Wipe MacBook and Reinstall Lion

Hi all-
My brother has sold his MacBook pro on ebay and has asked me to wipe the drive clean and reinstall Lion for him.
I have a copy on the Lion Installer on a UBS stick, but when I ran it it just reinstalls the system and didn't wipe the disc first.
There must be a way to run Disc Utility first and then the use the installer, but I just need someone to confirm how to do it before i try!
The MacBook finished its auction yesterday so there is some urgency in getting this done so any help is much appreciated!
Thanks!
Andy

Take a look at Thomas Reed's How to prepare your Mac for sale.
You must reinstall the version of OS X that shipped with the machine, not a version that has been purchased with an existing Apple ID.
Clinton

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No you should not need to pay again, as Chrisp250 points out if you use the same account you purchased it with.
And as tmac suggests, this time make a boot disk/backup copy of Mac OS X Lion. Here is a pointer to simple instructions on how you do that:
<http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20080989-263/how-to-create-an-os-x-lion-ins tallation-disc/>
I just did this yesterday, and it worked very well.

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Can someone please help. I have a really old MacBook that is running really slow. I want to wipe everything and reinstall the latest software but don't know how to do this. Also is there a way of keeping Microsoft Office when doing this? Thanks in advance

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You do realise that wiping the disk means that everything on the disk is erased. Everything. Photos, music, emails, ...
So the first piece of advice is to make sure you have a back up of everything.
You need the OS disk to reintsall the operating system. You will use that disk first to erase the drive, then to reinstall the OS.
Here's the link for the US. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
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A while back I bought a MacBook Pro from a friend. It came with a Lion Installation Disk.
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Since my friend bought the computer along with Lion using his Apple ID, how do I reset and install Lion without having to enter his Apple ID?
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Hello to all,
I'm a Student of Informatic Engineering studiying at UCAB in Venezuela.
I have a Macbook Pro 13" late 2011 and needed of windows and ubuntu because some projects at University needed to be developed in those OS. I did the Bootcamp to add Windows to my MacBook Pro, and did an extra partition to the Macintosh HD to install the Ubuntu. All Sucess and finished the semester. Now i dont need these OS no more because i won an Acer and now i have Windows and Ubuntu in that laptop so i want my Mac only with OSX. Besides now the OSX is startint to act funny, so i think its about the triple partition (and i dont like my apps in OSX closing for no reason, and the system is getting a bit slow).
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1.- How do i Backup my Macintosh HD so i dont lose all my installed apps and data.
2.- Can i use Time Machine on any External Hard Drive?
3.- How do i clear all my hd so its like brand new, and Reinstall Lion (because when i bought the Mac it didnt came with an OS CD)
Thanks for any help you may bring me..
I'm Sorry for any misspelled word, English is not my main Language.
MacBook Pro 13" (Late 2011)
Specs:
Processor: Intel Core i7 2.8Ghz
Ram: 16GB 1333 Mhz DDR3
HD: 750 GB (Macintosh HD: 550 GB, Bootcamp: 160GB, Ubuntu: 40GB)
Graphics: Intel HD 3000

1.- How do i Backup my Macintosh HD so i dont lose all my installed apps and data.
2.- Can i use Time Machine on any External Hard Drive?
3.- How do i clear all my hd so its like brand new, and Reinstall Lion (because when i bought the Mac it didnt came with an OS CD)
1. Use Time Machine - it's on your Mac.
2. Yes - if the external has enough space.
3. After you back up, use the steps described in this Macworld article to make a clean install of OS X. Basically you reboot while holding down the command and R keys and proceed from there.
http://www.macworld.com/article/1167870/hands_on_with_mountain_lions_os_x_recove ry_and_internet_recovery.html

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http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110831105634716

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Hi,
I've tried to earse my HD and reinstall lion,
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Hello Everybody,
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OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery
Summary
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And buried in the link is also this:
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Regards,
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Hello. I am hoping somewhere on here, there will be someone who can direct me to step-by-step instructions to wipe clean and reinstall operating system.
iMac g4 (the dome model, which I still love). 7 years old. 10.2 operating system. It has been crashing repeatedly and I paid for diagnostics, they propose wiping clean and reinstalling, and I really need to do this myself and not pay for it.
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Amy

Amy,
Before going the *nuke route*, please post who did the diagnostics. Was it a "Genius" at an Apple Retail Store or a third party Mac Reseller?
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As they use to say in Dragnet ....... "just give us the facts".
DIXIE

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If you're able to boot, launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the page that opens.
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Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
During startup, you’ll see a progress bar, and then the login screen, which appears even if you normally log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Safe mode is slower than normal, and some things won’t work at all.
Note: If FileVault is enabled under Mac OS X 10.7 or later, you can’t boot in safe mode.

Wipe MacBook and Reinstall Lion

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