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- #How to format mac drive and reinstall osx install#
- #How to format mac drive and reinstall osx license#
- #How to format mac drive and reinstall osx download#
Once finished, you should be able to reboot your system with the Option key held down, then choose the USB drive which will load the OS X installer and allow you to reinstall OS X without the need for connection to the Internet. (If this is missing, then you likely waited too long to unplug the drive.) Copy this file to your computer, then use Disk Utility along with the standard instructions for creating an OS X installation drive to restore the contents of this image to your USB drive.
#How to format mac drive and reinstall osx install#
Now you can reattach the external drive, on which you should see a folder called "OS X Install Data" that contains a disk image file called InstallESD.dmg. With the drive unplugged, your Mac will boot normally to its internal drive.
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When your Mac automatically restarts, it will display a black screen with no video output for a second or two.
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The copy of OS X that is included with your Mac is not considered a retail purchase, so unfortunately you will be able to access it only through Apple's installer.
#How to format mac drive and reinstall osx license#
However, this requires you to purchase a separate license of OS X. One easy option (which I have discussed before) is to purchase OS X from the App Store, then create a boot drive from its contents. Granted, the use of Time Machine makes restoring from backup relatively easy, but if for some reason you need to repartition the hard drive or install a new one on your system, you will first need to install OS X again. While convenient for those with fast broadband connections, sometimes you may find yourself in a location without fast Internet and would benefit from having a way to reinstall OS X from scratch.
#How to format mac drive and reinstall osx download#
Instead, if you wish to reinstall OS X you simply reboot to the OS X Recovery HD and use the tools there to format your hard drive (should you choose to), then run the installer to download OS X from Apple's servers. Since its move to online purchasing and distribution of its operating system software, Apple has no longer included gray recovery DVDs with its Mac systems.
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