this is not a hackintosh question - reinstall lion on pc

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Level 1

10 points

this is not a hackintosh question - reinstall lion on pc

so i have a 2010 mac mini (intel) that i use as a HTPC. i have dual drives installed - lion on the standard HD and windows 7 on the ssd. i was formatting some external drives for storage using NTFS and, like an idiot, accidently formatted the regular drive (with lion) in NTFS, which of course wiped it clean. so now i have a mac mini that only boots into windows 7. i found online how to format the hard drive back into HFS+ so it can get lion put back on. now how do i get lion back on it? i know i can take it to apple and they can do it, but i would like a way to save some $$ and do it myself if possible? there are a bunch of hackintosh threads on installing mac on a pc, but that is not what i am trying to do here (if it was, i would just be following one of those threads). i am just trying to get mac osx back on my mac drive using a pc. thanx in advance for any advice.

mac mini, Mac OS X (10.4.1)

Posted on Feb 2, 2013 8:49 AM

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Answer 1

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 2, 2013 8:58 AM in response to ratso

Boot to the recovery partition (hold command-R when you boot) and choose 'Reinstall OSX'

Be careful to pick the correct volume, and back up your Windows installation in case of error etc.

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Answer 2

ratso Author

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Feb 2, 2013 9:05 AM in response to Csound1

i will try this when i get home, but (forgive me i am more of a dabbler than a computer expert guy) will this even work if osx is completely wiped out? am i not in effect just running a pc in a mac aluminum shell right now?

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Answer 3

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Feb 2, 2013 9:08 AM in response to ratso

Recovery will be there unless you erased the entire drive or specifically erased the Recovery Partition, did you?

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Answer 4

ratso Author

Level 1

10 points

Feb 2, 2013 9:17 AM in response to Csound1

NO OF COURSE NOT, YOU'D HAVE TO BE A REAL IDIOT TO DO THAT!!!

umm... okay i think maybe i did. i will have to check when i get home, but i think i erased all partitions. so if that is the case i am pretty much stuck with going to apple with wallet in hand i take it? thanx for the help BTW!

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Answer 5

John Galt

Level 10

141,414 points

Feb 2, 2013 9:27 AM in response to ratso

A Mac Mini (Mid 2010)'s firmware can be upgraded to take advantage of OS X Internet Recovery: Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery

Presumably you did, as long as you kept abreast of firmware updates for your Mini. This will work even if you completely erased the Recovery partition. Installing OS X using Internet Recovery will recreate the Recovery partition.

In the highly unlikely event that you did not update its firmware to use OS X Internet Recovery, you would need to reinstall Snow Leopard on the Mac partition using its installation DVD, then download and install Lion from the App Store. You don't have to purchase it again.

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