Mountain Lion

Log into the Mac App Store with the same Apple ID and click on the Purchases tab.

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The record of your purchases will be available by clicking Purchases at the top of the window. You'll need to sign in; anything in this list can be redownloaded for free.

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The Mountain Lion 10.8 is available by purchase from the Apple Store online; it will be in

the form of a Download Code. Then after installation, you can update that to 10.8.5 from

a software update. If you bought this, you should be able to use the same download code

or if you restore OS X via OS X Recovery, there are two items you could do; one is Internet

Recovery, the other is to recover the system in the computer. Boot into OS X Recovery to

see if that partition exists in your computer.

A new hard disk drive may not have it; so you would have to see if you can connect to the

internet recovery. (I've not done this.) -- You would not need to buy the same OS X.

• OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

Apple Store - Mountain Lion 10.8:

http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

Combo update to finish after installing 10.8:

Download OS X Mountain Lion Update v10.8.5 (Combo)

Sometimes, you may have to sign in more than once in App Store; some content is visible

without it. Some items may even suggest you may be logged in. But you may not be. The

OS X Recovery should provide you a means to re-install the last previous OS X or one

that you bought from the Apple Store (via download code sent to email.)

Good luck & happy computing! 🙂

You may be able to contact the sales support in online Apple Store, and they should have

a record of the purchase of the Mountain Lion 10.8 download code. And also of the email

sent to you, somewhere in their internal records. This latter point, should apply to your

email account; unless you deleted the download code email from Apple.

If you can contact Apple support or even sales support, they may be able to re-send the

code again; providing they can find the record of that transaction. You should use the

method to create an offline installer from the download, such as suggested in earlier post

so it would be available, in case the hard drive fails or you end up needing to install the

OS X to an external hard disk drive, or other media such as USB flash (16GB or larger.)

• OS X - Contact Support - Apple Support:

http://www.apple.com/support/osx/contact/

Read the above article, specifically the section for 'Mountain Lion and Earlier'; and the

section Apps bundled with a Mac purchase. If you upgraded to Mt Lion 10.8.5 and

then got update or upgrade application versions to complete this upgrade to 10.8.5,

the App Store should have a record of those transactions. But maybe not.

{A change to the App Store does not show my as-shipped present computer list of paid

applications that accompanied the computer (bought within the last year) nor is the

list of unsupported updates (for newer than Mavericks 10.9.5 in my Mac) for use with

a later newer OS X. Since I did not get Yosemite, due to some questions I asked and

never got a timely answer about upgrade with new system installed (on the second

internal hard drive, my mac has two factory HDDs) without compromising Mavericks.

And now there has been issues by users of the same mac I bought, with El Capitan.

So I'm not wanting to find my hardware graphic processor fail due to firmware issue!}

The OS X Recovery has certain limits; the articles suggest them, regarding the use of

internet recovery for one kind of recovery; and the in-computer recovery for another.

For a computer that had its hard disk drive replaced with a new one, the original OS X

Recovery would not be in the computer. This is where an Apple Store genius could help.
Or an Apple Specialist, or an AASP; a retail authorized Apple service provider...

If you bought the extended AppleCare Plan, there would be no charge for help after

the complementary 90-days support. A genius in retail Apple Store is of no cost.

The Apple Support for your purchased OS X 10.8 should continue for 90-days after the

date of purchase; they should still be able to help after that duration has passed. Also

an Apple Genius in a retail Apple Store could be able to help restore that OS X. The

help could come from the link posted above, to contact them; or the main Applecare

phone number. The main online retail store has contact numbers in Contact Us page.

• Make an appointment at an Apple Retail Store Genius Bar
• Find an Apple Authorized Service Provider
• https://getsupport.apple.com/
• U.S. iPod, Mac and iPad technical support: (800) APL–CARE (800–275–2273)

{To save a copy of the installer once it is downloaded and before it is run, is

an idea that can save a lot of time; instead of waiting again for a slow internet...}

• How to reinstall OS X on your Mac - Apple Support

That is discussed in this other article that covers similar ground:

http://www.macworld.com/article/2690806/how-to-install-mac-os-x-yosemite.html

Another way to make a copy of the installer for later re-use, is covered here:

http://diskmakerx.com/

Hopefully the Support people can assist in getting 10.8 Mountain Lion; either online or

in an official Apple retail Store with Genius bar. If you live in a country which has them.

Good luck in any event! 🙂

OK they probably allow a single download via the redemption code, or limited time

to try if the initial attempt should fail. This would be expected, that it would expire.

Hopefully they can help...! 😐

Drag and drop is not a recommended method of restoring, you'd need to try to migrate.

This should be do-able afterward, if not done during installation of a new system...

To restore everything from Time Machine, use OS X Recovery; is among suggestions here:

• Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support

• Apple OS X and Time Machine Tips*: (works with older systems prior to Yosemite, etc)

http://www.pondini.org/OSX/Home.html

Migration and setup assistant info:

• How to move data to your new Mac using Mountain Lion and earlier - Apple Support

• Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support

{A 'new mac' may be any mac you need to restore, if hard drive was erased or replaced,

so as to not have the OS X Recovery or previous system installer/recovery partition in it.}

*The information from the pondini site is helpful, unfortunate for us, the compiler author

is no longer among us anymore; he was a contributor to these Apple discussion forums.

Not sure if the links will help... I'd not drag & drop to install user files from one backup

to another system; your privileges and permissions among others will be messed up.

And I'm not sure what to suggest other than the advice in the articles linked so far.

A good offline source of information is the 'Missing Manual' guides by David Pogue.

I've found a few at good discount in second hand stores; a steal compared to retail.

There is a procedure and when it is not followed, it must be tried again. But you

should never compromise a known-good archive or backup. And always create

more than one, from the system before changing anything; and while it is healthy.

Suggestions to use clones or utilities that can create them, is best addressed prior

to any problem, so another form of complete backup can be made. There are learn-

ing curves to these exercises and the steps need to be tested so the tools work later.

Well, I'm looking at 10 PM here. Running on a few hours of sleep the past several days.

Good luck in your adventure and keep calm. 😎