Reinstall OSX and Reformat Hard Drive

I have an older MacBook Pro that I am trying to clean up and sell. I cannot find the original CDs that came with the computer that have the OSX install and applications on them. What I do have is a Snow Leopard install DVD but I cannot figure out how to reformat the hard drive with Snow Leopard. I'm only figuring out how to do an upgrade install which does not refomrat the hard drive.
Will it be possible for me to do reformat the drive without those original CDs? What if I upgrade to Mavericks?
Thanks!

Thanks for help. I'm looking at the Disk Utility option now after putting the Snow Leopard disk in. I'm a bit confused... If I choose erase disk, wouldn't that totally wipe the hard drive and the current OSX on the machine and NOT install a new version? Would I then need to boot from the OSX disk after erasing the hard drive to install Leopard?

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Reinstalling OSX on new hard drive without reinstalling other programs?

Hi,
I've been having numerous problems with Logic Pro for a while, especially with core audio overload messages with more than a few tracks of VSL (large samples).
I was advised to run Onyx, which told me my main system drive needed repair. I ran Disk Utility from the Boot disc, but this could not repair the drive.
I then tried Diskwarrior with a similar result - DW reported that it had set up the new directory but could not remove the old one due to a disk problem. When I look at the system directory it looks the same though.
I still have the problems with Logic, so I guess it's time to replace the system hard drive. I'd be grateful for help with how to go about it, in particular with avoiding reinstalling Logic and all the plugins I've installed with it if possible as this would be a massive pain.
I have a second internal drive for audio which has a reasonable amount of space on it which can be used. This is a new drive as the old hard disk also became damaged - is there any event which could have led to both disks being damaged? Or is it just coincidence?
Any help gratefully received. I'm going nuts trying to fix this problem.
Thanks
Jamie

Hi Jamie,
Two possibilities I see for what you want...
1. I've used that DiskWarrior Alias to actually clone the whole works to another drive using Tri-Backup...
http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html
Though it may work to use...
Carbon copy cloner...
http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html
SuperDuper...
http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/
But that may wipe things off the other drive if you don't know how to avoid it.
2. Install OSX fresh on the other Drive, then 1st time it boots up see if Migration Assistant can pull all your stuff over from the 1st Drive.

Imac problems loading snow leopard and reformatting hard drive so its fresh

hello im currently running a 2.8 Ghz intel core 2 duo i mac i have apparently downloaded the new snow leopard but my hard drives are all funky i have a 500gb internal and a 1tb external but neither seem to be responding to the new update ?

Does the hard drive appear in finder (on your desktop)? If not, does it appear in Disk Utility (
/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app)? What was the format of the hard drive?

Can I recover data from a reformatted hard drive? I did not do a back up prior to talking to Apple Support and the guy having me delete the hard drive and start anew. My bad but is all lost??

Can I recover data from a reformatted hard drive? I did not complete a back up prior to talking to Apple Support and the guy having me delete the hard drive (10.5.8) and start anew (10.6.3). My bad but is all lost?? Years of very important information....

You will need to purchase reovery sofware such as such as FileSalvage
http://subrosasoft.com/software/filesalvage
You can download a demo copy that will tell you what it can recover
If you want to recover that you must pay for the software then
When you do the recovery, you will need another disk drive to receive the recovered files
Having install a new operating system on the disk after the retformat is going to gradually reduce the amount of data that this software will be able to recover for you
Allan

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

Bootcamp - OSx on one hard drive and windows 7 64bit on another hard drive

I have browsed the forum and the net without getting a clear answer
Fact:
With optical bay and two hard drives there is a posibility to use two harddrives within the sam MacBook Pro. The reason is space and speed, I want loads of space to all my projects and i want to use SSD that are not so spacious.
Need:
I want OSx on primary hard drive, and win7 64bit on the drive in the optical bay, replacing the DVD.
Question:
Is there a posibility to set up bootcamp this way, and how does one procede to land in this solution.
Please help me with a clear answer.
// Daniel

Installing on multiple drives of course can be done.
I consider it normal, common sense approach.
Anyone with a Mac Pro (not laptop) or PC.
Dedicated boot drives for each OS.
Dedicated data drives.

Reinstall Windows 8 on workstation with no recovery media and new hard drive.

Hello. I am needing help with a specific request.
We have a workstation what is running Windows 8. The hard drive failed. The machine has no recovery media that was created, however it is orderable through HP.
With that in mind, where are the tools for IT Pros to reinstall Windows 8 from .ISO or USB media, as we could do in Windows 7 and previous versions?
Windows 8 keeps the license key stored in the BIOS from what I read, and one option is using an .ISO for Windows 8 from an MSDN account. The install will scan the BIOS for the key, find it, and will activate Windows 8.
We are Silver Partner. currently we are turning people away or telling them they must have their Factory Recovery Media for us to reinstall Windows 8 after hard drive failures, since we cannot find any .ISO available, and there is no plain Product Key on
the machine.

Hi ,
"one option is using an .ISO for Windows 8 from an MSDN account."I am afraid it will not work.
The copy of Windows that the OEM installs on a computer is valid only on that unique computer, so it can only be reinstalled and reactivated from the OEM-provided recovery media on that computer. So
I am afraid an .ISO for Windows 8 from an MSDN account won`t be activated automatically.
Here is link for reference:
Windows Activation in Development and Test Environments
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd981009.aspx
1.I agree with britishdhez, the best way to solved this issue is contactting the manufacture for a recovery media.
2.As an alternative choice, there is a similar situation and Justin offers several other solutions. Here is the link for reference:
How to install and active a windows 8 after change a hard drive?
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3591-73-install-active-windows-change-hard-drive
NOTE: This response contains a reference to a third party World Wide Web site. Microsoft is providing this information as a convenience to you. Microsoft does not control these sites and has not tested any software or information found on these sites.
Best regards

I just restarted my mac then suddenly when it boots,disk utility came and says different option like repair disk, get help, reinstall OSX and I tried to click disk repair but it says that I am um able to repair the disk

i just restarted my mac then suddenly when it boots,disk utility came and says different option like repair disk, get help, reinstall OSX and I tried to click disk repair but it says that I am um able to repair the disk

It sounds like your hard drive either has a software problem that Disk Utility cannot fix or that the HD has failed (mechanically).
Your Mac may have booted either to your recovery partition or to internet recovery in an attempt to repair the drive- I can't tell from your post.
I'll assume that it was the recovery partition.
Try to boot into internet recovery (hold down option command R at restart), and see if you can repair your HD with Disk Utility. You should also repair permissions while you're there.
If that doesn't work, try to boot into single user mode (restart, hold down ⌘S until you see a black screen with white text) and repair your hard drive. Here's a reference with directions: Repair Your Hard Disk in Single User Mode | Everything Macintosh
If that doesn't work you have a few options:
If your mac originally came with installation disks, you can try to boot from the installation disk and then see if you can repair the HD.
There is a small chance that Techtool Pro 7 will be able to repair your HD if Disk Utility can't.
If none of that works then your HD has probably failed and will need to be replaced, which is not too difficult to do yourself if you can use a screwdriver.

Help to reinstall OS X afetar hard drive replacement

Hello.
I have a Mac book pro 17" model A1297. I have no recovery media, and his hard drive is bad. Several times it doesn't startup properly.
I have a brand new 500gb HDD, and I can replace the original HDD.
I need help to reinstall OS X, because as said, I have no DVD or pen drive with OS X instalator.
thank you so much.

Your original OS X version was 10.5.6. You need to do one of two things:
Contact Apple and order replacement DVDs for your model, if they have them available.
Purchase the Snow Leopard DVD so you can install it on the computer.
For replacements:
Apple Store Customer Service at 1-800-676-2775 or visit online Help for more information.
To contact product and tech support: Contacting Apple for support and service - this includes
international calling numbers..
For the Snow Leopard DVD:
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.
Once you receive the required discs you will need to prepare the new hard drive then install OS X:
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
     1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard or Tiger 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.
For Snow Leopard or Tiger you should open Software Update in order to install any additional required updates.

OS X Mavericks doesn't read my usb, sd and external hard drive

Hi all,
I am using Macbook pro (Mid 2010) and recently upgraded to OSX 10.9.3. Since switching to Mavericks, I have problems with using USB, SD Card and External hard drive (Freecom Classic II). The outcome is random. Sometimes, I am able to use it for a while and then it suddenly goes away (from the finder) or it mounts and fades into grey and then disappears.
I did read through the forum and followed PRAM resetting. However, it works for the moment and when I restart or try to use these devices again (days later) I end-up facing the same issues with USB, SD and EHD.
I checked all these devices in my PC and Ubuntu. All of them works fine.
Any directions?
regards,
Martin

Might be corrupted Finder preferences ...
Open the Finder. From the Finder menu bar click Go > Go to Folder
Type or copy paste the following:
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
Click Go then move the com.apple.finder.plist file to the Trash
Restart your Mac then go to Finder > Preferences > General
Make sure External disks is selected.

Reinstall Elements 8 after Hard drive crash

I need to see how to reinstall Elements after my hard drive was replaced. My version of Elements was a download from Adobe.
Thank you

Did you make the backup of downloaded software? Generally people tend to make backups of all software they buy digitally including a record of the necessary serial number for events like you are describing.
If you try to login to your account at Adobe then you might find a link and the serial number otherwise try thios link:
<http://prodesigntools.com/direct-download-links-for-lightroom-3-and-photoshop-elements-8.h tml>
You will need serial number to activate this product otherwise it would be a complete waste of time downloading such a big file again.
Good luck.

Issue with usb flash and removable hard drives in Lion. (also an install tip)

Having an issue with my usb flash and removable hard drives. I plug them in and Lion does not display all my files/folders, I take it out and plug it into my snow leopard machine and all the files/folders are there, does anyone have this issue?
It does it on my macbook pro which was a snow leopard upgrade to Lion and it does it on my macbook which was a clean install of Lion via a bootable flash drive.
The computers both work great in all other aspects, so there were no errors on installation. It's plain and simple, some files/folders are not showing up that are present on the drives and viewable on all other non-lion OS's mac and PC.
Also a word on installs, I highly suggest doing a clean install (delete and reformat drive them install Lion vs a snow leopard ugrade) my machine that was a clean install (macbook) runs 50% faster and smoother than the upgraded one (macbook pro).

Yes, you can use your backup disk drives in the manner you describe, but Apple provides conflicting information on the subject.
From Mac Basics: Time Machine
Time Machine can’t backup to an external drive that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule, or a drive formatted for Microsoft Windows ...
From Time Machine doesn't back up to AirPort Extreme AirPort Disks
Time Machine in Mac OS X v10.5 or later can be used to back up to many kinds of Mac OS Extended-formatted drives, but you cannot choose an AirPort Extreme 802.11n's AirPort Disk as a Time Machine backup volume.
However, you can choose Time Capsule AirPort Disks or internal disks as a Time Machine backup volume.
They have yet to resolve this discrepancy.
All other available technical details regarding Time Machine's use seem to indicate that a USB HD connected to Time Capsule should meet Time Machine's requirements. For what it's worth I have been using an external HDD connected to the Time Capsule's USB port and it seems to function just fine.

How do I reinstall Indesign after my hard drive has been deleted?

How do I reinstall Indesign after my hard drive has been deleted?

After getting a hard drive back in working order you can either reinstall the software using the disks if you purchased disks, or you can download your software as a trial version and use your original serial number to activate it.
If the software is the latest version you can download it from Adobe's product pages.
If the software is an older version you can download the trial version of the software using the link below and then use your current serial number to activate it.
Be sure to follow the steps outlined in the Note: Very Important Instructions section on the download pages at this site.
http://prodesigntools.com/tag/ddl

How do I reinstall lightroom after computer hard drive had to be wiped?

I have a Mac desktop, it crashed over the weekend and the hard drive had to be wiped. I need to know how I go about reinstalling Lightroom. I don't think I have an install disk.

I haven't tried plugging it in directly. At this point in time, I am awaiting disks for iPhoto and iMovie installation. I also found out that I will have to load all my photos and videos and such from the backup disks I have created through the years. Blech. I knew this would be time consuming. Being as MobileMe closes in June, I'm sure glad I started migrating early...
Thank you for your help. I may just leave this discussion open in case I have more questions after I get the disks and the new external hard drive I ordered (which is temporarily out of stock.)

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. suggestions to complete backup please?

I have an older macbook pro and the hard drive is starting to go (making loud noises). i tried to back up to an external hard drive (my passport essential se) using time machine and the computer keeps shutting down. the same thing happens when just trying to save my pictures from iphoto to a flash drive. suggestions to complete backup please?

Sounds like you'll need to access that drive while it is not booted. You need to replace it anyway, so do that, then one way or another (ext enclusure, et), access it and copy files.
If you keep trying to boot it, you might kill it for good and not get your files, so just swap it out first.

Reinstall OSX and Reformat Hard Drive

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