[FX.php List] [OFF-TOPIC] A bug discovery in OS X Server and OS X 10.4 installers

[Bob Patin]

You would think so, but it wouldn't work either; it hung up just like  
OS X Server did.

Believe me, I tried everything; with OS X you can't boot your Mac  
with a DVD and get to the Finder, so your options are limited. I did  
just create a bootable system on a flash drive this weekend, but  
fortunately haven't had an opportunity to try it yet.

Bob Patin
Longterm Solutions
bob at longtermsolutions.com
615-333-6858
http://www.longtermsolutions.com

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On May 22, 2007, at 2:54 PM, John May wrote:

> Can't you just boot from the install disc and run Disk Utility from  
> there to format the drive?
>
> 	- John
>
>
>> Recently, in the process of setting up my new web server, I  
>> discovered a bug in OS X Server and OS X's installers that I was  
>> able to reproduce:
>>
>> If you do an install of OS X Server and it doesn't completely  
>> install properly, or if you wanted to reinstall OS X Server for  
>> some reason, you would normally put the install DVD into the  
>> machine and reinstall. The installer tells you that you have to  
>> initialize the drive, so you click that button and proceed.
>>
>> In my testing, I discovered that OS X Server would hang up forever  
>> at the beginning of the install, UNLESS the drive was already  
>> initialized. I went through hours of grief over this; I tried  
>> installing OS X (not Server), again checking the box to init the  
>> drive, but it too hung up. I suspect it has something to do with  
>> OS X Server being on the machine; I didn't test to see if I could  
>> overwrite OS X on a previously-installed disk that had OS X on it.
>>
>> When I realized that the problem was that the drive had a previous  
>> version of OS X Server on it, I started thinking of how I might  
>> initialize the drive:
>>
>> a) put a 2nd drive into the machine, install a system on it
>> b) get a new drive
>>
>> But here's the solution: I mounted the drive to my laptop using  
>> Firewire target disk mode; I then was able to initialize the  
>> drive. Once I did that, I was able to put OS X Server on without  
>> any trouble.
>>
>> Thought I'd share it in case someone else stumbles into this same  
>> problem...
>>
>> Bob Patin
>> Longterm Solutions
>> bob at longtermsolutions.com
>> 615-333-6858
>> http://www.longtermsolutions.com
>
> -- 
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> John May : President                 <http://www.pointinspace.com/>
> Point In Space Internet Solutions             jmay at pointinspace.com
>
>        Professional FileMaker Pro, MySQL, Lasso & PHP Hosting
>
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