OS X Yosemite

[Stephen]

It's dead easy for a clean install.

First back up what you need.

Then reboot and hold CMD+R once in recovery choose disk utility, select drive and erase.

Then simply choose reinstall OS X. You will need to be connected via ethernet or wifi to download.

Done.

Originally Posted by Stephen

It's dead easy for a clean install.

First back up what you need.

Then reboot and hold CMD+R once in recovery choose disk utility, select drive and erase.

Then simply choose reinstall OS X. You will need to be connected via ethernet or wifi to download.

Done.

Sorry ... How exactly does that work? If the Mac is erasing its boot disc, where is it getting its OS from during the erase and reinstall? You don't get OSX on a disc any more.

[Stephen]

The recovery bit is a separate partition. Then the system goes online to download the OS.

Originally Posted by Stephen

The recovery bit is a separate partition. Then the system goes online to download the OS.

At what stage did OSX start automatically creating a recovery partition? I'm not aware of one existing on my iMac (2011, running Lion). I've not looked closely at the Mac Mini running Mavericks yet, so I guess there could be a recovery partition on there.

[Stephen]

It's a very small partition. I've had one for ages. I think Lion was the first to have the recovery partition.

Try CMD+R on boot see if there is one.

If you don't you can make a boot able install disk within OS X I think.

I need to fresh install soon. My 2013 MbP was restored from my old iMac which hadn't had a clean install since 2008.

So many OS updates and old files are probably around. It's slowed down a lot.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Chris

At what stage did OSX start automatically creating a recovery partition? I'm not aware of one existing on my iMac (2011, running Lion). I've not looked closely at the Mac Mini running Mavericks yet, so I guess there could be a recovery partition on there.

Lion did create one by default, as Lion was the first OSX version after Apple stopped supplying boot disks.

It's only around 650 Meg, so you wouldn't even notice the loss of space on most hard drives.

The downside is doing a re-install over the network if you have a slow internet connection. Downloading 4 (ish) gig of data over a slow connection is never gonna be good.

Thankfully, if you don't want to download 4 gig regularly, and have a spare Mac, you may be able to create your own bootable USB using the instructions at http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Blinking nora. Apple encouraging people to use the command line?

[Halcyon]

Originally Posted by Stephen

It's dead easy for a clean install.

First back up what you need.

Then reboot and hold CMD+R once in recovery choose disk utility, select drive and erase.

Then simply choose reinstall OS X. You will need to be connected via ethernet or wifi to download.

Done.

Thanks, That sounds pretty straight forward.

The thing is I have Snow Leopard still on this Mac. I wonder if I should install Mavericks first then it creates the partition, and then go ahead with the reformat.
Or is there a way of making my Mavericks Os download a bootable one?


Thankyou.

[Stephen]

Well anything after Lion creates the partition. Not tried it myself but I do need to get it done ASAP.

I am running Yosemite at the moment, guessing it will try to download the most recent version you are entitled to?

still got my 100gb+ iPhoto folder to back up. Elverything else is backed up already.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Halcyon

Thanks, That sounds pretty straight forward.

The thing is I have Snow Leopard still on this Mac. I wonder if I should install Mavericks first then it creates the partition, and then go ahead with the reformat.
Or is there a way of making my Mavericks Os download a bootable one?


Thankyou.

According to Apple, as long as the machine has an active internet connection, and has the Mac App Store installed on Snow Leopard (this is built in to OSX after SL, but is an optional install for SL), you can just download and install it straight from the App Store.

[qasdfdsaq]

Modern Macs neither have nor require a recovery partition (particularly if you wipe the entire disk, and not just your boot partition).

The ability to download and boot the installer over the internet is built into the EFI (BIOS). It's a very simplistic wireless + netboot client (only supports DHCP and PSK) but does the job well. There is no recovery partition. Anything that came with Lion or newer will have internet recovery. Certain older machines can be upgraded to also have internet recovery:

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202313

It's only Macs older than those that that require an actual physical medium to reinstall.

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------

Originally Posted by Chris

At what stage did OSX start automatically creating a recovery partition? I'm not aware of one existing on my iMac (2011, running Lion). I've not looked closely at the Mac Mini running Mavericks yet, so I guess there could be a recovery partition on there.

It doesn't. It's part of the firmware, not on the hard drive.

If your machine is on the list above and has been upgraded (or was newer to begin with) you're free to erase everything on the disk nomatter what.

[Stephen]

Well there is still a recovery area on my HDD, its just under 500MB.

Which version of OS X is installed by OS X Recovery?

• If you use the Recovery System stored on your startup drive to reinstall OS X, it installs the most recent version of OS X previously installed on this computer.
• If you use Internet Recovery to reinstall OS X, it installs the version of OS X that originally came with your computer. After installation is finished, use the Mac App Store to install related updates or later versions of OS X that you have previously purchased.

Apple has released OSX Yosemite, 10.10.2 to the App Store this morning. So I guess that 10.10.1 installer I downloaded at the weekend is just wasting 5GB of my hard drive.

The blurb promises performance, stability and security improvements. I think I'll go for it on my Mac Mini and just see how it works out.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by qasdfdsaq

Modern Macs neither have nor require a recovery partition (particularly if you wipe the entire disk, and not just your boot partition).

The ability to download and boot the installer over the internet is built into the EFI (BIOS). It's a very simplistic wireless + netboot client (only supports DHCP and PSK) but does the job well. There is no recovery partition. Anything that came with Lion or newer will have internet recovery. Certain older machines can be upgraded to also have internet recovery:

http://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT202313

It's only Macs older than those that that require an actual physical medium to reinstall.

---------- Post added at 17:52 ---------- Previous post was at 17:46 ----------


It doesn't. It's part of the firmware, not on the hard drive.

If your machine is on the list above and has been upgraded (or was newer to begin with) you're free to erase everything on the disk nomatter what.

Actually, the Internet Recovery feature available through the firmware is a cut down version of what's provided on disk. For instance, WPA-Enterprise is not supported by the firmware Internet Recovery process, but it *is* supported by the recovery partition on the local computer. You also need a recovery partition if you are using FileVault and Find My Mac.

As such, the OSX installer does put the Recovery partition on the drive, you just don't necessarily need to keep it there, even if you are planning to install OSX from the Internet.

The OSX installer certainly puts the Recovery Partition on the system drive of my work computer (a mid 2011 27 inch iMac with up to date firmware).

Originally Posted by Stuart

Actually, the Internet Recovery feature available through the firmware is a cut down version of what's provided on disk. For instance, WPA-Enterprise is not supported by the firmware Internet Recovery process, but it *is* supported by the recovery partition on the local computer. You also need a recovery partition if you are using FileVault and Find My Mac.

As such, the OSX installer does put the Recovery partition on the drive, you just don't necessarily need to keep it there, even if you are planning to install OSX from the Internet.

The OSX installer certainly puts the Recovery Partition on the system drive of my work computer (a mid 2011 27 inch iMac with up to date firmware).

Stu, what does this partition look like when viewed through Disk Utility? Or is it invisible? I cannae see anything ...