Erase hard drive and restore files

After installing the last software update for Safari, Safari would often crash when I tried to open a link. I thought reloading Mountain would correct the bad download. After doing that, Safafi will not open at all. All other apps are ok and I can get online with Google,Firefox, etc. My Imac exel is out of warranty so Apple support is limited. They recommended that I save my data, erase my hard drive and then restore everything. I need those procedures. I am going to purchase an ext hard drive. Do I save the system folder and files on it? When I restore my files, how do I prevent re-introducing the problem that caused it? Can I just reload Mountain from my App act or will this require more system reload? This senior citizen needs help. Thanks

Today I spoke with a local Apple dealer. He provided the info I think I need to save, erase, reload, and restore. If I have problems, I will return to this discussion. Thank You

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If I upgraded my MacBook Pro from Snow Leopard to Lion via the web and now wish to erase the hard drive and restore it to factory settings to sell. How do I accomplish this?

I upgraded the operating system on my MacBook Pro from Snow Leopard to Lion via the web. Now I need to erase the hard drive and restore it to factory settings, so that I can pass it on. How do I accomplish this? When I insert the Mac OS X install disk, the only option is to erase the free space. Any insight would be appreciated.
Thank you

You need to boot off the original Snow Leopard DVD's that came with the system.
Once you are running off of the DVD you will be able to do a clean install of SL
To boot off the DVD with the system up running Lion insert the DVD. Open Sytem Preferences->Startup Disk and select the DVD then restart the machine.
Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

How do i reformat imac hard drive and restore time machine backup?

How do I reformat my iMac internal hard drive and restore from a Time Machine backup?
I have an iMac 20" Mid 2007 with a problematic hard drive.
IntelCore 2 Duo, Processor speed 2 Ghz
800 Mhz Bus speed
4 GB RAM
250 GB Western Digital Hard Drive
10.6.3
Was getting a question mark upon booting up, so I booted from a 10.6.3 Snow Leopard CD and ran disk utility. Repair disk was interrupted with an error message. 'Disk utility can't repair disk. Backup files, reformat disk and restore backed up files.'
1. Should I select Erase, Mac OS Extended Journaled, Erase?
2. If I do this, won't I lose my networkability, and therefore lose access to Time Machine backups?
3. If it were you, would you go ahead and replace the hard drive? Not sure I should trust this hard drive!
4. If I need to replace the hard drive, can you send instructions?
Thanks!

Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
         with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
         After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
         a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
     2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
         button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
         After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
         size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
         partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
         and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
         (Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
     3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
         with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
     4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
         Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same
         username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup
         Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh
         install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software
         Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.
If you have your Time Machine backup drive connected, then you can use Setup Assistant to migrate your Home folder, application support files, and third-party applications and system preference files. I recommend doing this via the Setup Assistant when the option appears.

How do I back up my itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary

How do I back up my entire itunes to an external hard drive and restore from same if necessary.
Thanks

This is where iTunes stores backups for different operating systems: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4946
I do not use a Windows machine, have a Windows Vista Dell I rarely startup now. But, from what I remember with Win boxes is, you will have to create on the external hard drive a file system like that one iTunes normally uses, and then in the iTunes preferences or control panel edit the location for the storage to specify the name of the external hard drive, or its letter code, with the name of that file system you created on the exernal drive.
I would also move all of the files from the internal file system to the external since you have now told iTunes that is where they are...before deleting from the internal drive, test iTunes to see that it goes where you want it to go.

I just replaced my hard drive and restored everything from Time machine. However, my itunes is empty. No music, movies etc are there. Please help thanks

I just replaced my hard drive and restored everything from Time machine. However, my itunes is empty. No music, movies etc are there. Please help thanks

Empty/corrupt library after upgrade/crash
Hopefully it's not been too long since you last upgraded iTunes, in fact if you get an empty/incomplete library immediately after upgrading then with the following steps you shouldn't lose a thing or need to do any further housekeeping. In the Previous iTunes Libraries folder should be a number of dated iTunes Library files. Take the most recent of these and copy it into the iTunes folder. Rename iTunes Library.itl as iTunes Library (Corrupt).itl and then rename the restored file as iTunes Library.itl. Start iTunes. Should all be good, bar any recent additions to or deletions from your library.
Windows images, but you get the point. Depending on the age of your library the library file might not include the .itl extention. Make it match the file you are replacing.
See MusicFolder Files Not Added and Super Remove Dead Tracks for tools to catch up with any changes since the backup file was created.
tt2

External Hard drive and dmg files not mounting

External Hard drive and dmg files suddenly not mounting. Im running Mavericks on 27" iMac. Anyone have a fix or has anyone else suddenly had this problem? There was a Mavericks update a few weeks ago, but things were fine until today. This is weird. Ive checked in disk utility and can see one of my two external HD's, the one that I back up. But not even this will mount. Ive tried repairing HD thinking it was damaged but now see that all my ext hd's suddenly dont mount. Ive tried several mac restarts.

Solved the problem. My external HD is a WD (My Book Studio). I needed to install updated driver manager and this fixed it:
http://support.wd.com/product/download.asp?groupid=114&sid=62&lang=en
If you have a WD external HD goto the above link and search for your model and a list of updates will be shown, Yay!!

I have had my iMac for 55 days now and twice I had to power off/on and then It does not power up correctly. I verified my disk and found errors that could not be repaired. I erased the drive and restored system back to the previous day.

I have had my iMac for 55 days now and twice I had to power off/on and then It does not power up correctly. I verified my disk and found errors that could not be repaired (errors were associated with boot drive) I erased the drive and restored system back to the previous day. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

Since it's a new machine, contact Apple's Support and let them deal with it. Allen's already recommended an Apple repair station visit. Do note that if you have AppleCare's protection plan and you're within 50 miles (80 KM) of an Apple repair station, you might be eligible for an onsite repair since yours is a desktop machine (depends on where you're located). BTW, the AppleCare Protection Plan's the best warranty policy available for desktop machines. Get it if you don't have it before contacting Apple.
27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/Leopard, 9.2.2

How can I wipe my hard drive and restore to factory settings without the use of the original OS CD?

I have a 2010 MacBook and I need to wipe the hard drive and restore to factory settings.
The problem is that even though I have the original disc, the CD drive has stopped functioning and will reject any disc put into it.
Therefore, is there another method to do this without the CD?

Not very easily. To restore to factory software you need the original installation DVD (CDs).
If you have another Mac which is the same make and model so that those installation DVD (CDs) would work, you can use a Firewire cable between the 2 Macs and then put your Mac to be reset into Target mode and use the other Mac to install the software. However I suspect that is unlikely.

Attempting to upgarde itunes and I get an error message looking for "an alternate path to a folder containing 'iTunes.msi' location. I've searched my hard drive and the file doesn't exist. What to do?

Attempting to upgarde itunes and I get an error message looking for "an alternate path to a folder containing 'iTunes.msi' location. I've searched my hard drive and the file doesn't exist. What to do?

This worked...found on a prior discussion:
Download the Windows Installer CleanUp utility from the following page (use one of the links under the "DOWNLOAD LOCATIONS" thingy on the Major Geeks page)...
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4459
From the link above (near the top of the page)....Under 'download locations' click on 'download@majorgeeks'
To install the utility, doubleclick the msicuu2.exe file you just downloaded and ran.
Now run the utility ("Start > All Programs > Windows Install Clean Up"). In the list of programs that appears in CleanUp, select any iTunes entries and click "Remove", as per the following screenshot:
Restart your computer.
Re-download Itunes (latest version form Itunes website) and install. It worked!

I just replaced my hard drive and restored everything from Time machine. However, I am unable to open iphoto and the following message appears Your photo library was not found. Do you want to find your iPhoto Library?

I just replaced my hard drive and restored everything from Time machine. However, I am unable to open iphoto and the following message appears Your photo library was not found. Do you want to find your iPhoto Library?
Where do I find this library?
thanks
Shak

Twas quite a hassle if I am honest which was eventually resolved but I don't feel qualified to help anyone through the process as it required a trip to my local apple store and a genius bar appointment.
Personally, I would do anything like moving pictures out of folders etc. Certainly not creating a new users. i don't think that is an elegant solution
Try the following which MAY just about rescue the situation for you but if they don't work you may have to do something more drastic.
(1) Holding down Cmd & Alt at the same time, start iPhoto by clicking on the iPhoto icon. From the resulting menu choose Rebuild photo library by selecting all available options given to you and then pressing REBUILD!
If that doesn't work
(2) Fire up Utilities. Go to migration assistant. Chose 'From another Time machine back-up'. Open the 'Users' option that comes up next and from there select Pictures, then uncheck everything else like Applications etc (you don't want to do a full migration of everything) and click go.
If that doesn't work, take a deep breath and this step is rather complicated but it worked for me. First of all close iPhoto! Then go to new Finder window.
From the Finder window choose Pictures, then iPhoto library, press CMD and the letter i. It brings up a new window. Go to Sharing & permissions. From there select the padlock to unlock settings. and then select User account, then press the 'cog' icon next to +/- abd choose Apply to enclosed items.
This may take a while. Once completed, re-open iPhoto.
And that should (I stress should) cure it.
Good luck.

Need to erase hard drive and reinstall system on iMac but have misplaced original install disks. Tried to use a my copy of Snow lepord 10.6 from my Mac pro but will not boot. Can original install disks be replaced. Thanks

Need to erase hard drive and reinstall system on iMac but have misplaced original install disks. Tried to use a my copy of Snow lepord 10.6 from my Mac Pro but will not boot. Can original install disks be replaced. Thanks

Yes the original Install Discs can be replaced for a nominal fee. Call AppleCare, you will need a credit card and the serial number of the machine. You can use the AppleCare Contact Info for the phone number on your part of the planet.

After erasing hard drive and re-installing Lion, is there anyway i can tell if all my files are gone?

Hey guys.
Basically i have sold my iMac after buying a new Macbook Pro. I erased hard drive in disc utility then reinstalled Lion from disc.
When i turn on the iMac now it does the usual welcome video, then proceeds to try and set up the machine. Which i dont want to do as i have sold it and he will want to do that himself.
Dont personally know the guy ive sold it too so basically i want to know how i can check to see if my files have actually been deleted?
Just so all my personal information isnt accessed by someone else.
Thanks a lot

If you erased the disk, the data is gone. If you want to be sure, you can open Disk Utiility again and erase the disk using a special method (select the hard disk > Erase > Security Options) before installing Mac OS X

Time machine will not backup to empty external hard drive after replacing Mac's internal hard drive and restoring

First - I live in a tiny fishing village in Belize, so getting support here is virtually non-existent. There is no one else in my village who even uses a Mac. Recently, my hard drive in my 2012 Macbook Pro 13" went bad (said it suffered a "shock"?) and I was traveling to Cozumel, Mexico, so had it replaced there. We used an external hard drive backup to restore the data to it's last time machine backup (October of 2014). Everything was working fine, until I returned home, added some pictures, and wanted to do a fresh backup. Now, time machine will start the backup, but gets about 113,000 of 181,000 done, and it locks up. I can do nothing - everything freezes, and I have to eventually power down the computer. I even tried deleting the old backup from the external hard drive, erasing it completely, and reformatting the external hard drive using disk utility. Still locking up. It is a 5 GB external hard drive, so space shouldn't be an issue, and it was backed up to the same external hard drive previously with no issues. I'm still running Mavericks, and don't want to try to upgrade to Yosemite until I can be sure I have a backup of my old data and pictures. I am a writer, and use that to make my meager living LOL
I'm stumped. I've looked through the files endlessly but can't find anything similar to my issue. Any suggestions? I know just enough to be dangerous, and don't want to lose everything we worked so hard to retrieve when my hard drive crashed last month.
Thanks!

SMH5206 - I tried letting it sit and crank overnight twice. First time I thought it was my error causing it to lock up. Now I know better. I haven't changed any of my time machine settings - and actually never used time machine regularly. Only reason I had a fresh backup from last Oct was because I did one before I upgraded to mavericks. Everything worked fine then - and we used that to restore when the hard drive crashed and was replaced. I have actually deleted hundreds of pictures off my hard drive and one entire user, so it should actually be a much smaller backup - so if it did it before on the same external hard disk, I don't understand why it won't now. I'm really confused.
Kahjot - the external hard drive is the same one I backed up to previously - and I have completely erased it and reformatted, and the information I'm backing up now is less, so there should be no reason why it doesn't have enough room now, when there is actually less information on my current hard drive (see my reply to SMH5206). When I plug it in, it says it is a 500.07 GB WD "My Passport"
I've even tried to have time machine only backup certain files, and not the whole thing. Still locking up.
I'm sure it's my error somewhere, - I just don't know how or where

Need to reformat hard drive and restore Time Machine backup. What's the safest way to proceed?

I have a Mac desktop, purchased in 2007. We upgraded last year to Snow Leopard. It has been slow for a few days, and yesterday wouldn't go past the gray screen. Tried booting in recovery with no success, same for safe mode. Even tried fsck -fy. Eventually went to the Snow Leopard install disk and tried to repair disk, but got an "Disk Utility can't repair this disk. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backed-up files" message. I've got Time Machine back ups on an external hard drive, but I want to make sure I do this right and don't make things worse. What steps do I need to take?

In most of the cases, that Disk Utility message means that the hard drive is damaged.
However, you can try to erase the disk and restore the Time Machine backup to see if it works. Follow these steps:
1. Insert the Snow Leopard DVD and press the C key while your Mac is starting.
2. Go to Utilities menu > Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD on the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk. If there's an error during this step, take the Mac to an Apple Store to get a new hard drive.
3. Close Disk Utility, go to Utilities menu, choose the option to restore a Time Machine backup and follow the steps.
If the computer is slow after doing this, take the Mac to an Apple Store as soon as you can

Backing up images on external hard drive and restoring to new internal driv

I recently purchased a new external hard drive and a new internal hard drive. Before installing the new internal drive, I backed up the old internal drive on the external drive. Then I installed the new internal drive to my Macbook Pro. However, when I tried to access and print my Aperture images on the new internal drive, I received an error message saying "versions with unavailable master images cannot be printed." I clicked on 'show referenced files," but couldn't determine how to recover my master images. I checked the forum and under "referenced files go offline after restore from a backup" it said to go to "File>manage referenced files" but nothing else. How can I recover my master images? Please help - I have nearly 6000 images that are lost without recovering the master images. And no, I was ultra stupid in not placing everything in a vault = but I'm relatively new to Mac OS and thought a backup would be sufficient. Thank!

The volume name of the new hard drive needs to be the same as the old hard drive - rename it if you have to - then they should be fine.
If you cannot seem to make this work then you will have to reconnect them with locate referenced files under the file menu. Select all the files that are disconnected before going into the dialog.
RB

Erase hard drive and restore files

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