Imac Reinstall Original Os
Joslyn Moreci
There is another possibility which I tested several times on my 2010 while testing the new download only options. It can be just about impossible to use the original install media once the Mac has had the EFI update to accommodate the recovery/download options. In my testing (6 separate erase and various install attempts), I was unable to use the DVD or any other method except one: my previously made clone of the original OS. I do not remember all of the details since that was 9 years ago.
I'd strongly recommend following the instructions in What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support. You can boot from the original DVDs (or Snow Leopard DVD) and do the format and install that way.
Erasing the drive, reinstalling the OS X and then setting it up with new user account on a 2010 Mac should be easy right? Well sadly it's not, unless you have actually muddled thru the process a half dozen times.
The original concept was to startup from the original 10.6 Install disc in the optical drive, navigate to Disk Utility and erase the drive, reinstall OS X 10.6 and setup a new user account and then let the new user upgrade to a later macOS.
The concept does work, but assumes that the optical drive is working and you still have the original install disk set. Simply insert install disc 1 in the optical drive and restart holding the Alt (option) or the C key, use Disk Utility to erase the drive and reinstall OS X.
What you need to do, is use your other Mac and DiskMaker X to make a USB (El Capitan or High Sierra) Installer on a FlashDrive. Then just plug the FlashDrive into the 2010 iMac and use it to Format, Erase and Reinstall the macOS.
Thank you - have downloaded DiskMaker (for High Sierra) onto a clean flash drive, but when I go to the High Sierra download link, it takes me to the App Store which, when I clock 'GET' tells me that OS is too old for my (Catalina 10.15.4) new iMac to handle.
Zip. The built-in optical drive went to its heavenly reward these many long years ago. I do have an Apple Superdrive, though, which I use with the new (Catalina) iMac - might that work if plugged into the 2010 one? At the moment, all I have, whatever I try, is a flashing question mark. Where I suspect I went wrong was that I erased the HD before inserting the install disc or setting up and recovery/restore media. Its mind is completely blown. I suspect the Genius Bar is going to be the only way out of this. But thank you so much for your help.
I purchased a used iMac. It has OS X Mavricks installed. I'd like to re-purpose it for my web designer to use here at my office, since she cannot easily run the Adobe suite on the Ubuntu machines we already have. So, I want to wipe all of the user data, essentially doing a "factory reset".
I have tried the cmd+r reboot and reinstalled OS X but the original user data is still there. I also tried the cmd+opt+p+r thinking that user account info might be stored in NVRAM but that didn't seem to do the trick either (I know it's only supposed to be system settings like: time, locale, monitor res, etc. but thought that it was worth a shot).
Here are the steps I've already done: -apple-imac-its-factory-settings-51261.html (Apple also explains the process here: -us/HT201314 but the instructions at Chron.com seemed easier to follow). In neither of these processes was I ever prompted for an Apple ID.
I have spent hours Googling and it seems that I can do a complete disk wipe and reinstall using a USB flash drive, but I cannot find a downloadable version of Mavericks anywhere. Apple is pushing Yosemite on the OS X page ( ) and doesn't seem to provide Mavericks anymore.
This post is intended for intermediate to advanced Mac users. You should have a good working knowledge of installing Mac operating systems and experience with external drives, as well as being comfortable with VoiceOver or your preferred adaptive interface. It is not intended for beginners. That being said, the processes below are pretty straight forward. VoiceOver works well throughout most of it, with only a few questionable areas. Being careful, I have completed these same manoeuvres using VO, many times.
For my birthday this year, I sped up my old MacBook Pro 2012 by at least 5 to 10 times faster. Really! Now my Mac waits for me, instead of the other way around. I may be a little late for the SSD party, but it was an amazing difference. Here's what happened.
Recently I received an Amazon gift card for my birthday. It was a $50 card, what can I get for that amount of money? My wife and i were thinking of getting a flash storage drive to set up a shared volume on our home Wifi network. It would be an 'always on' drive, accessible from any device that is logged into the network. We could use it for easy temporary file storage and shared photos and music.
After looking around on Amazon, I noticed that the SSD drives were about the same price as the Flash drives, possibly from the holiday discounts. This got me thinking about trying to put an install of macOS Mojave on the SSD instead. One thing that my old MacBook Pro 2012 is not anymore, speedy. I ended up with a 120 Gig SSD, USB 3.0 drive. It cost me a whopping $49. It gets its power from the port, so when I turn on my Mac, the drive is already on as well. It connects through a small 4 inch cable and the drive is about the size of a match-book, though maybe twice as thick. My laptop sits on an elevated tray, so the tiny drive curls underneath and sits on a small shelf/foot of the tray. I can pick my laptop tray up and move it around and the SSD stays in place with no fuss.
One thing to be aware of, I wanted to make sure I got a drive that says 'SSD' in the description. There's a difference between SSDs and Flash Storage. The chip's architecture and lay-out on the latter, is best for file storage and retrieval. The SSDs are laid-out best for running an OS from. I think it's from the lack of delay compared to a Flash unit.
My old MBP 2012 has an internal spinning disk (HDD) that spins at 5400 rpm. This reduces the amount of heat produced and power needed. Both very good things for a laptop, although kind of slow. I know from past experience installing internal drives on desktops for both Mac and Windows, always use a 7200 rpm drive for faster access and an overall quicker system. I have an old iMac that I purposely upgraded with a 7200 rpm drive, specifically for speed. This was, of course, before SSDs existed. Plus at that time I could still see, somewhat. Now I have this tiny SSD hooked up to a USB port on my MBP and it easily has them both beat, hands down. It's all chips, no moving parts, access at the speed of electricity. The max speed of the USB port is probably slowing it down some, but the drive is so fast that I really don't notice. I have been using this SSD to boot from for few weeks now, I think I started to hear the word 'busy' once about a week ago, but it got cut off half way through the word, the system was ready.
I start up from this external SSD as my main drive now. I have Mojave installed on it and just the basic apps that I use on a daily basis. I have my internal Macintosh HD mounted on the SSDs desktop. I used the same user and Home folder names on the SSD install and on the internal. So far, it lets me access everything on the internal drive without asking me for the Admin password. I can not run apps that are installed on the internal, they would have to be re-installed on the SSD. Still, I have everything on the SSD that I need, Pages, Numbers, Keynote, a full install of GarageBand and extra loops, plus a 400 song library of my favorites and I still have about 70 gig free. It's plenty of space to work on my files. I copy them onto the SSD and work, then back them up to the internal drive again. I tried loading files from my internal while running from the SSD and it works well also. It's a pretty neat set up and extremely fast, comparatively. My MBP acts as if the SSD is the main drive and the old internal is an external. After getting the SSD running, I loaded the StartUp Disk in System Preferences and switched the default startup drive to the SSD. This way, if the SSD is plugged in, it will boot from it. If not, it auto-boots from its own internal drive instead. Cool!
Here's the part where I talk about how careful one should be when ever formatting, erasing or partitioning a drive hooked up to your main system. Always make a back up of your computer, or at least all of your important files and information. You can use Time Machine or a cloner app, or simply copy your files onto another drive. Most of the steps below are pretty straight forward, but it pays to be careful and double-check yourself before clicking anything that will make permanent changes. Since we won't be doing anything to the internal drive, we should be okay. If the SSD gets messed up, no big deal. We were going to erase it anyway. The process can always be started over with only some time lost. I am pretty confident that the system will not let you erase a drive that you are started up from, so the internal should be safe. However, please copy or back up your important stuff to another place first (not the SSD). It pays to be careful!
Originally, I was started up from my internal drive, as normal. I had no other apps running. I plugged the SSD into a USB port. When it mounted on the desktop, it was already formatted for Windows with the NTFS+ formatting scheme. I opened it briefly and looked around. There were some Windows install files, and a Mac installer. It seemed that these were mostly bloatware, so I chose not to install anything. Even though the NTFS+ scheme would work for both Mac and Windows and might make a good disk for transferring files back and forth, I knew I needed it reformatted as Mac APFS, Apple's new file system in order to install Mojave. I opened my internal Macintosh HD and then the Applications folder. I navigated down and into the Utilities folder and loaded the Disk Utility.
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