i deleted my recovery partition on my early 2009 white MacBook, and i can't reinstall macos or os x

so i accidentally deleted the os x recovery partition when i installed linux(lubuntu 16.04) and now i'm trying to reinstall os x but making a bootable usb drive using my early 2011 MacBook pro, but when i put the usb into the 2009 MacBook it just gives the prohibitory symbol as soon as i click the usb drive, I've tried using lots of different os x versions but it just does the same thing, unfortunately i do not have the original install discs, but i did try and put the os x snow leopard install disk for the 2011 MacBook pro, it didn't work but i can access the terminal on the white MacBook, so i just need to install any os x version on my white MacBook.

Posted on Jul 24, 2024 6:49 AM

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HWTech

Community+ 2026

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Posted on Jul 25, 2024 1:33 PM

You should be able to create a bootable macOS 10.11 El Capitan USB installer using your 2011 Mac. Make sure to carefully follow the directions in the following Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Here is the instructions for downloading & extracting the macOS 10.11 El Capitan installer.....read the instructions carefully since there are several steps involved. Once you have downloaded the DMG file and extracted the full installer into the Applications folder, then you can follow the previous instructions for creating the USB installer:

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

You can test that this macOS 10.11 USB installer is working by testing it on the 2011 Mac if you still have issues with the 2009 Mac. If you follow these instructions & still cannot boot the installer, then you need to try using another USB stick since the quality of USB sticks is very poor & Macs are very picky about the drives used for booting.

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i deleted my recovery partition on my early 2009 white MacBook, and i can't reinstall macos or os x

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