Need help reinstalling Yosemite/Question about external hard drive

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Level 1

4 points

Need help reinstalling Yosemite/Question about external hard drive

I have an early MacBook Pro and I have to reinstall Yosemite because I've been getting nothing but spinning beach balls, slow loading, lag in type showing up, and wi-fi issues. I took the laptop to the Genius Bar at the Apple store last week and they ran diagnostics on everything and all was perfectly OK. No hardware issues, no memory issue and he said my laptop was very clean. He saw the spinning beach ball many times while he was working on my laptop and suggested that I turn off File Vault as that could be causing the slowdown. He said if that didn't work (it didn't) to buy an external hard drive (which I received today) and to back up everything through Time Machine then reinstall Yosemite. I specifically bought an external HD that says "for Mac" and as soon as I connected it Time Machine opened and did the backup.

Now these are my questions. Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it? Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me? I know silly questions but I'm really worried about losing stuff.

Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Apr 20, 2015 8:37 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 21, 2015 12:30 AM in response to YoJoLo

YoJoLo wrote:

Are all my photos on iPhoto, and my Word for Mac documents backed up so that when I reinstall Yosemite, everything is going to be right where I left it?

If you have taken the backup using the Time machine then there is nothing to worry as all your photos from iPhotos and Word for mac documents are backup safely by your time machine.

Only keep one thing in mind that the external HDD which you use for the time machine backup should have the capacity size of about 3-4 times that of your backup data size. Or else, the time machine external drive will start deleting the files if the external drive is about to be full.

YoJoLo wrote:

Will I lose Word for Mac and have to reinstall it? Isn't Word for Mac a one time use/install and will I have trouble and have to call Microsoft to input my authentication key in again and will they let me?

You absolutely don’t have to reinstall the Word for mac if its install in the first place because Time machine will backup the system installed files of your MS Word which you had installed.

Word for mac is a one time install and you don’t have to call Microsoft for any authentication key after you have restored your Word backup files from the time machine drive. As I said before the time machine will backup your Word system installed files leaving you no chance to reinstall it again.

YoJoLo wrote:

Also step-by-step detailed instruction on how to reinstall Yosemite would really be appreciated. Thank you!

Here, Yosemite reinstall procedure......

Important: To reinstall OS X, you must be connected to the Internet. Make sure your power adapter is plugged in. Reinstall OS X using the built-in recovery disk.

In the menu bar, choose Apple menu > Restart. Once your Mac restarts (and the gray screen appears), hold down the Command and R keys.
Select Disk Utility, then click Continue.
Select your startup disk on the left, then click the Erase tab.
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the Format menu, enter a name, then click Erase.
Important: Erasing the disk removes all the information from the disk. Be sure to back up the information you want to keep to an external device.
After the disk is erased, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.
Select Reinstall OS X, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

Hope this helps.....

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Answer 2

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 10:50 AM in response to Grane Duke

Thank you so much for your quick response. I'll try reloading Yosemite later today and let you know how it goes.

I bought a 500 GB external hard drive and from what you are saying I should have bought how big? I have 422 GB free of 499 GB so I have a lot of room on my hard drive and I thought since there is so little on there 500 GB would be enough. What size do I need to buy?

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Answer 3

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 11:07 AM in response to Grane Duke

OK I started all the steps you gave me and I'm kind of stuck at Step C. I don't know which of these to highlight in Disk Utility to erase.

500.11 GB Toshiba xxx Media

Mcintosh HD

__________________________

Disk 1

OS X Base System

I looks just like what I typed. The Mcintosh HD looks like it's a sub folder of the 500.11 GB Toshiba because it is indented under it as is the OS X Base System.

As you can see, I don't have a lot of computer know how so if someone could help me I'd appreciate it. I don't want to erase the wrong thing.

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Answer 4

Apr 21, 2015 12:45 PM in response to YoJoLo

YoJoLo, first tell me that have you backed up the data on your macbook onto your 500 GB external disk using time machine....?? I don’t want you to loose your valuable data so I am double checking with you..... Reply back.

Also please post the screenshot of disk utility window with the external hard disk connected. Press shift + cmd + 4 key then you will see a crosshair symbol. Point that symbol on the disk utility window and press shift key then leave it and finally do a single touch with your touch pad. Upload the taken screenshot.

I will tell you step by step..........

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Answer 5

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 2:11 PM in response to Grane Duke

Ok, screenshot would not work while I was in the disk utility. That is one that I use quite often and nothing happened when I tried. I even tried Shift+Cmd+3 key and nothing.

This is exactly what it looked like though:

500.11 GB Toshiba (numbers) Media (There was a little icon before the 500.11 that looked like a little HD)

Mcintosh HD (Little HD icon in front of the Macintosh too)

Superdrive (There was a little round icon in front of the word Superdrive but this whole line is GHOSTED/Greyed out)

_____________________________ (There is a dividing line)

Disk1 (The icon before Disk1 looks like my Western Digital external HD)

OS X Base System " " " " " "

500.07 GB WD My Passport " " " " " "

My Passport for Mac Disk1 and all the way down appear like they have the icon for my Western Digital external HD

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Answer 6

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 2:46 PM in response to YoJoLo

Yes, my external hard drive has backed up my info on my computer several times since yesterday.

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Answer 7

Apr 21, 2015 3:24 PM in response to YoJoLo

If you follow my previous installation procedure then the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard will be installed by default as it was the OS X that came preinstalled in your macbook pro. Have you got Yosemite installation file on your computer....??

If you do a reinstall then the Snow leopard will be installed on your Macbook pro. Then you need to click on the Yosemite setup installer file that you downloaded from Appstore. Please reply back....

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Answer 8

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 3:32 PM in response to Grane Duke

Which one do I highlight in Disk Utilities in step c of your instructions? Which is the startup disk? It's the one I have to erase and I'm not sure which one to pick. Is it the 500.11 GB Toshiba Media or the Macintosh HD?

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Answer 9

Apr 21, 2015 7:36 PM in response to YoJoLo

Your start up disk will be "Macintosh HD”. Select it and click the erase tab. Then follow my step: D, E and F.

NOTE THAT DURING THIS PROCEDURE, YOU WILL LOOSE ALL YOUR DATA ON THE HARD DISK AND YOU WILL BE PROMPTED TO REINSTALL "OS X 10.6.8 SNOW LEOPARD.”

Don’t worry, as later you will be able to install the Yosemite OS X by the help of Yosemite Installer file.

First finish up reinstalling Snow Leopard and I will guide you step by step later. Reply back when you are done.......

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Answer 10

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 5:07 PM in response to Grane Duke

Followed your instructions but it isn't downloading Snow Leopard (which I probably would have preferred). It went right into downloading Yosemite again and it's a little more than an hour from finishing. I noticed on the Disk Utility there is an option to use the external hard drive to get my information back. Is that how I get it back by going into Disk Utilities again and telling it to do that or will it just automatically do it when I plug in the external hard drive?

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Answer 11

YoJoLo Author

Level 1

4 points

Apr 21, 2015 7:38 PM in response to YoJoLo

EVERYTHING went smoothly and reloaded great. Only problem is I'm still getting the spinning beach ball but not as much as before. I wish my MacBook had gone to an older OS than the Yosemite. I downloaded Ad Medic from a contributor on here and it found some adware that it removed. Let's see if that fixes the problem but it is a lot better than it was.

I am very thankful for your help. Thank you for hanging in there with me.

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Answer 12

Apr 21, 2015 11:41 PM in response to YoJoLo

YoJoLo, you have probably restored the time machine Yosemite backup. You didn’t do a clean reinstall. Follow my procedure steps A - Step F again if you want to reinstall your original Snow Leopard. I would recommend you to go back to snow Leopard and later install a copy of Mountain Lion as its a better and stable Mac OS X.

Follow my procedure again and keep your backed up external hard drive unplugged. Don’t restore any Yosemite files again. Reply back......

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Answer 13

Eric Root

Level 10

684,039 points

Apr 22, 2015 4:52 PM in response to YoJoLo

Activity Monitor - Mavericks also Yosemite

Activity Monitor in Mavericks has significant changes

Performance Guide

Why is my computer slow

Why your Mac runs slower than it should

Slow Mac After Mavericks

Things you can do to resolve slowdowns see post by Kappy

6 Easy Tips to Speed Up OS X Yosemite on Your Mac

Try running this program and then copy and paste the output in a reply. The program was created by Etresoft, a frequent contributor. Please use copy and paste as screen shots can be hard to read.

Etrecheck – System Information

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