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so, I am a windows user and I attempted to reload a MAC mini that i recieved from someone else with a new OS. I am unable to get the original apple ID and have already deleted the original partition, is there still a way i can get the OS back?

so, I am a windows user and I attempted to reload a MAC mini that i received from someone else with a new OS. I am unable to get the original apple ID and have already deleted the original partition, is there still a way i can get the OS back and possibly have my AppleID on it?

Posted on Aug 4, 2015 10:13 AM

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3 replies

Aug 4, 2015 10:42 AM in response to lllaass

I believe it is the Mid 2011 model MAC mini with 2.0GHz 2GB memory and 320GB HD. It does have an optical drive on it. It had mountain Lion on it. I made the mistake of following an online guide which had me delete all the partitions that had the information i wanted removed on it. well that left nothing on the hard drive. so when it boots up now and I select where i want it installed it shows the blank drive. I go to recover by internet, but then it asks for the apple ID that the OS used to belong to (which i don't know). I didn't get a CD with it.

Aug 4, 2015 11:04 AM in response to cmnorris3

You do NOT have a 2011. Those did not have an optical drive.

Since you said you have a 2 Hz CPU that mean you have an early 2009. Those do not have Internet Recovery. You are booting to the Recovery partition which was introduced in Lion. You Mac can go to the latest OS which is now Yosemite.


I recommend that you purchase the Snow Leopard DVD here:

http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Then boot from it and format the HD and install and then fully update SL.

Then you can go to the Mac App Store and "purchase" the free Yosemite.

You can also order a download code for Lion for about $29. It will take a couple of days to get the code

http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6106Z/A/os-x-lion


Yosemite will be very slow with only 2 GB of memory. You can upgrade the memory to 8 GB (2x4 GB)

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/Apple_Mac_mini/DDR3

If you can't afford 2x4 I would get one 4 GB stick and replace one 1 GB stick


Lion is still very marginal on 2 GB


You can also replace the rotting HD with a SSD and that helps performance and is easy if you are already taking the Mac apart to upgrade the memory.The following are videos for how to replace the memory and HD

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/mac_mini_2009/

so, I am a windows user and I attempted to reload a MAC mini that i recieved from someone else with a new OS. I am unable to get the original apple ID and have already deleted the original partition, is there still a way i can get the OS back?

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