Erasing the disk.

Hi, i plan on erasing my hard disk and reinstalling the OS X software, as i am having serious problems with my macbook, which archive and install did not fix. I bought my mac with iLife and iWork, however i don't seem to have the disk for iLife. Does this mean i will lose it if i erase the hard drive?

do you mean you bought your mac used? ilife is included with all new macs. do you have the original install disks that came with your mac. ilife is on install disk 1. iwork is not automatically bundled in and you have to have an install disk for it. if you do an erase and install using a retail leopard sisk both ilife and iwork will indeed be gone.

Similar Messages

HT201372 Failed to start erase of disk due to error (-9999, 0). A error occurred erasing the disk.

Tried the recommendations in this article, however ran into the error posted below.
Creating a bootable OS X installer in OS X Mavericks
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app"
Ready to start.
To continue we need to erase the disk at /Volumes/Untitled.
If you wish to continue type (Y) then press return: Y
Failed to start erase of disk due to error (-9999, 0).
A error occurred erasing the disk.
Is there an updated document ?
MacBook 13" white - Early 2009 model

Oh, createinstallmedia only runs on OS 10.9! Oh! The 9999 is if you try to run it on an earlier OS! Oh! Linc means to update the current drive to Mavericks, and then one will be able to run createinstallmedia, if one has first saved away a copy of the installer.
But if, like me, you are trying to create an installer to do a clean install on an empty drive, without replacing the earlier OS on your current drive, then...
You must use the slightly more complicated instructions you can find all over the place that look like
Right click "Install OS X Mavericks.app" and show package contents
Find a certain .dmg file and double click
Find a hidden .dmg within the drive that mounts from the first .dmg
Double-click or use "mount" on the hidden .dmg within the .dmg
Use Disk Utility to "restore" the second disk image onto the erased USB drive
Then replace an alias folder with a copy of a huge folder within the first disk image
I had success with the "Option 2: Use Disk Utility" section here.

When Updatind any OS for iMac, is it better to do it by "Update Software" or erasing the disk?

I had this wondering when Mountain Lion came Out, now that OS X Mavericks it's coming soon I'm not quit sure what kind of process is better for my iMac. The Fact is that my iMac is getting a little bit slow (since iTunes updates began to come out last year) and I dont know if when I do the software update it would get faster or would still have the same speed problems.... So I thought it may be good to erase the disk before updating...
Help Plz!

FelipeOrtiz wrote:
The Fact is that my iMac is getting a little bit slow
You might troubleshoot that issue now...
Make sure you have neough free disk space. Rule of thumb about 10% free minimum.
What happens you login into another user, like Guest. Or better yet, try starting in Safe Mode and see if the slowness still occurs?
Restart holding the "shift" key.
(Expect it to take longer to start this way because it runs a directory check first.)

HT4848 how to erase the disk utility from my usb portbalbe flash drive

how do I erase the disk utility from my usb portbalbe flash drive. I need the flash drive for other stuff and it isn't allowing me to do so.

Here is information on the recovery partition, includin how to remove it from a drive: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20083166-263/managing-the-os-x-10.7-lion-re store-drive/

How to re-install iWork after erasing the disk?

I had to erase the disk, now after I have installed Maverick I see that I've lost iWork and iPhoto. How can I re-install them without having to pay again?

Check the Mac App Store.
Anything you ever purchased (including Mavericks, "purchased" for $0) should appear on your Purchases tab, ready to re-download at any time.

HT4906 Erase the disk for more space but ilife software are all missing!!!

Hey, I just erase the disk for more space, when I reinstall mountain lion, the I life software are all missing! And in app store it shows up that I need to buy them! So ridiculous !!! Why I can use them before

What's ridiculous? You erased the apps. They're not part of the OS. So, reinstall them for wherever their original source was.

Hi!I was restoring my MacBook pro to its factory setting by erasing the disk and reinstalling OS X lion via internet.but it is failing telling me that my network is very slow while I used the best network in the area.How sld I get an OS X lion to my CP?

Hi!I was restoring my MacBook pro to its factory setting by erasing the disk and reinstalling OS X lion via internet.but it is failing telling me that my network is very slow while I used the best network in my area.How should I get an OS X lion to my CP? Is it possible to get it from another MacBook pro?Or is it possible to recover the erased OS X Lion without or with external disc?
Thank you

Hi OGELTHORPE!
Thank you for your advice but I don't know where i can get it and where to get it. Also I don't know also how to use it.
Could you please keep on helping me?
Regards!

Hello! I have a MacBookPro5,1. I recently had to erase the disk and start over. So right now I have OS X. what is the best(cheapest/fastest) way to get current on my OS to be able to use current websites and programs? thanks!

Hello! I have a MacBookPro5,1. I recently had to erase the disk and start over. So right now I have OS X 10.5.5. what is the best(cheapest/fastest) way to get current on my OS to be able to use current websites and programs? thanks!
Right now there is pretty much nothing on it, and I cant download basic things.

Upgrading to 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. Access to the App Store enables you to download Mavericks if your computer meets the requirements.
     Snow Leopard General Requirements
       1. Mac computer with an Intel processor
       2. 1GB of memory
       3. 5GB of available disk space
       4. DVD drive for installation
       5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider;
           fees may apply.
       6. Some features require Apple’s iCloud services; fees and
           terms apply.
Upgrading to Mavericks
You can upgrade to Mavericks from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mavericks can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for FREE.
Upgrading to Mavericks
To upgrade to Mavericks you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Download Mavericks from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Mavericks is free. The file is quite large, over 5 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
    OS X Mavericks- System Requirements
    Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mavericks
         1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
         2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
         3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
         5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
         7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
     Are my applications compatible?
         See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps.

I just bought a Intenso hard drive and its asking me to erase it before using time machine. should i erase the disk?

Hi all.
I just bought a T1B Intenso Hard Drive.
Plugged into my MacBook Pro and TimeMachine instantly pops up asking me if i want to back up.
I do, so I accept and encrypt it.
However, a message appears and asks me if I want to erase the disk (nothing is on there) to be able to continue.
Should I erase the disk?
Will it corrupt the files saved on it?
Thanks all.
±Adam±

Have you already formatted the drive using Disk Utility? If you erase the drive then, yes, you will lose all data on the drive.
If you want to use the drive as a Time Machine volume, however, you MUST format the drive as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" using Disk Utility (Applications>Utilities folder).
Good luck,
Clinton
MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Mavericks 10.9.5, 16GB Crucial RAM, Crucial M500 960GB SSD, 27” Apple Thunderbolt Display

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.

HT3275 "The external disk must be erased before it can be used for Time Machine backups because it has an incompatible filesystem." What if I don't want to erase the disk?

I'm trying to use Time Machine on my Macbook (which is a year old) to back up onto a 1Tb external hard drive. I have 860 Gb free on the hard drive. But for some reason Time machine presents me with the statement above. How can I back-up my laptop without clearing out the data I already have on the hard drive?

Time Machine must back up to a hard drive that has been formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Your drive is likely formatted in FAT 32.
If you want to use the drive for Time Machine backups, you will have to erase it and reformat using Disk Utility on your Mac.
First, move the files that you do not want to lose to another temporary location and test to make sure they are OK.
Second, erase the drive that you want to use for Time Machine backups and format it for Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Third, move the files back to the hard drive. Test to make sure they are OK. When you are sure that the files are safe, you can erase them from their former "temporary" location. (Although I do wonder how you are backing up these files).
Time Machine will not touch the other files that you have on the hard drive.

I have a powerbook g4 and i am having trouble erasing the disk.

I want to dispose of this computer. I go to Utility, Erase, and select the disk, but volume format and name both stay grayed out so I can't continue. Any suggestions?I

Are you possibly using Disk Utility installed on the internal hard disk? If you wish to completely erase a startup disk, you would have to start the computer from another disc/disk. See, for example, the link below:
http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilformat_5.htm
If you do not have access to a suitable system disc, you may want to try an Internet search for an old PowerPC version (dban-2.0.0_powerpc.iso) of a data erasure utility called DBAN instead. Once a bootable CD-R has been created from a downloaded iso file, you could test whether that disc would let you boot the PowerBook G4 (while holding down the C key). Then follow instructions on screen.
Jan

It is telling me to erase the disk than install but i cant loose data

it is telling me to do the erase and install and i cant do any thing else i dont no how to go back to the tiger os to get the data do i cancel the instal and press startup disk???

Cancel the install and reboot. Don't do any sort of install because you'll lose all your data in the HD reformat. If you cancel though, your old system should be unaffected.
FWIW, I had the same problem you have. I wanted to try out Leopard still, so I installed it on an old firewire ipod -- at this point, I'm glad I was unable to upgrade. Stacks are lame, you can no longer drop a folder on the end of the dock and then use it like a menu -- stacks are one level deep only. Secondly but more importantly, X11 is totally borked in Leopard. This won't apply to people who don't use X11, but for me, working X11 is a pre-requisite.
Consider yourself lucky you can't upgrade.
Message was edited by: thepotter

Time Machine is EXTREMELY SLOW. What is the best way to make a complete, reliable copy of the hard drive before i erase the disk?

I was given an older iMac (from 2010) on the condition i first create a complete, reliable copy of everything on her hard drive and then wipe it clean. Is Time Machine the best way to do this so that she can use this data when she needs it? I started Time Machine but it is so slow, at this rate it will take at least 10 days to do the first backup. I'm already on the 3rd day now at about 2.5 GB per day. Is there a better way that is reliable? perhaps some kind of disc copy? This iMac has 4gb memory,processor: 3.06 gHz Intel core i3, model iMac11,2, 1 processor, 2 cores. thank you

Choices.
Clone - Carbon Copy Cloner (Often recommended as it has more features than some others)
Clone – Data Backup
Clone – Deja Vu
Clone - SuperDuper
Clone - Synk
Clone Software – 6 Applications Tested
Time Machine Versus Clones and Archives
Commonly Used Backup Methods

I have an old iBook running 10.3.9 and I want to wipe/erase the disk and get rid of it. Problem is Disk Utility doesn't allow me to erase, it has everything grayed out. And I don't have the original startup CD. Any ideas?

Need to wipe 10.3.9 iBook with no OSX cd and disk utility not allowing me to do it.

You need to use an alternate system; this can be a Mac OS X install disk or a system on an external drive. If needed, buy one from a source such as Amazon or eBay, or phone Apple and ask if they have replacement original disks in stock.
(122593)

Erasing the disk.

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for