HT3910: Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install

Learn about Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard: How to Erase and Install
lnwjab84
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Q: how do i fix the mistakes i made when i erased hard disk and restart without reinstalling the hd hard disk

i accidently erased macbook pro hd disk and when i tried to reinstall marvrick, it wont let me install and then i decided to restart then apple icon never came on and it did nothing for a long time.. please help.. i think it was hacked or virus messed it up

Posted on Dec 15, 2013 12:11 PM

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lnwjab84

Q: how do i fix the mistakes i made when i erased hard disk and restart without reinstalling the hd hard disk

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  • by lnwjab84,

    lnwjab84 lnwjab84 Dec 15, 2013 12:20 PM in response to lnwjab84
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    Dec 15, 2013 12:20 PM in response to lnwjab84

    or am i doomed?

  • by thomas_r.,Helpful

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Dec 15, 2013 12:39 PM in response to lnwjab84
    Level 7 (30,889 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 15, 2013 12:39 PM in response to lnwjab84

    It was not hacked, nor was this a virus. You erased the hard drive, so there's no system for it to start up from. I'm not sure what "it won't let me install" means, since you haven't given a specific error message, detailed description of the problem or information about how you were trying to install.

     

    First, before you do anything else, was the data on that drive backed up? If not, it's currently gone. You may be able to get most of it back using a data recovery tool. If you need to do this, do not do anything else with that drive, and see Recovering deleted files.

     

    If you already had Mavericks installed before erasing the hard drive, hold down command-R at startup. This should start you up in recovery mode. From there, you can reinstall Mavericks. If you did not have Mavericks installed, or if you did but cannot get it to start in recovery mode, then you will need to reinstall an older system. If the machine originally came with Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6) or older, you will need the install disks to do this. If it came with a more recent system, try holding down command-option-R at startup to boot into internet recovery mode. You will need to be on a decently-fast network.

  • by lnwjab84,

    lnwjab84 lnwjab84 Dec 15, 2013 12:55 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 15, 2013 12:55 PM in response to thomas_r.

    thank you so much!!  now the problem is i cannot reinstall maverick at all. it wont let me. how do i reinstall snow lepoard?

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Dec 15, 2013 1:39 PM in response to lnwjab84
    Level 7 (30,889 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 15, 2013 1:39 PM in response to lnwjab84

    Again, what does "it won't let me" mean? What specifically are you doing, and what is happening in response?

     

    As for reinstalling Snow Leopard, you would need to start up from your Snow Leopard install disk to do that.

  • by lnwjab84,

    lnwjab84 lnwjab84 Dec 15, 2013 2:08 PM in response to thomas_r.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 15, 2013 2:08 PM in response to thomas_r.

    well we dont have the disk and we bought  it as used.  even the cd rom wont work..are there other way to fix this?

    its hard to explain.. sorry for confusions

  • by thomas_r.,

    thomas_r. thomas_r. Dec 15, 2013 2:27 PM in response to lnwjab84
    Level 7 (30,889 points)
    Mac OS X
    Dec 15, 2013 2:27 PM in response to lnwjab84

    If we knew how the Mavericks install was failing, someone might be able to suggest a way to get it to work. The problem is, we still don't know that.

     

    If you end up having to reinstall Snow Leopard, you will need the install disk. You can order replacements for a small shipping & handling fee from Apple. Whether that will be necessary or not is still up in the air.

  • by Eustace Mendis,

    Eustace Mendis Eustace Mendis Dec 15, 2013 2:28 PM in response to lnwjab84
    Level 7 (25,402 points)
    Dec 15, 2013 2:28 PM in response to lnwjab84

    Can you identify the Macbook model? There is a serial number on back of the laptop.

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1366

     

    http://www.powerbookmedic.com/identify-mac-serial.php

     

    It is possible the computer is too old to run Mavericks - the model will establish that.