Restoring a wiped MacBook without discs...possible?

Okay, so I should have learnt from previous computers but I haven't...
I recently bought a 2007 MacBook from a friend to use as a music library computer and general laptop. The MacBook was totally full of needless files and a mess with files, so I firewired the MacBook to my iMac and wiped the drive. I was hoping that my MacBook Pro (I used to have two of these) discs, one with 10.4.8 one with 10.5.2 would boot up the Mac but no. I also have original 10.3 and 10.4 operating system discs and neither of these work either. Oops. I am now getting a flashing ? and a bit stuck.
Do I need to order replacement discs from Apple? Or, can I buy a later operating system such as 10.6 or 10.7 as fresh discs and put this straight on?
The spec is:
MacBook 13.3"
Processor:
1.83GHz Core 2 Duo (T5600)
Serial #:
4H7121XDWGK
Model #:
A1181
It has 2GB of RAM.

According to this site you need to call Apple and request Lion.
http://www.tuaw.com/2013/01/24/mac-os-x-10-7-lion-is-still-available-for-purchas e-from-apple/
An excerpt:
Here's the twist: his MacBook cannot run Mountain Lion (10.8), and Lion (10.7) is no longer available for sale on the Mac App Store. It's also not available on Apple's website, or Amazon.com, or anywhere else (with very few exceptions which all looked extremelyunreliable).
The good news is that Lion is still available from Apple... but you have to call Apple to get it. It will cost you US$20 and will come to you as a redeemable code that you will use in the Mac App Store, which means that you will need a Mac running at least 10.6.8 to use the code.
The only weird part is that the Apple Support salesman said that it may take "up to a couple of days" to get the redemption code. I'm not sure why that is, but my guess is that if you haven't upgraded to Lion yet, waiting another day or two won't be a huge deal.

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Any way to reformat Macbook without discs?

Hello!
I've had this macbook pro (currently running osx version 10.5.8) for some time now (early 2008 i think).. and it's starting to give me a ton of problems, some of my buttons have stopped functioning (letter buttons) i've heard 3 beeps a few times, but nothing as of late.. but it's just running super slow no matter what i've done (removed/deleted all pictures/files off and placed it on external hard drive, gotten rid of unneeded/extra software) but still slow and makes me want to rip out my hair.
One of my friends said to try to reformat it, but the problem is, I have misplaced the box and the
Mac OS X Install DVD and all the other stuff it came with (as we have moved in 2010).. is there anyway to reformat my computer without the install DVD? or am I just stuck with my macbook like this now?
help anyone!

10.6 Snow Leopard would be excellent choice for your 2008 MBP, what it does is strips out the PPC code your not using in 10.5 Leopard and offer faster video drivers and some nice bells and whistles.
10.6 is faster than 10.5 (video driver improvements) and 10.6 is slightly faster than 10.7.1 (tested on the same hardware)
(It might be that 10.7.3+ is possibly a hair bit faster than 10.6, I haven't seen any recent speed comparisons lately.)
A advantage with 10.6 is you get to keep running most of your present 10.5 software, some will require a update to work in 10.6 under Rosetta which is a compatability layer.
Most all software and hardware drivers for older third party devices work for 10.6, so your good to go.
Do backup your files off the computer to a storage drive (not TimeMachine) and disconnect before making any major changes.
You can buy the $29 10.6.3 Snow Leopard upgrade/install disk from Apple online.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A
(to boot off the 10.6.3. disk, hold c upon boot. You then have two choices, upgrade 10.5 to 10.6 only, or use Disk Utility first to erase everything on the drive then install 10.6)
Now about 10.7, it's a new OS that came out in July, it's all 64bit and thus it doesn't run Rosetta (of 10.6) and thus your 10.5 software will not work with it.
Some third party software is not ready for 10.7 yet, and a lot of hardware drivers for printers and scanners may not function for it. You will have to do your homework check this table.
http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
10.7 Lion represents a rather drastic change to OS X in some aspects that need getting used to, no boot disks, internet recovery and the MacAppStore etc.
10.8 is going to be released THIS SUMMER and nearly no software is ready for it obviously and won't run on older hardware (to be determined)
I think 10.7 should run fine on your machine, you may have to upgrade the RAM to 4GB to get better performance.
So you have to make a decision, if it's wise for you to have to buy all new versions of software for your older Mac and run 10.7 or stay with 10.6.8 and run the software you have (minor updates) until perhaps a year from now when 10.8 is out on brand new hardware and the bugs are worked out of it, buy all new software then.
IMO option #2 with 10.6.8 now, 10.8 later on new hardware is a better choice than option #1 going with 10.7 and paying more money for software for little reason, or going without as some software isn't ready yet for 10.7.
I don't know what or how much investment in software you have; if little, then 10.7 is nothing, if a lot then you perhaps may want to hold off 10.7 for now.
If you do decide to go to 10.7, I advise buying the $69 Lion USB thumb drive and option key booting from that, erasing the entire drive and installing 10.7 directly. Skipping right over 10.6.
With the Lion USB you can install 10.7 anytime you want, no internet connection required, however if you upgrade 10.5 to 10.6 ($29) then to 10.7 ($29), then you have to use Internet Recovery from your boot drive, I don't know how reliable your Internet is, but a $69 USB is certainly more reliable for only a few dollars more.
Good luck.

MAC OSX 10.3.6 having Boot Problems(Gray Screen with Spinning wheel all the Time) ,How to restore all the files without Mac Startpup Disc,still is not possible i want to download full CD from Apple Site, Is It Possible to Download!

Hi Frnds,Small Favour for me,...
MAC OSX 10.3.6 having Boot Problem(Gray Screen with Spinning wheel all the Time) ,How to restore all the files without Mac Startpup Disc,still is not possible i want to download full CD from Apple Site, Is It Possible to Download!, Windows 7 is working perfectly , can i restore any files in MAC OSX 10.3.6 through Windows 7, or i need the MAC OSX 10.3.6 Bootable Files i need to enter the MAC OSX....

Hi Frnds,Small Favour for me,...
MAC OSX 10.3.6 having Boot Problem(Gray Screen with Spinning wheel all the Time) ,How to restore all the files without Mac Startpup Disc,still is not possible i want to download full CD from Apple Site, Is It Possible to Download!, Windows 7 is working perfectly , can i restore any files in MAC OSX 10.3.6 through Windows 7, or i need the MAC OSX 10.3.6 Bootable Files i need to enter the MAC OSX....

How to restore from Time Machine WITHOUT install discs using a second Mac

It's a question that is asked repeatedly all over the web by Mac users like me that bought in to Time Machine (TM) on the assumption that if their computer died one day it would be a piece of cake to restore from it, only for that day to come and then to be told "ahh, okay the first thing is to get your computers install discs..." (loud crashing sound of world falling around ears).
I've never been able to afford a new Mac and both of my machines were bought second-hand. Neither came with Leopard (both have Tiger and have been upgraded to Leopard via the net). This was never supposed to be a problem as I've been backing up with TM. However it appears that Tiger discs are as much use as an inflatable dart board when it comes to using TM. So I've been faced with the possibility of having to spend £130 (about two hundred Pres Sheets, Yankees) on the Leopard install discs just so that I can have the option of restoring from TM. Bonkers.
However after much nashing of teeth, a very long weekend learning all sorts of things about 'Target Mode', 'Single User Mode', 'Verbose Mode', 'Open Source 9' etc the following solution has worked without the need to go out and buy those over-priced discs...
What you will need:
1 broken Mac requiring restoration
1 second donor Mac running Leopard (or Snow Leopard so long as the broken Mac can run it)
1 firewire cable with the correct fitting at either end to attach both Macs together
1 Time Machine backup
Note: The following is for when you have given up trying to boot from your hard drive. In my case I couldn't boot in to Safe Mode etc. so was forced to format my drive and re-import everything. If you've read this far I'm assuming your at the same point as well and have tried everything else that's out there first.
Also - both my Macs are Power PC's so can't run Snow Leopard, so I can't say 100% this will work with SL (Intel) machines. From what I've read Snow Leopard will work with this procedure too, but if you've found differently please feel free to add your experiences below...
STEP ONE: Format the corrupt Hard Drive or replace with a fresh HDD
*Link the two computers with a firewire.
*If you're replacing your HDD, remove your corrupted hard drive from the 'broken' machine and insert a new one.
*Power up the broken Mac whilst holding down the 'T' key. This will start it up in Target Mode and you'll get a nice firewire symbol floating around that machine's screen.
*Power up the second 'healthy' Mac. This will be our 'donor' machine. When it starts up after a few seconds you will see the hard drive of the broken Mac appear on the donor Mac's desktop.
*Using your donor Mac's 'Disc Utility', format the broken Mac's hard drive (now's the time to partition it etc. if you want to).
STEP TWO: Clone your donor Mac
Your broken Mac is no longer broken and now needs a new OS. But you don't have the discs, right? Well get this... you can clone your donor mac on to your machine, even if they are totally different i.e. a laptop on to a tower.
*Again using Disc Utility, click on your donor Mac's hard drive. The restore tab appears as an option.
*Click on restore and drag the donor Mac's hard drive that contains the operating system in to the Source box.
*Drag the newly formatted hard drive on the broken Mac in to the Destination box.
*Click restore. Your donor Mac's hard drive will now be 'cloned' on to your no-longer-broken Mac. Once this is done, eject the first Mac's hard drive from your donor Mac's desktop. You no longer need the donor Mac.
Ta daa! Your machine now starts up happy and smily again. Time to restore all that stuff that's been sat on your Time Machine drive...
STEP 3: Restore from Time Machine using Migration Assistant
This is the really clever part that prompted me to write this piece in the first place. Time Machine IS accessible without those Leopard install discs you don't have. You need to use something called 'Migration Assistant'.
*Start up your machine as normal and you'll see it is an exact clone of the donor machine. Weird huh?
*Attach your Time Machine hard drive. It will show up as an icon on the desktop and because of it's size, you'll be asked if you want to use it as a Time Machine backup. Err, NO YOU DON'T! Click 'cancel'.
*Open Migration Assistant (if you can't find it just type it in to Finder and click). There are three options, the middle one being to restore from TM or another disc. Yup, you want that one.
*Migration Assistant will now ask you what you want to restore in stages, firstly User Accounts, then folders, Apps etc. It will even import internet settings
And that's you done. Let Migration Assistant do it's thang... altogether I had about 140gb to restore, so it wasn't exactly speedy. This wasn't helped by the fact that my TM hard drive is connected via USB (yes, I know). Just leave it alone and it'll whirr happily away...
Before I go - you don't have an option of when to restore from, and will restore from the last Time Machine save. At least then you should be able to access TM and go 'backwards' if you need to.
Also - for a Mac expert, the above will be up there with 'Spot Goes To The Farm' in terms of complexity. However, for the rest of us the above is only available in fragments all over the net. By far the most common response to 'how do I restore from Time Machine without install discs' is 'you can't'. If I'd found the above information in one place I could have saved a lot of hair pulling and swearing over the last couple of days, so forgive me for sharing this workaround with the rest of the world. Meanwhile your expertise will come in very handy for the inevitable questions that will get posted below, so please feel free to help those people that won't be sure if this solution is the right one for them. I'm no expert, I just want to help people that were stuck in the same situation (and looking at the web, there's a LOT of them).
Hope this is of use to someone, thanks and *good luck*!

Most maintenance and repair, restore and install procedures require the use
of the correct OS X install DVD; be it an original machine-specific restore/install
disc set or a later retail non-specific general install disc set.
By having an unsupported system, perhaps installed via an illegal download or
other file-sharing scheme, where no retail official discs are involved and the
initial upgrade was done by other means outside of the License Agreements,
you are asking us to discuss a matter of illegal installation and use of a product.
There are no legal complete OS X system download upgrades online; only bits
that are update segments to a retail or as-shipped machine's original OS X install.
+{Or an installation where a previous owner had correct retail upgrade discs, &+
+chose to not include them with the re-sale of the computer it was installed in.}+
However, to answer the initial question. To get and use an externally enclosed
hard drive in suitable boot-capable housing, and get a free-running Clone
Utility (download online; often a donation-ware product, runs free) you can
make a bootable backup of everything in your computer to an external HDD.
This is the way to make a complete backup to restore all functions to the computer.
The Time Machine has some limits, in that it can restore only that which it saves.
It does not make a bootable clone of your entire computer system with apps and
your files, to an external drive device. A clone can. And some of the clone utility's
settings can also backup changes to an external drive's system; if that other drive
is attached to the computer correctly.
Carbon Copy Cloner, from Bombich Software; and also SuperDuper, another of
the most known software names you can download and use to clone boot-capable
system backups of your computer's hard disk drive contents, are often cited.
However you resolve the matter of the running OS X system in your computer,
derived from what appears to be questionable means, is part of the initial issue.
Since you do need to be able to fix an existing installation by unmounting the
computer's hard disk drive and run the computer from the other (install disc or
system clone) while it is Unmounted; and use the correct Disk Utility version to
help diagnose and perhaps be able to fix it. You can't use a Tiger version Disk
Utility to fix a Leopard installation, and so on.
So, the situation and replies as far as they can go (since the matter does
constitute an illegal system, if it was arrived at without correct discs) is a
limited one. And file sharing of copied Mac OS X (and other) software is
also considered illegal.
And, one way to get odd malware and unusual stuff, is to get an unauthorized
system upgrade from an illegal source online. You never know what's inside it.
The other reply was not a personal attack; the matter is of legal status and as
you have a product with a questionable system, the answer is to correct it.
And if you want to save everything in your computer, make a clone to a suitable
externally enclosed self-powered boot capable hard disk drive. With older PPC
Macs, that would best be to one with FireWire and the Oxford-type control chips.
However that works out...
Good luck & happy computing!

My Macbook Pro was stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. New hard drive is too small for a Time Machine restore. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) on my new Macbook without repurchasing them?

My Macbook Pro was recently stolen, and I have replaced it with a Macbook Air. I attempted to simply do a restore from the Macbook Pro's Time Machine backup, but since the new Macbook Air's hard drive is significantly smaller, a Time Machine restore was not possible. I even tried to choose only settings or only my User Profile (option) when restoring, but the backup was still too large to do a restore onto the new machine. How do I restore my more-expensive apps (ie iWorks) onto my new Macbook without repurchasing them? Also, I reaad somewhere that if you went to the Mac App Store and attempted to repurchase the app and clicked BUY, it would simply alert you that you have already purchased the app (and trigger a re-download)... NOT THE CASE... So I just dropped another $19.99 for a second copy of Pages... Not my intention....
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
LM

you should get a usb backup drive as well. time machine has limited use in my eyes. it saves things. but older things can be errased ad space drops without telling you
nothing beats data redundancy. 2 saves is. 1. and 1 is none
im personally not fond of time machne though i use it only for a recovery parameter for a mac
id never ever myself consider time machine a genuine data backup tool. though most do consider it as such
drive clones such as superduper and carbon copy cloner can clone your entire drive for emergency recovery. and you can boot from them as well o. another mac

Is it possible to retrieve photos from an iPod Touch 5th Generstion iOS 7 backup to iTunes on a MacBook, without using any other iDevice?

Is it possible to retrieve photos from an iPod Touch 5th Generation iOS 7 backup to iTunes on a MacBook, without using any other iDevice?
I Backed up my iPod Touch 5th Generation iOS7 onti my MacBook using iTunes
Later, I lost the iPod.
I want to retrieve as much of the data, especially photos, as possible ftom the backup.
I do not have another iPod to use the restore function.
Is there any other way to retrieve the photos or any other data from the backup?

You could restore an iPad or iPhone from the backup.
Some of this apps are compatible with a Mac
How to perform iPad recovery for photos, videos
Wondershare Dr.Fone for iOS: iPhone Data Recovery - Wondershare Official
http://www.amacsoft.com/ipod-data-recovery.html

How to restore new, clean OS without Install Disc ?

I have bought MacBook Air 2nd hand. How to restore new, clean OS without Install Disc ?

You can purchase the Snow Leopard DVD at the Apple Store. It ships as 10.6.3 so you'll need to do a software update to get to 10.6.8.

I restored my iPhone 3GS without backup I lost everything that I had on iOS photos, contacts and messages. All I have are the apps and files I had before I upgraded to iOS. Is it possible to get back all that I have lost?

Hi all, I restored my iPhone 3GS without backup and it took all recent messages, contacts, photos and videos. All I am left with is the content I had before I upgraded to iOS. Can these lost files be retrieved? Please help.

Look... I don't have my crystal ball handy. I don't know how or if you had your backup set up. You don't adequately describe what you're missing. Stating that "All I am left with is the content I had before I upgraded to iOS" doesn't tell me anything at all... When did you upgrade? Apparently, you had a backup from that time, and when you restored, you restored from that backup. If you had no other backups in between then and now, then anything since that time is gone. Permanently.

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer. I did a cmnd R but worried it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS. Is there a risk at cmnd R will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

I'm getting the grey screen during start up and can't boot the computer - MacBook Pro with lion.
I did a command r after doing some research but got nervous that it would automatically wipe my hard drive and reinstall OS.
I was nervous because it asked me for language for software use before any options were presented (such as repair via disk utility). It looked similar to an OS install.So I powered off....Is there a risk at command r will result in wiped HD without me actively making that choice?

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion
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.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.
Reinstall Mountain Lion or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is
three times faster than wireless.

Reinstall iPhoto without disc

Hi, can some one help on my trouble to reinstall iPhoto on my macbook pro, however i don't have the restore disc.
how to reinstall the iphoto without disc?
thanks

Either install from the restore disks or purchase in the app store
LN
I hate the iPad's autocorrect screwing my posts up combined with the forums not working on an iPad so you can not even fix them after you post

Refurb macbook without an OS

My company sells its employees older, refurb macbooks without any OS. . Is it possible to obtain the OS from Apple? Is there a charge?
Thanks!

Yes very possible and quit easy. If it is older than a late 2011 model you call Apple with the serial # of the system and order a set of Original System Discs, cost around $40 (but you have to call Apple and check that).
Or if it is a Late 2011 or newer all you have to do is use the Online Internet Recovery system, hold down the Command + Option/Alt + r keys at startup untiol you see a globe on the screen. From the screen that comes up you can use Disk Utility to erase or partition and format the drive, if that is needed, and then Reinstall Mac OS X.
All Late 2011 and newer models download OS X from the internet to reinstall. So have a fast internet connection that the computer can connect to either by WiFi or Ethernet cable. Better to use Ethernet.

How can I restore my new Macbook pro to Factory setting?

How can I restore my new Macbook pro to Factory setting?

Install or Reinstall Lion from Scratch
If possible backup your files to an external drive or second internal 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:
Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.
After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.
Quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion: Select Reinstall Lion and click on the Install button.
Note: Be sure you have an active internet connection.

Connect macbook without superdrive to a macbook with superdrive

I have an iDVD project on an older macbook without a superdrive. The iDVD project is complete, but I can't burn the dvd. I also have a newer macbook with a superdrive. Is there a way to connect the 2 computers together so that I can use the super drive from the other computer to burn the iDVD project?
Thanks

Ok, Thanks for the reply. But when I was looking up the requirements/instructions for remote disc. It says that remote disc cannot be used to burn a cd or dvd. Is this correct or is there another way?
Thanks again.
from apple's support site:
DVD or CD sharing: Using Remote Disc
Note: These types of discs or activities are not supported by DVD or CD sharing:
DVD movies.
Audio CDs.
Copy protected discs such as game discs.
Install discs for an operating system such as Microsoft Windows (for use with Boot Camp), or Mac OS X.
Burn a CD or DVD

Reinstall iPhoto without discs?

How do I reinstall iPhoto without discs?

Was it installed on your Mac when you got it?
To re-install iPhoto
1. Put the iPhoto.app in the trash (Drag it from your Applications Folder to the trash)
2a: On 10.5: Go to HD/Library/Receipts and remove any pkg file there with iPhoto in the name.
2b: On 10.6: Those receipts may be found as follows: In the Finder use the Go menu and select Go To Folder. In the resulting window type
/var/db/receipts/
2c: on 10.7 they're at
/private/var/db/receipts
A Finder Window will open at that location and you can remove the iPhoto pkg files.
3. Re-install.
If you purchased an iLife Disk, then iPhoto is on it.
If iPhoto was installed on your Mac when you go it then it’s on the System Restore disks that came with your Mac. Insert the first one and opt to ‘Install Bundled Applications Only.
If you purchased it on the App Store or have a Recent Mac you can find it in your Purchases List.

Closing MacBook without closing programs?

Well this has been a quesion that is bugging me. Say I am on iChat and I am talking away and then my younger family comes along and they great me. I don't want them to see what I am doing on the computer, so I close it. But when I closed it I got signed off. Now some progrmas don't get affected, like Safari. But I recall that iTunes also completely quit.
Is there a way that you can completely close the MacBook without any programs quitting? Like I have Sleep disable because I keep it on at night once in a while in case someone talks to me, like a family member far away that I have been meaning to talk to. So sleep is disabled, or something like that because I turn the screen brigtness to 0 and then after like 5 minutes the little white light shows. And, that never causes me any closings or things.
So is there any possible way that I could close my MacBook without any programs quitting?

No. When the computer is put to sleep all processes are suspended. If you use a wireless connection for the internet the Airport is also suspended during sleep. It will reconnect when the computer wakes up.
In order for the computer to continue working with the lid closed you need to connect an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
There are one or two third-party utilities that are supposed to keep the computer awake with the lid closed. You'll find them at VersionTracker or MacUpdate. I've never used them so I have no idea if they work.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
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Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Restoring a wiped MacBook without discs...possible?

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