How to reformat your macbook pro and starting over

Question

How to reformat your macbook pro and starting over

I don't know if I did the steps right, i haven't backup anything before. I bought a 2TB external, formatted it once I plugged it in, all that jazz. Then I got Carbon Copy Cloner, copied all of my files onto my external, THEN, I went to time machine, ran the backup save. Now I'm stuck. I wanted to just restart my computer fresh and cleaner.

I went into disk utility, went to erase but it wouldn't let me. I got the installation disk and reinstalled the os. I tried holding a number of keeps at my macbook's start up; one of which black-screened my computer. The C key had the drive still running but the light signifying if it was on wasn't showing, and I had to force shut off my computer.

Few points of concern;

Itunes, if at all reformatting my hard drive is possible, I assume programs will be gone, I have itunes, final cut, some other apps from the app store, basically if i wanted to get them, i could redownload them. But itunes seems different. There is computer trusting with Iphone connectivity with itunes. I assume syncing would be off. For Music, if everything is on my external hard drive, can i just get the music files from my external? or should i back up my music before deleting them? Some have not made it through the itunes store (surprising right?) and to go through and redownload them again would be a hassle.

Saving Space, okay, what's the best way to use up this external hard drive, what absolutely requires it to be installed onto the hard drive, and what can be saved on the external and played through the external. I am a big time space saver as I almost used up the last bits i had on my mac. So anything that would make a mb difference in storage space would help.

Other programs. Lets say that I have other programs installed onto my hard drive currently. and there are backup on the external. Can I just delete it right now off my hdd, and run it from my external? Lets say it doesn't work and I need to put it back on the hard drive, do I need to reinstall it with the same process it took to get it? or can I drag and drop from my external and authorize it?

Posted on Jul 11, 2014 12:23 AM

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Answer 1

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 11, 2014 4:23 AM in response to JimmyCheckers

What model MBP do you have? What is the installed OSX?

What format did you use for the new 2TB HDD?

Do you have that drive partitioned?

Did you test to see if the CCC would boot your MBP?

What difficulties are you experiencing that prompt you to 'start over'?

Ciao.

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Answer 2

Jul 11, 2014 8:28 AM in response to OGELTHORPE

I have a mid 2009 MBP 160 GB with OSX 10.9.4

I Just plugged the hdd in and my MBP prompted me to format in order to work.I dont know how to partition or what to do for a partition, the settings, and all that.

I Don't know how to test CCC to boot my MBP, i assume its somewhere in the program

My main difficulties is just little to know space, I need to install over video and photo editing software, but each import prompts me there isnt any space left. And I have about 70 GB used in my OTHER category in storage and apps is second in storage space.

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Answer 3

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 11, 2014 10:34 AM in response to JimmyCheckers

Connect the 2 TB HDD to your MBP and click on it COMMAND+I. Take an image of it using Screen Shot COMMAND 4, dragging the crosshairs over the image. Please post the image. It will look like this:

Also click on the  icon on the menu bar. click on About this Mac>More Info>Storage. It will look like this:

Ciao.

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Answer 4

Jul 11, 2014 6:40 PM in response to OGELTHORPE

I have already set up my external as the start up drive. This is what i have

and since the change of startup disk i have slowly removing the audio from itunes, video files form imovie and final cut, i have some apps that only work with a system with an os on it, I'm assuming it needs the hdd to function, or i just need to run the install disk again to my external?

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Answer 5

OGELTHORPE

Level 9

57,305 points

Jul 12, 2014 4:06 AM in response to JimmyCheckers

Looking at you situation, I feel that you are being constrained by the 160 GB internal HDD. If you were to replace it with a 500GB-1TB HDD, you then would have ample room to have all of your data on the internal HDD and use the 2 TB Toshiba as a backup. You still could use the 160 GB HDD (in an Enclosure) to have a redundant backup of your most important files.

Here are some options that you might consider:

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/hard-drives/2.5-Notebook/

I do believe you life would be much simpler installing a larger HDD in your MBP. It is easy to do and not that expensive. If you pursue your current strategy, you will have some of your data backed up, and some will not be backed up. That is not a good situation.

Ciao.

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