Operating system not found_" sign. I still think i need to format the hard drive to a non windows format, that mac will see, and install the OS on, because the windows doesn't want to install mac. It wont automatically boot the CD, you'll need to hold down Option (alt) on the keyboard then turn the machine on while keeping it held, you'll then get the option to select the CD as the boot device and run the installer from there. Of course Mountain Lion is old so you'd either need to create a bootable USB drive for a newer version on another Mac or install Mountain Lion and try and update it to Mojave (or whatever the newest version your hardware supports is) Just FYI, you can do all the formatting from within the MacOS installer using Disk Utility, no need to worry about formatting the drive before installing it.Thanks guys i have started booting from my Mountain Lion Installation Disk. I did press "option" upon booting, and selected the disk. My iMac is a 24" 2007-8 and its capable of installing 10.4.10 to 10.11.6 of Os, basically from the first OS into El Capitan. The problem now is, its taking way too long to startup from the Installation disk. All i see on my screen is the "apple symbol" and a "loading sign" . Ive been at this part before, and just because it took too long to boot from the installation disk, i have quit it, and thought the hard drive must be bad. Ill wait more, and see.How long are you waiting, the disc can take a fair time to boot, DVDs are pretty slow. If the hard drive was bad it would still likely boot the DVD and only fail at the POINT of installation/drive setup.camerongray, Its been loading for maybe 3 hours now. When i first inserted the disk, i would hear a bunch of sounds out of the dvd reader. But now its still and quiet ( i would assume its not working ). Maybe its because the Installation Disk, has no where to install something. Since the hard drive isnt even seen by the iMac. What im thinking is that, the disk doesn't want to take me to the startup page, because it doesn't have a place to install that data on.... If so, i would need to format the disk into HFS+ which is supposed to be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then see if the hard drive is seen by the iMac. But...that might not be the case. "If you can’t boot from DVD then either you just installed something new that’s aggravating your Mac, or your Mac needs to go in for repairs (usually to an Apple dealer)."(https://www.dummies.com/computers/macs/how-to-boot-snow-leopard-from-a-dvd-rom/ ) ^ like it says there, if i cant boot from the DVD, then its because something else is disrupting it. And i would blame the windows OS on that Toshiba Hard drive, even though it says it has no operating system.As I recall, the installation discs only work with the system they were provided with, so you may need to use the Install Disc that came with the system to perform initial installations on systems that don't support the new Internet recovery feature.

Answer»

I have a SITUATION where i am trying to swap my toshiba laptop hard drive into my iMac. iMac 2008 24"inch

So in order to do so, i have used diskpart on my other computer, i have "clean all" the disk in diskpart, and formatted it to HFS+ which is similar to (MAC OS Extended (journaled)) i guess.

After the whole process was complete, i connected the hard drive into the internal of the iMac. When i powered on the iMac, i pressed "command" "option" "P" "R" to clear the memory, and pressed "option" afterwards. I then saw a Hard drive called "windows" (Its the same hard drive i put in). So by selecting it to run the system, i get a black screen saying "no operating system found_". Which is something a windows system would say. So im wondering, what did i do wrong, and why isnt it working.

I am doing this because i want to reuse the Toshiba Laptop hard drive on my iMac. I want to run the Mac Os on the Toshiba hard drive.

p.s I have an Os X Mountain Installation Disk

Install the disk to your working macOS system. Use Disk Utility to format the drive as macOS Extended file system. Download the macOS installer from the App Store. Run the installer. Specify the secondary disk as the drive to install the system.

To boot from the secondary drive, set it as the boot drive in System Preferences -> Startup Disk, or hold down Option when you boot for a boot menu and select the new disk.

I would have done that, but unfortunately my iMac is only capable of connecting to one drive internally at a time. I have a different windows computer and it has more then one hard drive connectors.

I have tried formatting to HFS+ and doing "clean all", when the hard drive was connected to my other windows computer, but this method didn't IMPACT the hard drives OS apparently. When trying to boot to the hard drive on my iMac, it shows a dark screen saying "Operating system not found_"....and i'm pretty sure thats a windows sign.

You aren't going to be able to boot to a blank Hard Drive. I'm unsure what you expect to happen- presumably there is a misunderstanding about file systems and operating systems? formatting to HFS+ doesn't mean a drive can boot into OS X.

That said, you mention formatting to HFS+ via a Windows computer. I find that somewhat unusual because you cannot format a drive to HFS+ on Windows. I suspect that you formatted it to NTFS. That would explain why it is labelled as "Windows" by the mac and why it switches into a traditional BIOS when attempting to boot it.

Regardless of what File system is used, the disk still would have no Operating System. You need to Install OSX onto the hard drive. You do that by having the drive installed and booting to the OS X Installation Disc. (I expect with the disc inserted it APPEARS in the same boot menu you accessed)BakedHardDrive,
Why did you not just buy a new hard drive?
BC_Programer

I formatted to hfs+ with this website "https://smallbusiness.chron.com/format-disk-hfs-mac-49229.html"....but considering my computer knowledge, i had no idea if it was it or not, since i just followed the instructions. I read that hfs+ was supposed to be a format similar to Mac OS Extended (Journaled)....It makes sense when you said "i probably formated to NTfS, and thats why it shows "windows"....

But as i try to install the Mac Os Installation disk, it still redirects me to a black screen with a "Operating system not found_" sign. I still think i need to format the hard drive to a non windows format, that mac will see, and install the OS on, because the windows doesn't want to install mac.

Geek 9PM

I want to learn how to reuse hard drives with different operating systems. Maybe its the hard drive, or maybe im doing something wrong. Because im having no luck with it so far.Quote from: BakedHardDrive on January 06, 2019, 03:40:05 PM

But as i try to install the Mac Os Installation disk, it still redirects me to a black screen with a "Operating system not found_" sign. I still think i need to format the hard drive to a non windows format, that mac will see, and install the OS on, because the windows doesn't want to install mac.

It wont automatically boot the CD, you'll need to hold down Option (alt) on the keyboard then turn the machine on while keeping it held, you'll then get the option to select the CD as the boot device and run the installer from there. Of course Mountain Lion is old so you'd either need to create a bootable USB drive for a newer version on another Mac or install Mountain Lion and try and update it to Mojave (or whatever the newest version your hardware supports is)

Just FYI, you can do all the formatting from within the MacOS installer using Disk Utility, no need to worry about formatting the drive before installing it.Thanks guys i have started booting from my Mountain Lion Installation Disk.

I did press "option" upon booting, and selected the disk.

My iMac is a 24" 2007-8 and its capable of installing 10.4.10 to 10.11.6 of Os, basically from the first OS into El Capitan.

The problem now is, its taking way too long to startup from the Installation disk. All i see on my screen is the "apple symbol" and a "loading sign" . Ive been at this part before, and just because it took too long to boot from the installation disk, i have quit it, and thought the hard drive must be bad.

Ill wait more, and see.How long are you waiting, the disc can take a fair time to boot, DVDs are pretty slow. If the hard drive was bad it would still likely boot the DVD and only fail at the POINT of installation/drive setup.camerongray,

Its been loading for maybe 3 hours now.

When i first inserted the disk, i would hear a bunch of sounds out of the dvd reader. But now its still and quiet ( i would assume its not working ). Maybe its because the Installation Disk, has no where to install something. Since the hard drive isnt even seen by the iMac.

What im thinking is that, the disk doesn't want to take me to the startup page, because it doesn't have a place to install that data on....

If so, i would need to format the disk into HFS+ which is supposed to be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Then see if the hard drive is seen by the iMac. But...that might not be the case.

"If you can’t boot from DVD then either you just installed something new that’s aggravating your Mac, or your Mac needs to go in for repairs (usually to an Apple dealer)."(https://www.dummies.com/computers/macs/how-to-boot-snow-leopard-from-a-dvd-rom/ )
^
like it says there, if i cant boot from the DVD, then its because something else is disrupting it. And i would blame the windows OS on that Toshiba Hard drive, even though it says it has no operating system.As I recall, the installation discs only work with the system they were provided with, so you may need to use the Install Disc that came with the system to perform initial installations on systems that don't support the new Internet recovery feature.

Solve : Swap a Windows Hard Drive into an iMac?

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