How to install a new hard drive without bootable disc/usb

If you have a 2009 model then you must of gotten the original system DVD discs that shipped with every Mac made before Lion came out. If you no longer have them you can order a replacement set from Apple for a small charge. There is no other way to reinstall OS X on your model Mac without them. Then you would need to upgrade to Snow Leopard !0.6.6 or above to get access to the Mac App store to reinstall Mountain Lion. That is unless you have a Time Machine backup made when Mountain Lion was installed. If you do have a TM backup you can boot the system from the Recovery HD system on the TM backup drive and then restore that TM backup to your new HDD.

Changing ownership of a used Mac

How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6

I have a mid 2009 MBP if that helps 🙂

Here is how it helps:

You need the Utilities from Recovery_HD. Your broken Mac can boot from a Thumb drive.

Use this article to download this Utility to copy the Recovery_HD from your older, working Mac to a minimum 1GB USB thumb drive:

OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant

Then boot the new mac with the thumb drive by holding down Alt/Option, wait wait wait while it draws an Icon for each bootable Volume, choose the Recovery_HD, choose proceed arrow, and use Disk Utility to erase the drive and create GUID partition Map, 1 partition, Mac OS X Extended (journaled). Then install Mac OS X by download.

Sorry, I read that as meaning you had another different Mac that was working.

In that case my posting above is nonsense.

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You may need to go to the genius Bar at an Apple store (with your new drive installed) and have them start the process for you.

Your visit to the genius Bar is Free, in warranty or out.

If your recovery_HD will execute, you could get an external drive enclosure (or simple USB non-enclosure) for your new drive, and use the existing Recovery_HD to initialize the new drive. Once initialized, Recovery_HD might be willing to install onto the new drive.

If he can boot to the Recovery HD on the old drive, whether it is installed internally or externally in an enclosure or with a adapter, he can reinstall Mountain Lion right from that on the new drive. No need to try to make a Recovery HD partition on the new drive first. The Recovery HD system is the Recovery HD system. No matter how you get to it once it is used to boot the system you can do all the same things from it no matter how you got to it.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

If your recovery_HD will execute, you could get an external drive enclosure (or simple USB non-enclosure) for your new drive, and use the existing Recovery_HD to initialize the new drive. Once initialized, Recovery_HD might be willing to install onto the new drive.

No need to try to make a Recovery HD partition on the new drive first.

I was suggesting that a new drive needs to be erased or partitioned, because they often come from the factory as "blank". You usually can't install onto a "blank" drive.

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What I don't know for sure is whether Recovery_HD on the old drive will be flexible enough to store the download on the new drive, as helenatruralhome reports the rest of the old drive shows as "locked".

Right but the OP keeps saying the original drive is dead and no backups of any kind. In that case he will need a set of Original System Discs to get the system back up and running in any way. There is no way to install Mountain Lion on a new drive for his model year Mac without a drive that has the Recovery HD files on it.

In any event he should have and he should keep forever a set of the original system disc. You really can't get from here to there without them.

Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

No need to try to make a Recovery HD partition on the new drive first.

I was suggesting that a new drive needs to be erased or partitioned, because they often come from the factory as "blank". You usually can't install onto a "blank" drive.

There is no way to install Mountain Lion on a new drive for his model year Mac without a drive that has the Recovery HD files on it.

I read "I can get into Disk Utility" as an afirmation that recovery_HD on the old drive was working, but the "disk shows as locked" as a suggestion that the Macintosh_HD Volume was too badly damaged to do anything.

I think you'd be fine.

If you're sure that you can get to recovery disk menu from your external drive; you can proceed with the hardware replacement 🙂

Note: You can post a snapshot of your Disk utility window, that might help people to come up with better suggestions.

Run from the external:

System preferences > Set Startup Drive ... and choose the external and restart.

You may be sent into the Initial Setup routine. You will have to set up again, unless you can restore from a Backup. Keep the same Apple_ID as you have been using right along.

¿Working OK?

--No, try and fix the problems until you can get it to boot and run from the external

--Yes, shut down and Swap the new drive into your MacBook. Start up again.

Use Disk Utility to "erase" the new drive, and specify:

• GUID partition Map

• 1 partition, Mac OS X Extended, journaled, name it to suit you (but no special characters except - )

• Wireheads use this opportunity to Security Erase, write Zeroes, one pass -- which takes several hours. This is optional.

When complete, launch the App Store and Download and install Mac OS X onto the new drive.

From the Email I got from your post below, I have deleted it so I no longer have it, I think I remeber reading that you used a Windows computer to install Mountain Lion on that external drive. To do that you had to of used some type of HACKED version of Mountain Lion and in doing that I seriously doubt that Bastardized version of ML will ever work on a Real Mac computer.

You need to stop fooling around and ORDER a set of Replacement System Disc from Apple for your model year Mac computer.

IT IS THE ONLY WAY FOR YOU TO RESTORE YOUR MAC TO A WORKING COMPUTER.

helenatruralhome wrote:

I've now got an external hard drive which I managed to install Mountain Lion on- how do I get Mountain Lion off the external hard drive and onto the new hard drive?

Do i just select the external hard drive as the one to run from and 'set up' my macbook then go into disk utility and partition the new hard drive and download/ install it again on that? Also- when creating the partition do I partition it into two and if so- how much in each partition?