Reinstall 10.7.5 ?

Question

Level 4

3,032 points

Reinstall 10.7.5 ?

A friend gave me his old MacBook Pro3.1, 17" Screen, 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, built August 2007, running 10.7.5. He did not give me any OS X disks or USB. He did not install many parts of the OS, eg. all languages, printer drivers, etc. I need 3 languages plus English and several printer drivers.

I would like to buy a copy of 10.7 and reinstall over my current operating system, installing the full system. I would then upgrade to 10.7.5

My questions is: Is this possible? Will I screw up the operating system? Can I overwrite the existing system and be ok?

I have all data backed up on BackBlaze and on USB.

Please advise.

Canoe112

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Jun 29, 2013 9:38 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Jun 29, 2013 9:42 AM in response to Canoe112

You won't screw up Lion. You will only reinstall Mac OS X without losing anything.

I recommend you to get the Lion USB drive, that you can get at Amazon or eBay, like this disk > http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Lion-10-7-Thumb-Drive/dp/B0089FELB2

This drive contains the full Lion installer, so you won't have to download it again. I recommend you to purchase Lion on a USB drive because you may have problems downloading Lion from the Mac App Store.

To reinstall Lion, plug your USB drive, hold the Option (Alt) key while your MacBook is starting and choose your drive. Then, reinstall Lion

Reply

Answer 2

Canoe112 Author

Level 4

3,032 points

Jun 29, 2013 10:07 AM in response to mende1

Can I use the Lion USB Drive more than once? I want to install the OS to the Laptop and make a USB Recovery Drive which would include the OS and utilities.

Reply

Answer 3

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Jun 29, 2013 10:52 AM in response to Canoe112

You can use the USB drive more than once. It already includes the operatiing system image, so you don't have to download Lion each time you have to reinstall Lion

Reply

Answer 4

Canoe112 Author

Level 4

3,032 points

Jun 29, 2013 11:47 AM in response to mende1

I've heard some talk you have to be conected to the internet to install Lion or Mountain Lion

With the USB Lion can you install on any appropriate computer or, drive, without an internet connection?.

Reply

Answer 5

Canoe112 Author

Level 4

3,032 points

Jun 29, 2013 12:36 PM in response to Canoe112

It appers the internet connection is not required if you have the USB Lion. It looks to me the install problem only occurs with the downloaded version of Lion.

Reply

Answer 6

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Jun 29, 2013 12:40 PM in response to Canoe112

Correct. The USB drive contains the Lion installer, so you don't need to download it from the App Store

Reply

Answer 7

Canoe112 Author

Level 4

3,032 points

Jun 29, 2013 3:22 PM in response to mende1

mendel1, I bought a USB Lion Drive new in package for $38.00, including shipping on eBay. I thank you for your advice, you clarified a lot of issues for me. Half the price of Amazon.

I'm used to being stuck in the Dark Ages loading OS by CDs.

Canoe112

Reply