How do I reformat hard drive without affecting recovery partition?

I would like to know how I can reformat my Toshiba hard drive without affecting the hidden recovery partition? I would like to get rid of the preinstalled Windows 7 OS and replace it with Windows XP, which is not as bloated. Also, does anyone know of a good 'free' disk scrubber program? I actually have the original 'disk scrubber' software, but the software disk just won't work any more. Finally, I tried to get the computer ready for the drive scrubbing, but I still can't change the disk order on my Toshiba laptop. I did get into the 'bios' screen by hitting the F8 key on startup, which did bring up the 'boot menu' screen. When I selected the cd/dvd drive and then hit the F10 key to save the change, nothing happened! I put in a data disk, but the laptop still booted into the Windows 7 OS. If I can't get the laptop to boot into the cd/dvd drive, I don't think that I can erase the hard drive and put Windows XP on since I wouldn't be able to boot up the laptop with the Windwos XP disk. Is that true? Anyway, without changing the boot order, I can't do anything. Please help! Thanks!

If you use the recovery that is on the hidden partition (hold down the zero key while starting up computer) then your OS reinstall will not affect that hidden partition, just overwrite the c: drive.
L305-S5955, T9300 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 60GB SSD, Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit

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Reformatting hard drive without deleting files

Hi, I have a hard drive in one of the bays on my early 2008 Mac Pro that is formatted to ‘Mac OS Extended’ this hard disk contains my itunes library. I want to reformat the drive to ‘Mac OS Extended - Journaled’ Can I do this without losing all the existing files? Or should I make a copy, erase the drive then copy the files back onto the new journaled drive?

You aren't reformatting. But I would always always no matter what clone my system and have two or three backup sets and different types for redundancy. Bootable backup clones are easy to maintain and handy, say 10.;8.5 didn't go right, or you want to hold off on iTunes 11.1 or even test it on another system drive first. Clone has many good uses.
To turn journaling on and off using Disk Utility:
Open Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities).
Select the volume to enable or disable journaling on.
To enable, click the Enable Journaling button or choose Enable Journaling from the File menu.
To disable journaling, choose Disable Journaling from the File menu.
Note: In Mac OS X 10.4 and later, press Option to make Disable Journaling visible in the File menu.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2355
http://www.bing.com/search?q=Disk+Utility+Journaling+HFS

How do I reformat hard drive when I can't erase the disk?

Machine: imac, OS 10.6.8
Initial Problem: Finder kept crashing for all users immediately after start up. As a result I was unable to try trashing finder preferences as recommended in this forum and elsewhere.
Attempted solutions:
1. Initially seemed unable to boot from Snow Leopard Installation Disk
2. Connected to another imac using firewire and booting problem computer into target mode
3. Ran Techtool pro from master machine. Hard drive and hardware fine but reported need to format disk on target machine.
4. Tried to install new os onto target drive using disk drive on master machine. Error message reported being unable to find target drive, even though it was showing on desktop of master machine
5. Tried to erase disk using disk utility on master machine, but error message stating unable to unmount target drive
6. Successfully rebooted using snow leopard installation disk, but unable to instal. Error message stated that the computer was not available. i.e. it had the yellow triangle with exclamation masrk
7. Tried to erase hard drive using disk utility from installation disk, but was unable to do so. The process commenced to unmount the disk, started to erase but stopped before task completed. Tried a second time with same result.
Obviously the machine needs complete reformatting. I made a backup before starting this series of unsuccessful attempts. I suspect that I need to use terminal from the installation disk, but I am not sure which terminal command to use.
Can anyone tell me? Or have I overlooked some simpler solution?

Install or Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion from Scratch
Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Erase the hard drive:
1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the
      left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on
        the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on
      the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible
            because it is three times faster than wireless.

Reformatting hard drive without disk

How do I reformat my internal harddrive without the osx disk, I recieved this laptop while I was in school. It came with the operating system already installed and I never got a OSX disk. I currently run os 10.5.8.

You cannot. I would buy a copy of Snow Leopard. If you need to purchase Snow Leopard, you can still purchase a copy from Apple's online store's telesales agents.[1-800-MY-APPLE (1-800-692-7753) or Customer Service and Sales Support at 1-800-676-2775.] Ask for a Sales Representative.
Third-party sources for Snow Leopard are:
Snow Leopard from Amazon.com
Snow Leopard from eBay
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store.
This will be less costly than trying to locate Leopard plus it can put you on track to Lion or Mountain Lion.
Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Read the technical specifications.
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
Xserve (Early 2009)

Reformat of hard drive wiped lion recovery partition

and internet recovery takes an eternity, i am redownloading lion from the appstore (to build a usb recovery pen) but i had to pay for it despite it coming preloaded on my laptop
can i be reimbursed for this?
system is an early 2011 Macbook Pro 15" 2.2ghz i7 that came preloaded with lion, so no reinstall disks just a recovery partition (thats gone) and internet recovery

it only took so long because i have a crappy internet connection i think it downloads basically the files from the recovery partition from online.
i lost the recovery partition by formatting my drive when restoring a time machine backup, and when that installation wouldn't let me past the login screen i restarted going into the internet recovery, it took around 1.5hrs to download the necessary files (~1mb connection ) and loaded straight into what looked like the recovery partition, now in order to partition my hard drive for windows(says i have a broken partition map, fixing that can only be done outside of the operating system).
hence i'm downloading lion as we speak from the appstore to keep on a usb stick
edit: also internet recovery when it's downloading shows just a spinning globe with a progress bar and a timer at the bottom, it also appears to not save the files it's downloaded, just caches them

HT1338 How can I format my hard drive without installation disk?

Guys I am using Mac with OS X 10.6.5. How can I format hard drive without the installation disk?
I don't have a installation disk can I buy one? where?

Call Apple Sales at 1-800-692-7753 to order 10.6.
Posts concerning 10.6 should be made in 10.6 usage forum.
You posted in the 10.3 and down forum which is very old OSX software.
DALE

How can i reformat my external hard drive without loosing any data?

how can i reformat my external hard drive without loosing any data?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
It's impossible to format a hard drive without losing the data. One thing you can do before formatting is to copy the files from the external drive to your internal drive, and then, format the external drive. After formatting, copy the files to the external drive again, and everything will be as before formatting it

How do I partition my external hard drive without losing data?

How do I partition my external hard drive without losing the data already on it? I've been using it with Time Machine on my old computer, but want to use it as a regular drag-and-drop type back up on my new computer. Is there any way to basically split the hard drive so I can still access the Time Machine backups on my old computer, but also be able to use it with my new mac? Thanks!

If you reformat the drive all data is lost.
The only way to save the data is to copy it somewhere else during the reformat.
Drag & drop will not backup things correctly.
I suggest you set up partition for each Mac and then point Time Machine to each of the partition for each of the Macs.

How do i transfer a single CD on to my back up hard drive without having to transfer the whole itunes library?

How do I transfer a single CD recently loaded on to itunes to my hard drive without having to transfer the whole itunes library?

Copy just those files. But that isn't ideal. You really want a differential system that efficiently updates the backup set with all new and updated files. See Backup your iTunes for Windows library with SyncToy for a suggested strategy.
tt2

How can i backup my iPod Touch 4g and save my apps onto a new hard drive without having to save onto the current hard drive first?

How can i backup my iPod Touch 4g and save my apps onto a new hard drive without having to save onto the current hard drive first?
My current hard drive is filled up and i'm going to buy a new, bigger hard drive. How can i change the save and backup destination for iTunes so i can backup and transfer my purchases(apps) onto the new hard drive? Without having to backup and save my apps onto the current hard drive because there's no space left on it. Thanks!

have you tried following the steps given here on the apple's knowledge base site may be they can help you
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1414
here is a video from youtube as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH_1qkHkZi0
also this tutorial
http://www.imore.com/how-to-setup-backup-restore-update-use-icloud

How to install a new hard drive without bootable disc/usb

Hi- my hard drive has totally failed and although I can get into disk utility it won't let me create images and keeps coming up with input/output errors when I try.
I don't have another mac to work from and have no discs whatsoever even for older OS versions
I've ordered a new hard drive(a seagate 750GB 7400rpm one) but how do I get mountain lion on the new hard drive without any discs? If I just put in my new hard drive will it come up with an option? I have a mid 2009 MBP if that helps

I have a mid 2009 MBP if that helps
Here is how it helps:
You need the Utilities from Recovery_HD. Your broken Mac can boot from a Thumb drive.
Use this article to download this Utility to copy the Recovery_HD from your older, working Mac to a minimum 1GB USB thumb drive:
OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant
Then boot the new mac with the thumb drive by holding down Alt/Option, wait wait wait while it draws an Icon for each bootable Volume, choose the Recovery_HD, choose proceed arrow, and use Disk Utility to erase the drive and create GUID partition Map, 1 partition, Mac OS X Extended (journaled). Then install Mac OS X by download.

Need help with how to reset bios and admin password to reformat hard drive in 8440p elitebook.......

need help with how to reset bios and admin password to reformat hard drive in 8440p elitebook? removal of cmos, resetting laptop, using cccleaner, windows password recovery and hiren's was noneffective, any help is appreciated. thanks

Hi,
As your notebook is a business class machine, security is more stringent - the password is stored in non-volatile memory and there are no 'backdoor' passwords. Your best option would be to contact HP regarding this.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

How do I import images from my hard drive without losing resolution? My original files after import are significantly smaller. What should I do?

How do I import images from my hard drive without losing resolution? My original files after import are significantly smaller. What should I do?

Hi Keith, and all others chiming in, I do have the correct option checked in advanced settings telling iPhoto to copy the images into the library. What is a refernced library? Perhaps this is where I am getting confused. I exported my entire photo library from an old iMac5 to my external hard drive, from there I attempted to import the entire library to my new iMac. Am I overlooking an obvious and easy way to import from the hard drive to the new iMac--I dragged the entire photo pholder from the hard drive to the open window of iPhoto on the new computer. Now, I only get preview file sizes in iPhoto, unless I have my external drive open. Perhaps I need to import the original images from the hard drive in a different way...?! (This is making me feel pretty stupid.)

HT4848 Hello- My laptop needs the OS X recovery run. Can I download the software directly to a thumb drive without affecting my desktop unit? The Geek Squad said they need to wipe my hard drive and re-install the operating system. Thanks.

Hello- My laptop needs the OS X recovery run. Can I download the software directly to a thumb drive without affecting my desktop unit? The Geek Squad said they need to wipe my hard drive and re-install the operating system. Thanks.

They already damaged you Mac by fooling with the BootCamp partition without knowing what they were doing. I wouldn't suggest haveing them help you do anything.
Here is the article that describes the Recovery HD: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US
First, see if you can boot into the Recovery HD. Restart and hold down cmd-r until you see the gray screen. It should boot into Recovery. If your Mac shipped with Lion or Mountain Lion, it will boot into Internet Recovery if it cannot boot into the Recovery HD on the hard drive.
They should have tried this at the store.

MacBook Pro2012 : How can you get hard drive upgraded in Netherlands without losing warranty?

My MacBook Pro (2012) hard drive is almost full, Apple refuses to provide hard drive upgrade service, how can you get hard drive upgraded in Netherlands without losing warranty?

Dear Ralph, and All
My MBP is indeed non-retina.
I also have Apple care support for 3 years
I was in touch with Apple suport since last week. Response I got on Phone was pretty astounding (waiting email confirmation). They say following
- Apple support does not provide such service of upgrading hard drive
- Doing it yourself means you will lose warranty (due to nature of operation one would need to perform on the computer)
- None of authorised delars will provide such a service
So as such there apparantly is no way to get your hard drive upgraded without losing warranty.
Leaves me a bit perplexed
I do understand MBP retina (or iPAD / iPhones) are manufactured in way that makes it technically impossible to upgrade certain parts. But why non-retina MBP?
What do you all think? is this reasonable? is this what a MBP customer would expect?
Really appreaciate the quick responses i have recieved from you and others on this forum.
Many thanks
Tirath Shah

How do I reformat hard drive without affecting recovery partition?

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