If I should need to reinstall Mac OS on a crashed Macintosh computer, how do I do that with Lion?
Mac Pro 3,1 2x3 GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 14 GB 800 MHz RAM
"Crash" is kind of vague, but when you install Lion it also installs a recovery partition that can accessed by holding 'Command' + 'R' from a cold boot or restart until you see the Apple logo on the screen.
Two options:
A. Restore your Snow Leopard system and start over as follows:
How to Install Lion Successfully - You must have Snow Leopard 10.6.7 or 10.6.8 Installed
A. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions:
Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer. Now restart normally.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior (4.3.) if DW cannot fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall Snow Leopard.
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
Destination means the backup volume. Source means the internal startup volume.
C. Important: Please read before installing:
D. To upgrade to Lion:
B. Reinstall Lion from the Recovery HD (but not until you have repaired the hard drive and permissions.)
Reinstall Lion
Boot from your Lion Recovery HD. When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.
To boot from the Recovery HD restart the computer. After the chime hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Select Reinstall Lion from the main menu and follow instructions.
Kappy,
I had same problem, I did that already but un utiities there is no HD to be found? Any ideas or how I can install new HD image.?
I'm sorry but I do not understand. Please give a more complete description. Preferably, you should post a new topic for your problem rather than posting in another user's topic.
Kappy wrote:
B. Make a Bootable Backup Using Restore Option of Disk Utility:
- Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
- Select the destination volume from the left side list.
- Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
- Check the box labeled Erase destination.
- Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
- Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
- Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the backup volume. Source means the internal startup volume.
Does this make a complete copy of the the source? So I can do a restore to an external drive. And even if I messed up internal drive to the point it no longer boots, I can simply boot off the external drive and restore back my entire internal drive??
This means I don't need to buy third party backup software at all?
Yes and no. The Restore option of Disk Utility is simply a full clone/backup option. You cannot update the resulting backup except by re-cloning which is time consuming. So you would want some sort of backup utility that could update your clone from time to time to keep it current with the source. There are many different utilities from which to choose. Some are free and some are not. Here are some suggestions:
Backup Software Recommendations
Super Flexible File Synchronizer
Others may be found at VersionTracker or MacUpdate.
Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on backup and restore. Also read How to Back Up and Restore Your Files.
How do I reinstall Mac OS Lion if my computer crashes?
