Q: Restore OS without recovery HD
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Sep 9, 2014 4:15 PMby Mike Sombrio,HelpfulThe recovery partition was introduced with Lion 10.7, before that unless you set one up manually you never had a recovery partition, holding Command-R requires at least 10.7......which you've already found ouT. Your MacBook shipped with install discs, you need either the original install discs or a retail Snow Leopard disc. If you don't have the originals you can call Apple and give them your serial number and they'll sell you a set. Or you can order a Snow Leopard install disc for $20 here http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
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Sep 10, 2014 8:48 AMby Psocks,Ok, awesome. This is really good info, thanks!
So if I find my install disk, what are the next steps to restoring my computer to defaults? Is there anything else I need to consider as I wipe my system? I read a bit about the the need to delete/reset my Firmware Password - is my OS too old to have that as well? I want to make sure there is nothing sensitive stored on the computer after I reset it.
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Sep 10, 2014 4:00 PMby Mike Sombrio,Your OS could certainly have a firmware password that should be disabled before you get rid of it. Did you set up a firmware password? Setting up firmware password protection in Mac OS X
If you find your original grey install discs you'll be able to erase the hard drive and install the original OS making the computer the same as it was when it came from the factory. Insert install disc 1 and restart while holding the C key. At the first screen choose your language and click next. The next screen will present you the option to install, don't yet. From the top menu bar click the Utilities menu and select Disk Utility. Select your hard drive in the panel on the left of the window and choose to erase, since your getting rid of the machine you might want to select one of the security options for multi pass erase......be aware that the more passes you make the longer it takes, and it can take several hours. When Disk Utility is done quit back to the installer and install OS X. When the installer is done you can do one of two things, shut the MacBook down and sell it, this allows the new owner to set it up just as you did when it was new. OR you may choose to create a test account and name it test or something like that and set the password as password allowing the new owner to access it and change things to his liking. Dont install any software that you've bought as it doesn't actually belong to you and you don't have the right to pass it on. Finally, make sure that you include the install discs in the sale....the new owner will end them.
