Luisam911
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Magnet destroyed my hard drive, I have many questions about my options.

Ok, so I didn't realize my air condition remote was magnetic and I set it on my computer and bam my whole computer crashed. Now when I put my install dvd to boot up from, the drive makes some weird noises and then the DVD gets booted. And before you ask, its the drive needle making a sound and not the optical drive. I have a time machine backup from a few weeks ago so all my information is saved.

 

So, I have insurance with state farm for accidental. If my claim goes through and apple installs the new drive, will I be able to get Lion back on my computer? I started out with snow leopard and installed lion via the app store.

 

If for some reason doing the claim process will take forever or they don't accept it, as easy as this sounds can I just buy a new drive on amazon for like 50 bucks. (From what I looked at) Install the new drive myself and then bootup from the snow leopard dvd I have? Then log into the app store install lion and then hook up my external hard drive and restore my laptop back to its old self??? Or is it possible I can use a Lion time machine backup in snow leopard and when its done it'll be Lion?

 

 

Thanks!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 28, 2013 9:49 PM

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Luisam911

Q: Magnet destroyed my hard drive, I have many questions about my options.

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  • by mende1,

    mende1 mende1 May 28, 2013 9:52 PM in response to Luisam911
    Level 10 (93,329 points)
    Desktops
    May 28, 2013 9:52 PM in response to Luisam911

    Luisam911 wrote:

     

    So, I have insurance with state farm for accidental. If my claim goes through and apple installs the new drive, will I be able to get Lion back on my computer? I started out with snow leopard and installed lion via the app store.

     

    Of course. If you have a Mid 2010 or newer MacBook Pro, you have OS X Recovery, that allows you to reinstall OS X Lion even if it's not installed in your hard disk. To start in Internet Recovery, hold Command, Option (Alt) and R keys while your computer is starting. In this mode you will be able to format the hard disk and install Lion.

     

    If you have an older computer, you will have to install Snow Leopard and upgrade to Lion. To do it, first update to OS X 10.6.8 in  > Software Update, and then, open App Store > Purchases to download Lion.

     

    Luisam911 wrote:

     

    If for some reason doing the claim process will take forever or they don't accept it, as easy as this sounds can I just buy a new drive on amazon for like 50 bucks. (From what I looked at) Install the new drive myself and then bootup from the snow leopard dvd I have? Then log into the app store install lion and then hook up my external hard drive and restore my laptop back to its old self??? Or is it possible I can use a Lion time machine backup in snow leopard and when its done it'll be Lion?

     

    You can do that without any problem. You can use a backup created in Lion with Snow Leopard, but it's not recommended because it's possible that Snow Leopard won't work correctly. You have to restore the backup after upgrading to Lion, or from Internet Recovery, so you won't have to install Lion

  • by Luisam911,

    Luisam911 Luisam911 May 28, 2013 9:58 PM in response to mende1
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 28, 2013 9:58 PM in response to mende1

    mende1 wrote:

     

     

    Of course. If you have a Mid 2010 or newer MacBook Pro, you have OS X Recovery, that allows you to reinstall OS X Lion even if it's not installed in your hard disk. To start in Internet Recovery, hold Command, Option (Alt) and R keys while your computer is starting. In this mode you will be able to format the hard disk and install Lion.

     

    If you have an older computer, you will have to install Snow Leopard and upgrade to Lion. To do it, first update to OS X 10.6.8 in  > Software Update, and then, open App Store > Purchases to download Lion.

     

     

    When I start it up, its a blank white screen and it does nothing. I believe the OS X recovery was also destroyed. I tried doing that and nothing happens.

  • by mende1,

    mende1 mende1 May 28, 2013 10:01 PM in response to Luisam911
    Level 10 (93,329 points)
    Desktops
    May 28, 2013 10:01 PM in response to Luisam911

    If you have tried to start your computer holding Command, Option (Alt) and R keys, it means that you didn't upgrade your firmware to the most recent version or that your computer isn't compatible because you haven't got OS X Recovery. See > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

     

    Note that Recovery HD is stored in the hard disk, but Internet Recovery is in the firmware of your MacBook Pro, so it doesn't mind if you have a new hard disk