Erase disk in mountain lion

I'm trying to reset my old 2006 computer to the factory settings without the startup disk. I cannot reboot using cmd R because mountain lion does not have that feature. I do not have the original OS DVD so I cannot restart from that either. So I do not know how I can erase the startup disk. I try going to the disk utilities and hitting erase but you cannot do that with the startup disk because that feature is greyed out.

Actually, Mountain Lion supports COMMAND-R, but you must have a Recovery HD available and installed. However, you cannot install Mountain Lion on a 2006 MB. Lion, perhaps. But if you wish to fully erase the disk then you will need Snow Leopard.
You can purchase Snow Leopard through the Apple Store: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.). The price is $19.99 plus tax. You will be sent physical media by mail after placing your order.
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.

Similar Messages

How can I make a bootable disk for Mountain Lion?

How can I make a bootable disk for Mountain Lion?

Make Your Own Mountain/Lion Installer
1. After downloading Mountain/Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Mountain/Lion application. After Mountain/Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the Mountain/Lion installer. Move the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes installing.
2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash drive size.
3. Locate the saved Mountain/Lion installer in your Downloads folder. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the installer and select Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. Double-click on the Contents folder to open it. Double-click on the SharedSupport folder. In this folder you will see a disc image named InstallESD.dmg.
4. Plug in your freshly prepared USB flash drive. You are going to clone the content of the InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:
Double-click on the InstallESD.dmg file to mount it on your Desktop.
Open Disk Utility.
Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Drag the mounted disc icon from the Desktop into the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
When the clone is completed you have a fully bootable installer that you can use without having to re-download Mountain/Lion.
Note: The term Mountain/Lion used above means Lion or Mountain Lion.

Multiple TM Disks in Mountain Lion Recovery Console

I booted into the Mountain Lion Recovery Console for the very first time earlier this morning. I selected the option to recover from TM and to my suprise 5 TM disks were listed, referred to as Time Disk 1 to Time Machine Disk 5.
I originally created TM in a Mac OS partition on my 1Tb external desktop drive and outgrew that several months ago. I disabled TM, then copied the entire contents of the original TM partition to a new external drive, named the drive the same as the original, renamed the original partition, then re-enabled TM. Everything appeared to work seamlessly with TM continuing to operate without any problems.
When using TM from Mountain Lion, I can scan back until early June of this year, which is about right and I've successfully restored several personal files from several months back.
However, I'm now having doubts about my TM backups. Where does 5 separate TM virtual disks in Recovery Console come from? Should I do what presumably I ought to have done when I installed the new TM HD and start over from scratch?

I booted into the Mountain Lion Recovery Console for the very first time earlier this morning. I selected the option to recover from TM and to my suprise 5 TM disks were listed, referred to as Time Disk 1 to Time Machine Disk 5.
I originally created TM in a Mac OS partition on my 1Tb external desktop drive and outgrew that several months ago. I disabled TM, then copied the entire contents of the original TM partition to a new external drive, named the drive the same as the original, renamed the original partition, then re-enabled TM. Everything appeared to work seamlessly with TM continuing to operate without any problems.
When using TM from Mountain Lion, I can scan back until early June of this year, which is about right and I've successfully restored several personal files from several months back.
However, I'm now having doubts about my TM backups. Where does 5 separate TM virtual disks in Recovery Console come from? Should I do what presumably I ought to have done when I installed the new TM HD and start over from scratch?

Timecapsule shows two disks after mountain lion upgrade?

I have a TimeCapsule, which has been doing a good job wirelessly backing up my Macbook.
I recently upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion and have noticed that time machine now shows me as having two disks:
I know that after the upgrade Time Machine seemed to be intent on performing a full backup. Does this mean that in effect it created a new drive on the TimeCapsule? If so, what will happen to the old disk? Will it ever be deleted? Or if not, how do I eventually remove it without losing my more recent backups?
And is there any way for me to rename the old disk? As you can see from the two screenshots, it isn't particularly obvious which one is which.

Ah, this may be expected functionality that has changed in Mountain Lion. I gather that it's to do with 'rotating backups'. These are described by Pondini here - http://pondini.org/TM/34.html - and appears to show the same display.
The thing that isn't entirely clear is that this window shows both the current backup disks and all available backup discs, even if in use. To quote Pondini: "(Oddly, already-selected disks appear in both sections.)"
**** right it's odd. Who thought that was a good UI? And thanks Pondini, that's answered my question.
Found via this discussion.

I've made my bootable disk for mountain lion but when I try to load it on my imac 2008 I get a message that I need 2g of memory. Am I trying to load it incorrectly?

The screen is frozen and i don't know what to do.

As shldr said, OS X Mountain Lion needs 2 GB of memory or more. If you see a message telling you that you need 2 GB or more of memory, that's because you have less memory than 2 GB on the computer.
You have to buy more memory for your computer, and I recommend you to buy it in OWC or Crucial > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

Anyone has a problem with a Samsung M3 1TB portable hard disk in Mountain Lion?

I was using this hard disk in Lion with Time Machine, but a while after the update to Mountain his stop to work.
Anyone has the same problem? I already search in the Samsung/Seagate web site for any problem related, but without any luck.
If this question is in the wrong community, let me now.
Thanks for any information
Vinicius Teixeira Coelho
PS: Any English correction just tell me =]

I can no longer even 'see' my Samsung disk in the Disk Utility and I don't know what to do. If I could reformat it and sacrifice the files that I've probably lost that would be ok, as it was my back-up drive. This is frustrating

Disk repair mountain lion

If disk utility said that the disk need to be repaired, and I choose to repair but utility disk couldn't repair the disk. So, May I reinstall Mountain Liom without losting my data?

No. If the disk cannot be repaired then at best it must be reformatted which will erase your files. At worst the drive may need to be replaced.
I suggest you might get Disk Warrior and see if it can repair the drive, unless Disk Utility has informed you the drive must be reformatted (unrepairable.)

How to carbon copy an old hard disk with mountain lion on MBP-retina's SSD

Well the title says it all.
My idea is: Thunderbolt externally my old HDD and boot from it with target disk mode. Here's the first question: shall I first boot normally to initialize the OSX on the new MBPR or it doesn't matter since I am going to overwrite the whole SSD later?
So yeah, let's say i booted using thunderbolt on with my externalized old HDD. Can I use Carbon copy cloner to copy everything exactly to the MBP-retina's SSD?
Are there any risks in this procedure?
Is it possible even?
Any better and/or tested strategy to do the same thing?
There must be a better way to transfer not only your user files and apps (see migration assistant), but also all drivers, system mods, 3rd-party system preference panes, etc.
Thanks

This is the closest thing to my query that I have been able to find. I recently installed ML on my late 2011 MBP. I have tons of backups from Lion and I want to continue backing up ML. I have hesitated to do so as I fear that I will not be able to recover my data and settings in the event that I decide to downgrade to Lion. If I was to downgrade back doe Lion; could I use a ML TM backup to recover my files and settings?

MBP Retina problem with SSD 512 disk on Mountain Lion

Hi, I'm using the latest (10.8.2) on my MBP Retina, with a 512 ssd.
Once a week, if I check the disk with the utility disk, it says I must fix it, restarting with cmd+r. I do it, run the utility disk and fix everything.
Then for few days it's fine until it says, againg, that the error is orphanaged blocks.
I'm using filevault and don't run anything particular, during the week.
How can I fix it once for all?
Thanks
Luca

went to the AS today and they are going to change it.

How do you erase mountain lion to install snow leopard?

Hi, My mother now has a new to her late 09 mini that originally shipped with snow leopard. When she bought it it came with mountain lion preinstalled from a private seller. We were thinking that to be on the safe side that it might be better to erase and install what's on it just to be sure it is secure. I tried to erase and install snow leopard from a disk but it says that the installer is not compatible with this version of osx(mountain lion). Question: How do I erase mountain lion and install snow leopard?
I've read here that there is possibly a built in recovery disk that I can use to erase and reinstall mountain lion. Q: Is there a built in recovery disk available in my situation? and if so should I use it or be even safer by installing snow leopard instead?
Thank you,

I think I found the answer (from sl install disk use disk utility to erase then install sl). Thanks for looking.

Where can I get a mountain lion download or disk. Mavericks I need to downgrade

I upgraded to Maverick when it came out. Unfortunately, I did not have a backup of the disk with Mountain lion on it. The laptop came with mountain lion preloaded. How can I get another copy?
<Subject Edited by Host>

If your Mac came new with Mt Lion Pre-Installed it will always be available to you.
You have to boot the computer to the Online Internet recovery system by holding down the Command + Option/Alt + r key at startup and hold them down until you see a globe on the screen. That willl boot the computer from the Apple servers from across the internet. Once that fully loads you can use Disk Utility to repartition the drive as one partition to remove all traces of Mavericks and then use the other option, once you exit disk utility, to Reinstall Mac OS X and Mt Lion will be downloaed from the internet.
You can also use that same system, once Mt Lion is reinstalled on your hard drive, to save a copy of the download and make your own Mt Lion reinstall DVD or Thumb drive. Google search for make your own Lion, Mt Lion reiinstall thumb drive for directions.

Mountain lion backup disk

I just downloaded and installed mountain Lion. Went well. Can I burn a backup disk of Mountain Lion?

Yes!
http://mac-how-to.wonderhowto.com/how-to/create-bootable-install-dvd-usb-drive-o s-x-10-8-mountain-lion-0138303/
Matt

Mountain lion start-up disk

How do I create a start-up disk for mountain lion. I used lion for my original start-up disk and since that time have upgraded to Mountain Lion. Since I have noticed my computer slowing down, problems printing pdf's etc, I thought it would be a great time to re-format my hard drive and re-install Mountain Lion. Not sure how to create a mountain lion installer.

This is for Lion but applies to Mountain Lion:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1162628/lion_repair_kit.html

Strange Application Issues after Mountain Lion Upgrade!

I'm having, what I believe to be, strange issues with a clean install of Mountain Lion from 10.6.8
It's for my boss' computer at work so I can't afford to have it down for very long at a time. It's hard to pinpoint the issue(s).
Computer:
Mac Pro - Early 2009
OS X 10.8.3
2 x 2.6 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
32 GB 1066 MHz DDR3
The startup disk is 4x2TB RAID 5 using Apple RAID card (Firmware version: E-1.3.2.0; Hardware Revision: 2.00; Driver version: 124
The following is what happened/is happening:
1. (Tuesday)
Created a bootable backup of system drive using Disk Utility
Performed a Clean install
Used migration assistant to copy over applications from backup
Downloaded (from Amazon) and installed Microsoft Office 2011
Imported Addresses (including imported Previous Recipients that were imported into Contacts before exporting on old system)
Setup email & copied over mailboxes from backup
Moved all files back onto the system (User folders)
Everything worked fine from Wednesday - Sunday.
Problems reported to me (Sunday)
"Chinese characters" on save dialogue box in Microsoft Excel
Mail crashed while dragging a photo from safari to it
After a restart, Mail, all Microsoft Office apps, and Final Cut Pro wouldn't open.
Tried to reset preference files, but nothing worked.
2. (Monday night)
Performed another Clean Install
Migrated Applications
Transferred mailboxes (not old emails at this time)
Imported same group of addresses as before into Contacts
Installed Microsoft Office
Moved user data back
Transferred old email mailboxes (Tuesday afternoon)
Everything worked fine Tuesday - Thursday early morning)
Problems reported to me (Thursday morning)
When typing in an email address to send an email, it didn't autofill. Mail crashed.
Mail wouldn't open. Different from last, this time it said the ~/Library/Mail folder was moved. I checked and the folder was there with everything in it fine.
The Microsoft applications that were open at the time of the Mail crash still worked, but others wouldn't open. After closing the open applications then they wouldn't open back up (same as before)
Final Cut Pro opened fine.
Fixed Mail by deleting the ~/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail folder.
Later found out that though Final Cut would open it would crash when loading a project and that Quicklook wouldn't work for quicktime files across the network & codecs were missing (this could have been cause by me when trying to test problems).
3. (Sunday)
Restored from a different bootable backup I made after 2nd clean install and migrated applications.
Repaired Permissions using Disk Utility
Moved over Mail data
Copied over user data
*Didn't import the addresses
Checked to make sure all the fonts were validated and no duplicates
Everything worked fine after install and through Monday.
Problems to me (Tuesday morning)
Microsoft Office disappeared completely from the computer. No folder in Applications or dock icons.
Slower to connect to network files
Re-installed Microsoft Office to keep work progress going.
What would be causing this peculiarity? It works after I fix it and for a little afterwards but then strange things happen.
Would repairing disk permissions on bootable backup (of 10.6.8) before using migration assistant help?
What is the best way to track down what is causing these issues?
Thanks!

I suggest that the best way to upgrade from 10.6.8 to Mountain Lion is one of the following:
(1) Simply perform an upgrade install. This is in fact Apple's recommended approach. I am not sure why you have not yet tried that. I have done this myself successfully.
(2) Make a backup of the working 10.6.8 system; better yet is to make two complete backups, one being a "clone," the other being a Time Machine backup. Use of two different methods gives you options should something go wrong. Then erase the original disk and install Mountain Lion, and on the first boot up run Setup Assistant (which is better than Migration Assistant) and transfer over EVERYTHING, including user accounts, settings, applications. I have also used this approach, also successfully.
You did neither (1) nor (2), but seem to have done some sort of hybrid by transfering applications and then manually moving over some mail files and moving over some user files. I don't think this is a recommended approach. It can result in permissions issues, which can cause things to "disappear" or otherwise behavior oddly.
I do not understand how your use of a RAID setup and a RAID card might affect any procedures which otherwise might work smoothly. Are you 100% certain that your RAID hardware and firmware are compatible with Mountain Lion?
Assuming that the RAID is not the issue and it behaves to the OS just like a normal disk, I would try the full disk erase and install of Mountain Lion followed by a Setup Assistant on first boot up to move over everything from your clone backup.
If this does not work, then I would erase and restore back from your clone, so you get your 10.6.8 system working again. Then I would try a simple upgrade install of Mountain Lion.
If that fails, then I would erase and install Mountain Lion with one new administrative user created who has a different user name than the person whose stuff you need to restore. Then with that new administrative user I would make sure the RAID is all up and running. Then I would use Migration Assistant to migrate over users only and would reinstall all software from scratch. If that is not to your liking, I'd as a less desirable alternative use Migration Assistant to migrate over everything, applications and users. You will have that new, extra administrative user as well as the original user(s), but that should cause no harm.

Mountain lion with email scrolling

I have noticed in my Mac mail that when I attach a file, I am no longer able to scroll back up in the email to finish my comments. Is anyone else having this issue? I just switched over to Mountain Lion Yesterday, and and am finding little nuances that were not there before.

derekfrombraydon,
Ok I'm trying to understand what you did.
1) You have an iMac that started out with OS 10.7.x
2) Then you later upgraded to OS 10.7.x Server app
3) later this past week you download OS10.8 Mountain Lion (ML)
4) Did you actually install OS 10.8???
Note I think something went wrong with Installation of OS 10.8 so it reverted back to the previous OS which is why it still shows 10.7.4 Server.
If you were in OS 10.8, you would notice a change in the OS for sure.... well at least in system preference you would notice new control panels for Notifications and Dictation/Speech.
Anyway, Note that Lion Server app does not work for OS 10.8
If you want server function you'll need OS X Server app which is for 10.8 which you have to buy.
Note If you are having problems with lion server now, then upgrading with existing prefs to 10.8 Server is not going to fix stuff.
Your best bet is do what Gnarlodious Suggested, doing a clean install of 10.8..
I recommend that you timemachine your entire computer to an external hard drive first. Make sure your back up drive is not connected to your imac after you are done backing up.
Then created a USB install disk of mountain lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-li on-install-disk/
follow the instructions on that website.
once you have a bootable USB drive with 10.8 install
then select it as the boot drive in startup disk
reboot
afterwards run disk utility from mountain lion install program.
select the internal drive of your iMac and reformat it or just to an erase.
quit Disk Utilty and click Reinstall Mountain Lion
select internal drive and install
after when done installing it should take about 30mins or so, plug in your timemachine drive and go through the process of transfering data during the setup process of mountain lion.
hope this helps...
Just curious why do you need Server functions? I don't suggest it unless you really know what you are doing.

Erase disk in mountain lion

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