Lost Mac OS X installation disk!!

This is possible. Contact Apple and ask, but you will need the serial number of your computer; and I believe there is a small charge.

carmichael1197 wrote:
And if I purchase Snow leopard, will it be the same as the installation disk that came with my mac?

No. The the Mac OS X installation disk 1 that ships with any Mac contains whatever OS version is current for that model at the time of purchase. Unless your MBP is very new, that will be some version of Leopard, such as 10.5.6 or 10.5.11. Snow Leopard is based on Leopard but is an entirely new OS. The version numbering reflects that, starting with 10.6, which is currently the version included on Snow Leopard retail discs.

The install disc set that ships with Macs is different from the retail OS products in other ways too. Notably, the disc set includes a model-specific version of the Apple Hardware Test (AHT), which is sort of a mini-OS that supports just one purpose, testing the hardware in the Mac. This is usually on disc 1 of the set. AHT is an important diagnostic tool you should have in case something goes wrong with your Mac.

Disk 1 also is necessary to reinstall any or all of the additional bundled Apple software that came with your Mac, like the iLife suite of apps (iPhoto, etc.). Although some of the actual installer packages for these extras may be on disk 2, they can only be run from the installers on disc 1. Retail Snow Leopard discs do not include any of these extras, some of which are separate retail products.

Long story short, you need installation disk 1.

OP: Seems to me you might be happy with the $29 Snow disk--especially if you don't care if you have iWork or iLife. It is a full install DVD, including support for your hardware, and it does have a version of the Apple Hardware Test on it.

R C-R: When I upgraded from Leopard to Snow, I don't remember having to use Leopard disk 1 to install from Leopard disk 2. Are you sure about what you say?

R C-R: When I upgraded from Leopard to Snow, I don't remember having to use Leopard disk 1 to install from Leopard disk 2. Are you sure about what you say?

I can only speak from my own experience, but with every Mac's system disc set I have ever used, the .pkg or .mpkg items on the discs that install the bundled apps can not be run directly, but only from the appropriate startup app, such as the 'Install bundled apps only' item many system discs contain.

This includes things like iLife that are otherwise sold as retail products but not things like the Developer Tools that are freely available by download. I assume this is done to help users "remember" to honor the licensing restrictions on this bundled software, which the licence allows to be used only with the specific Mac it comes bundled with.

Seeing how R C-R said that if I wanted to continue to have Iphoto, Imovie, etc., I must find the installation disk 1 in order to keep them when I create a partition of my hardware for windows using boot camp. At least that is what my understanding is at this point.

No exactly right. Boot Camp doesn't make you reinstall anything on the Mac partition when you make one for Windows. However, if you ever need to erase the Mac partition for any reason, you will need the original system discs to reinstall iPhoto, etc.

If using Boot Camp, you should not need the disc to partition the disk, merely to install the boot camp drivers. And, if you ever do a clean install of OS X, you will need the original Leopard disc to re-install iLife (whichever version came on your Mac).

Correct me if I am wrong (anyone) but, if Boot Camp is updated to 3.0.1 then a Snow Leopard install CD should work. If so, you might as well just buy the Snow Leopard disk. It's only 29$ and certainly a worth-while upgrade.

Message was edited by: Midnightblues94

carmichael1197 wrote:
So I actually dont need the disk, it is only back up?

Everybody needs backups. You never know when something will happen that will require you to reinstall an app or the OS, or run AHT to diagnose a problem. Better to budget for the disc now & get it from Apple when you can so it is available when you need it.

The cost is not high.