drewpreiner
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Lion Clean Install

I already have lion installed and would like to do a clean install so I can start over.  If I have a bootable clone can I boot to that hardrives Lion Recovery to perform the clean install so I dont have to burn a copy of Lion onto a DVD?

Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Jan 24, 2012 8:42 AM

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drewpreiner

Q: Lion Clean Install

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  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Jan 24, 2012 9:13 AM in response to drewpreiner
    Level 6 (8,417 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 24, 2012 9:13 AM in response to drewpreiner

    Unless you're going to restore the bootable clone you have to your internal drive (Macintosh HD), then you can just reboot your system and press COMMAND-R at the boot chime to enter the Recovery HD and perform Disk Utiliites to wipe the Macintosh HD and reinstall Lion from the Recovery HD. This will redownload Lion and install it if you click 'Continue'.

  • by drewpreiner,

    drewpreiner drewpreiner Jan 24, 2012 9:28 AM in response to keg55
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 24, 2012 9:28 AM in response to keg55

    That's what I  thought.  So i just select "Macintosh HD" > Erase > select Macintosh HD Extended (Journaled) and hit Erase, right?

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Jan 24, 2012 9:39 AM in response to drewpreiner
    Level 6 (8,417 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 24, 2012 9:39 AM in response to drewpreiner

    To wipe your drive (Macintosh HD) prior to which ever way you're going to clean install, yes. Make sure it's Mac OS Extended (Journaled) before you erase it.

     

    Which way are you going to do your clean install?

  • by drewpreiner,

    drewpreiner drewpreiner Jan 24, 2012 9:42 AM in response to keg55
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 24, 2012 9:42 AM in response to keg55

    What do you mean? What happens after I hit erase?  If I erase the drive, will I not be able to use Lion Recovery cause I will have erased it?  must I make a lion DVD then?

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Jan 24, 2012 9:49 AM in response to drewpreiner
    Level 6 (8,417 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 24, 2012 9:49 AM in response to drewpreiner

    drewpreiner wrote:

     

    What do you mean? What happens after I hit erase?  If I erase the drive, will I not be able to use Lion Recovery cause I will have erased it?

     

    Sorry for any confusion.

     

    If you boot into the Recovery HD (Command-R) and erase your Macintosh HD, you'll be fine and you'll be able to select the Reinstall OS X option after the erase and after you exit Disk Utilities.

  • by drewpreiner,

    drewpreiner drewpreiner Jan 24, 2012 10:35 AM in response to keg55
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 24, 2012 10:35 AM in response to keg55

    Okay, I did everything as stated but I just ran into an error.  It says

     

    Install Failed

    Mac os x could not be installed on the disk Macintosh HD, because a recovery system can't be created

     

    It also gave me a similar warning after I erased and after I chose to reinstall lion.

     

    Ay ideas?

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Jan 24, 2012 11:08 AM in response to drewpreiner
    Level 6 (8,417 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jan 24, 2012 11:08 AM in response to drewpreiner

    I don't want to make any assumptions since I don't know how your system is setup and how you tried to reinstall.

     

    Do you have Bootcamp setup?

    Do you have FileVault2 enabled?

    Are you using RAID?

    What did you boot from to reinstall Lion? Did you use Command-R? Did you boot from your clone? Did you boot from a Lion Recovery Disk?

     

    See if anything in this link provides answers.

     

    Please provide step by step how you performed the erase and reinstall.

     

    I have always used a USB thumb drive I created from the Lion Recovery Disk Assistant or one that I created with the Lion installer (InstallESD.dmg) restored to it to boot from. From there, I used Disk Utilities to erase the Macintosh HD and redownload/reinstall Lion.