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What would be the reason if Lion OS X installer does not show any HFS+ partitioned hard drive on the installation step, "Select a destination volume where you want to install the Mac OS X software". The Disk Utility cannot see it either!

I am sure the hard drive is working fine C: Ubuntu NTFS and D: Windows 7 NTFS I can run windows or ubuntu fine.

The problem is not partitioning the HD, the HD does not appear at all hence the disk utility cannot perform any operation on HD.

Thanks Looking forward to hearing from you...

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3 Answers

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Have you configured the disks to use a GUID partition table?

This was not required prior to Lion, but is in order to install Lion.

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Where am I going to create GUID partition table? Disk Utility cannot do that because no HD appears so I can do partition. The problem is not partitioning. The Disk utility can't see any drive there. When I plug my usb flash drive it loads up and I can partition it but not my HD – Pinchy Feb 22 '12 at 7:32
So you don't have an installer problem, you have a disk recognition problem. Try swapping out the drive's cable. Disk utility is not picky about what it shows, but it does insist on a properly connected HD. Are you using the same drive interface for your working non-Mac connections, or is it SATA for one, USB for the other? – Wayfaring Stranger Feb 22 '12 at 14:21
Ah yes that could be a problem! But I use a laptop tho I dont know how I am going to do it but I will figure it out anyway. I guess I use ATA! same interface for working non-Mac connections. – Pinchy Feb 22 '12 at 14:40
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Did you create the HFS+ partition yourself? If you have a disk that already has other partitions on it, you may need to start Disk Utility from the installer and create the partition manually before installing.

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Yes I did create HFS+ partition myself. I cannot create any partition that was the problem, Disk Utility can't see anything that can partition. No HD on Disk Utility – Pinchy Feb 22 '12 at 7:29
up vote -1 down vote

If it can't see your hard drive, then you have a hardware problem. The data on the drive (the partition structure itself is data!) is completely irrelevant.

Disk Utility is capable of partitioning any drive so long as it can see the hardware, though it may need to erase it first. It sounds like the hardware itself isn't being detected.

What hardware are you running? Is it under warranty? Make sure all the cables are plugged in properly, any jumper settings are correct, etc. Perhaps try plugging a different drive in or the same drive into a different mac.

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