I Think I Erased The Entire Drive...Help!

I just got a new Macbook Pro. I did Migration Assistant and transferred everything over to the new unit. After thinking about it for awhile, I wanted to do a clean install from scratch. Did some looking at the internet. Ended up going to the Disk Utility and somehow I erased both the drive and the OS. Initially, I got a flashing folder with a question mark in it. Then it turned into a spinning globe and looked like it was downloading something. After awhile, I get the Disk Utility with four options on it. Can anyone tell me how to make my MacBook look like new again? Just like it asks you the language when you first turn it on. In layman's terms what of the four options do I use? Thanks!!

When you format the drive, you erase OS X too.
In that window with four options, one of them should say "Reinstall OS X", so click it and follow the steps to install OS X. If you are in Disk Utliity, close it first.

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If it is set to automatically update then her original songs will be reloaded from her iTunes when she connects it back to her own PC.
For info:
The iPod offers three ways to transfer music from your computer. You can select one of the following update modes from the iPod Preferences menu in iTunes (Edit=>Preferences=>'iPod' tab):
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Hi, i think i erased the utility folder of my macbook and now every time i try to open it the computer just freezes...? help!

hi, i think i erased the utility folder of my macbook and now every time i try to open it the computer just freezes...? help!

Hi
This sounds like a job for Disk Utility ... but that's located in the Utilities folder ....
Fortunately, there's a spare copy of Disk Utility on the setup disks you should have received with your computer. You need to boot the computer from the setup disk, then find Disk Utility. Inside Disk Utility, "mount" your hard drive and run Repair Disk, then Repair Permissions.
Good luck
Bob

Hello, I just bought a Snow Leopard and I have tried ti install this on my macbook pro 2008 (10.5.8) and I can not do it. I have to erase the hard drive before in order to succeed. Please tell me step by step what to do. I appreciate very much your help.

Hello, I just bought a Snow Leopard and I have tried to install this on my macbook pro 2008 (10.5.8) and I can not do it. I have to erase the hard drive before in order to succeed. Please tell me step by step what to do. I appreciate very much your help.
Thanks

Here are the directions:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3910?viewlocale=en_US
Ciao.

How to fix my mac after erasing the hard drive?

So I decided earlier today that I wanted to reset my Macbook Air (2011 I think) to factory settings. Being me, I didn't do enough research and ended up erasing my hard drive in Disk Utility. I'm not entirely tech savvy, but I erased the hard drive in which Macintosh HD was a partition of. Now, whenever I turn on my computer, there's just a blank screen with a blinking folder with a question mark on it. My mac won't go into recovery mode or anything. Do I have to go out and buy a new OS X disc?

Did your Mac come with a USB stick with the original OS X on it? If so, you could use that.
Check out this page for help on Recovery. OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
Also, if you bought it from an Apple store, best call them for help.
Presumably, you do not have a bootable backup.

Final Cut Pro slowing down the entire computer - Help!

I wonder if anyone can please help me.
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I should clarify that it makes no difference what project is open, in fact after the re-install there wasn't a single project open however the problem persisted.
After restarting the computer returns to it's usual speed until Final Cut is opened again.
I went to the Apple Store and they told me to reinstall the program and free up some space on my computer, both of which I've just done but to no avail.
Has anyone else experienced this problem? I'm desperate for help as I need this software for my degree. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I'm using a Mac Book Pro running Leopard, with 41. 68 GB of free space and my copy of Final Cut is legit.

I can understand people's resistance to this process but it is absolutely the only way to ensure a problem free installation of your professional applications.
Herein are X's rules for a happy erase and reinstallation experience.
• Make a list of all Applications to install. Which ones do you need? Go through your Applications and Utilities folder and note which ones you'll want to reinstall. Note the version.
(I don't know about you, but I had a shocking number of apps I downloaded, used for a few times and never used again. Forget installing these disused apps.)
• If you are upgrading from a PPC to an intel machine, you'll want to know if the apps are UB or PPC. Upgrading your PPC software to UB can be a significant cost in a PPC to intel conversion. Know what you are getting into - do a search before installation to see if there is a UB version available. You can find out whether an app is PPC or UB by looking in System Profiler>Software>Applications. This window will also tell you the current installed version number. Generate a .pdf file of it and have everything listed for your records.
• In the list, note whether is was a download or you have a disk. If it was a download, find the DMG or installer package and copy it to an external firewire drive. Put it in a folder titled - Apps to be installed - or something easily identifiable.
• If you need to go back to a previous version (e.g. QT 6.5.2) download the dmg file BEFORE you start the installation process.
• In the list, note if the application is a full install or an UPGRADE. If an upgrade, make sure you have the previous version's disks (as well as the serial numbers - see below).
If the UPGRADE version does not require the previous version to be present - eg when installing the upgrade version of FCP 6, DO NOT install earlier software. All you'll need is the previous serial number. The way to figure this out is to try to install the newest version. If it needs the previous version present before proceeding, the install process will tell you that.
Some upgrades will require that a version of the previous app is on the disk. If this is the case, when you install the first version, simply install the minimum so the app will be on the hard drive. You will need to do this because there will be NOTHING on the disk after you do your clean erase.
• Referencing your list, find ALL your disks before you start. This includes previous versions if you are unsure whether they will be needed.
• Spend some time looking through this forum for Professional Application installation issues. The classic example is a conflict between Logic and FCP. Install FCP first and you'll have no issues.
• Sort your list into an installation sequence. Lay out your disks in that order.
• Referencing the list, make sure you have ALL your serial numbers including those you've downloaded. I've purchased a number of programs on line and the only documentation of the serial number was an email. All those are kept in a dedicated folder in Mac Mail. For serial numbers that arrived via electronic means, use cut and paste instead of re-typing whenever possible. This will prevent errors in transcription.
In making the list, TEXT EDIT works ok, (I use Excel). Text edit has the benefit of being easily readable on any mac. Print the list out for reference, put a copy on a flash drive or a firewire drive where you can access it to cut and past serial numbers during the installation process.
• Recognize this is going to take some time. Ranting, drinking too much coffee, swearing, sitting in front of the computer watching the progress bar, etc will not make things go faster. All it will to is put you in a really bad frame of mind. Do it over a weekend when you can be multitasking. While you are cleaning off the mountains of paper on your desk or raking the yard, you can take regular breaks to check on progress.
Process -
• Download Carbon Copy Cloner or one of the other backup utilities and do a full backup of your existing system drive to an external firewire drive. Make the drive bootable. *Do not* cheap out on this as this is your insurance policy. If you forget something or can not find a serial number, you often can find it and copy it from the backup system to the newly installed version. Or, if things go horribly wrong, you can simply copy the old system back to your computer and pick up where you left off.
If you have a MacPro or G5 tower, an alternative to cloning your existing system disk is to pick up a new hard drive to use as the clean new system disk. Your existing system disk will be the clone.
• Once you have gathered and organized all the materials and backed up the drive or installed the new system drive ...
• Insert your OSX installation disk, reboot the computer from it and erase the hard drive. Use the ZEROs option as this will map out any bad sectors. This will take time. See the note above.
• Install the OS. If it is an upgrade install, see the note above regarding upgrade installs. Repair Permissions and then run the updates. Repair Permissions.
• Install your applications following your list. Make sure to Repair Permissions after each install and update..
Have fun, be prepared for a few minor glitches. If you multitask, you can get the garage/ or office cleaned out and your computer rebuilt. In all honesty, this process took all weekend plus time in the next week as I discovered apps that needed additional updates, configuration settings, etc. No doubt it would have been faster if I was sitting at the console the whole time, but I was able to get the office cleaned up and organized (which also makes ME much faster). Overall it was a very slick process.
When you have a fully functioning system again (you have tested all applications and everything works), CLONE the new system and put your info, your notes and the disks in a safe place - once you've done this once, why go through the pain of organizing this stuff again ...
Now, rejoice in a much faster machine with a lot more free disk space.
Cheers,
x

So lately I decided I was tired of Tiger, and decided I would upgrade to Leopard. Well I made the mistake of erasing the hard drive before I made sure it would work. Well now like the installer was before it failed. And now when I boot it just won't work

So lately I decided I was tired of Tiger, and decided I would upgrade to Leopard. Well I made the mistake of erasing the hard drive before I made sure it would work. Well now like the installer was before it failed. And now when I boot I get the normal finder/question mark flashing folder. I also found a power Mac g4 that needs a new operating system. It's running 9.2. It's going to my grandma as a gift. I really need help.

I think you'll need to find a Retail 10.5 Disc.
Leopard requirements/10.5.x...
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minimum system requirements
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Classic/OS9 Apps no longer supported.
Trouble is Apple no longer sells it, check eBay & such for the Retail version, not the Gray Discs...
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=mac+os+x+leopard+retail+10.5
There are workarounds if the 867MHz CPU is the only hangup...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/leopardassist/
http://lowendmac.com/osx/leopard/unsupported.html
List of Applications Not Compatible with Leopard...
http://guides.macrumors.com/List:Applications_Not_Compatible_with_Leopard

How do I properly zero out or erase the hard drives in my early 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 tower?

How do I properly zero out or erase the hard drives in my early 2009 Mac Pro 4,1 tower?
I assume there are already instructions on Apple.com someplace but haven't seen them yet… I have to one terabyte drives one the operating system the other is blank I want to start fresh I want to zero out both drives but I didn't want to make any mistakes
I know I can use disk utility to 0 Out Dr., #2 that means I will have to take out the operating system hard drive out of my 2008 Mac Pro and put it into my 2009 Mac Pro to use the disk utility to zero out drive one the OS drive in my 2009 Mac Pro am my correct
I just need a little bit a help I want to go slow so I don't make any mistakes with the sleds or with the erasing process which journaled to choose encrypted or not etc. etc.
Furthermore is there instructions on the site on how to change the hard drive into a different sled because the sleds and my 2009 are different than my 2008 any advice
Thank you

I'm doing this because my friend told me that zeroing out the drive can nap bad sectors and also later for some kind of diagnostics usage of the drive or something like that he wasn't really clear
My friend was really specific he said choose the option that writes zero's once over the drive that is plenty good enough I was inclined to use the maximum seven write ...I just want to make sure the drive has no bad sectors and that's it's it's zeroed out for possible future diagnostics usage or something that he said was usable later
he also advised me to run a test on it but I don't have the software you mentioned or the software that he has… So I may have to take the drives over to his house unless you have some kind of free software that's easy to use that you could suggest that will not only zero out the drive but test the drive completely
I am completely new to Mac I'm no dummy but at the same time I'm not super technically capable I mean I can surprise myself I'm pretty good but I need a good teacher… How expensive is this lifeguard software?
Thank you

How do I erase the hard drive on my 2007 Macbook with operating system 10.4.11 ?

I am going to recycle my old Macbook and want to erase the hard drive. When I go into utilities-disk utility-click on Macintosh HD-and the Erase tab, the only active button is Erase Free Space. The Security Options and Erase button are not active. How can I erase the entire hard drive? The operating system is 10.4.11.

You have to boot to another drive. You cannot erase the drive to which you are booted. Typically you would use the system installer discs that were provided with the computer originally.
Alternatively you can use another computer which is running OSX and put the old one in Target Disk Mode. The old one will simply be seen as a normal hard drive which you can erase.
How to use FireWire target disk mode - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661 - includes description of hardware and software requirements. [What to do if your Mac doesn't enter FireWire Target Disk Mode|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75414], also read about [Open Firmware Password Protection|http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/openfirmwarepassword.html] which can disable Target Disk Mode.

Following having to erase the hard drive, I am attempting to re-install CS5 upgrade........

Following having to erase the hard drive, I am attempting to re-install CS5 from previously registered CDs as an upgrade to CS2. Although at the time of purchase, CS2 was acceptable, and the serial numbers of the NEW software remain registered on my 'account', the serial number of the original CS2 is now rejected as UN-acceptable, the oldest version now acceptable seeming to be CS3
What do I do????

can you select cs2 as an upgradeable option in the dropdown box after entering your cs5 serial number?
if yes, use this serial number, Error: Activation Server Unavailable | CS2, Acrobat 7, Audition 3
if not, contact adobe support by clicking here and, when available, click 'still need help', https://helpx.adobe.com/contact.html

My disk utility will not let me highlight jornaled in mthe drop down menu. I need to erase the entire mac for re sell purposes.

My disk utility will not let me highlight journaled in the drop down menu. I need to erase the entire mac for re sell purposes.

You need to be booted from another source as you cannot delete or reformat the drive you are booted from. See if you can either use the original install disks (Snow Leopard or earlier) or internet recovery (Lion or later) to boot from and then be able to use the Partition tab to partition and format it correctly.

SOS! My MacAir could not be turn on after I erase the hard drive memories

After I erase the hard drive memories, the MacAir could not be turn on. When I turn it on, there is a question mark show in the screen n then nothing. What should I do now?

After I erase the hard drive memories, the MacAir could not be turn on.
With no OS to startup to, that would be the expected result.
Restart and hold down the Command+R keys to startup into Recovery Mode. Reinstall the OS.
If that doesn't work (you erased literally the whole drive), restart and hold down Command+Option+R to launch Internet Recovery Mode. The entire OS for your model Mac will be reinstalled.
You will need an Internet connection for either OS installation.

Installing a clean OS X Mavericks without erasing the hard drive?

Is it possible to install a "clean" OS X Mavericks (i.e. a fresh OS, NOT just upgrading over the existing OS) without erasing the hard drive? I might be dating myself here, but I recall being able to do this with previous OS upgrades. I'm currently running Mountain Lion and think maybe something has gotten corrupted. I am specifically having trouble with Time Machine. I'm hoping a fresh OS will fix it, but I'd rather not erase my hard drive. Since Time Machine isn't working, backing up and restoring the hard drive would be tedious.

Use the Disk Utility to repartition the drive, or install Mavericks onto an external one. The Archive & Install option was removed in 10.6.
(101375)

How do I erase the Hard drive????

My iBook is about 4 or 5 years old with a brand new 80GB hard drive and brand new Charger plug. Now my logic board is broken and I don't want to put any more money in fixing it. So I just want to sell it but want to erase the hard drive first. Anybody can tell me how to do that?

ElkeTheStallion, welcome to Apple Discussions.
Here's how I understand your request.
You have an iBook that is inop due to a logic board failure. This precludes booting the iBook with a CD/DVD to use Disk Utility to erase the HD. You also can't boot the iBook in Target Disk mode to interface with your MacBook to erase the HD.
So your only alternative is to remove the HD from the iBook and install it in an external drive housing - USB or Firewire (best). Then you can interface the HD to your MacBook to retrieve the files & transfer to your MacBook & then erase.
These links give the instructions for removing the HD.
Fix It Guides for Mac Laptops & Mini
http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/
The guides can be viewed on-line or you can download a PDF file.
How to Upgrade, Repair, Disassemble an Apple/Macintosh Laptop or Notebook
http://repair4laptop.org/disassembly_apple.html
PowerBookTech
http://www.powerbooktech.com/
Suggestion - If you are going to sell the iBook for parts, don't reinstall the HD. It won't bring you much more $ in a laptop that won't work. Retain the 80GB HD and use it as a backup for your MacBook.
 Cheers, Tom

How can I securely erase the hard drive for PowerBook G4 running 10.2.3?

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See this Apple note. Secure erase was added in 10.2.3, but in a different place than later releases.

I Think I Erased The Entire Drive...Help!

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