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How do I re-reinstall Mavericks?

i have a macbook late 2009 (6.1). i just upgraded with a new 240gb SSD, which I installed myself. I used my old harddrive to boot from, using CMND+R. i formatted the new SSD and installed a clean version of Mavericks to the newly formatted SSD. all was well. unfortunately, i used migration assistant and it brought over user preferences i did not want. so, i want to reformat my new SSD drive, again, and reinstall Mavericks, again.


however, taking the same steps as i described above produced very different results the second time. this time, i am unable to reformat the SSD, and it returns an error saying that it cannot unmount the disk because it is locked. i tried following other posts, which are not definitive and extremely unhelpful, and the advice of repairing or verifying the disk does not work. the error message returned when i try this is that "live repair" of the disks is not supported.


so, to re-cap... the problem here is definitely not an old harddrive. and the CMND+R recovery has not helped me yet. i cannot revert to an older OS like mountain lion because on both the new internal SSD and the old external drives have Mavericks on them.


i can start the computer and work in the new SSD 100%. but like i said, i want a clean install this is not negotiable. i want the old user preferences off, and i want to build my new harddrive from the ground up with only fresh downloads, apps, etc. so how can i accomplish this?

MacBook, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 8gb RAM, new 240gb SSD

Posted on Jan 22, 2014 1:32 AM

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Posted on Jan 22, 2014 1:40 AM

I'm really not sure what you're asking? If you want a clean install, simply boot from your external hard drive, erase the SSD and install Mavericks on it. Then begin adding applications one at a time. No need to worry about user prefs, etc., coming over from your HDD.

Clinton


EDIT: you are booting from the HDD, right?


Message was edited by: clintonfrombirmingham

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Jan 22, 2014 1:40 AM in response to ayiti2015

I'm really not sure what you're asking? If you want a clean install, simply boot from your external hard drive, erase the SSD and install Mavericks on it. Then begin adding applications one at a time. No need to worry about user prefs, etc., coming over from your HDD.

Clinton


EDIT: you are booting from the HDD, right?


Message was edited by: clintonfrombirmingham

Jan 22, 2014 1:57 AM in response to clintonfrombirmingham

i have the HDD connected thru USB. i turn on the machine holding CMND+R. the external HDD runs fine. i enter into the recover screen, and select the internal SSD to perform disk utility operations. with the SSD selected, i attempt to erase the SSD and reformat it according to Mac OS Journal, etc.


so, i admit i do not know if i am booting from the HDD or not. i assumed that i was with the procedure i described, but it would make sense that i am not...

Jan 22, 2014 2:07 AM in response to ayiti2015

With your external plugged in, boot up using the alt (option) key... It will take a little while but should present you with the option to boot into the SSD / HDD. Providing that both drives are bootable. Select the drive which you DON'T want to wipe clean allow it to boot, once in and at your desktop. Open Disk Utility in Utilities. Highlight the drive that you do want to wipe/repair/verify. See if the options are now there and available to you.


To boot using alt (option):

Power down the mac, press alt and then press power. Keep alt pressed down until after the chimes.

Jan 22, 2014 1:55 PM in response to RáNdÓm GéÉzÁ

Your advice is all working fine, so far. The only snag to report is the inability of Apple to verify/credential my computer before re-installing Mavericks. But methinks this is due to the University's wireless security settings. I was able to sign in to the wireless network, and it appears to have done the trick. I wish this would be the case for plugging in with an ethernet cord, but I am afraid to try to turn off wifi in case it doesn't. Will report back with more definite news.

How do I re-reinstall Mavericks?

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