help me reinstall os on mac - noob question

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

_Jimlad_

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Joined
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Hey guys, im not an apple man, but mate has a newish mac and a broken cd drive. my brother gave me the latest os on a installable usb drive and said 'u will work it out' before swanning off to Italy.

i what i need to achieve is > format the drive (still has a os on) and then install using the usb stick with the os on...

help..
 
If you have the OS on a USB stick then it's l;ikely to have come from one of the new MacBook Air's that don't have an onboard super drive.

If this is the case, and you want to install OS X on a Mac that isn't a new MacBook Air, you're out of luck as it won't work.


You need to confirm for us:

- What type of USB stick it is, capacity, version of OS X on it (if it isn't as stated as above)
- What Mac this version came from
- What Mac you're trying to put it on
 
no its not, it was used on this same mac just two weeks ago, i saw him do it :D

he chucked the usb stick on, booted up, pressed a key, got into disc managment and formated the drive, rebooted then pressed a key and did the usb install
 
What he probably did was a Restore of the Installn DVD to the usb drive. What you'll need to do is stick the usb stick in and upon bootup press the option key and it'll bring up which drive you want to boot off; select the usb drive and away you go (assuming your bro has done the restore job)
 
feriso said:
What he probably did was a Restore of the Installn DVD to the usb drive. What you'll need to do is stick the usb stick in and upon bootup press the option key and it'll bring up which drive you want to boot off; select the usb drive and away you go (assuming your bro has done the restore job)
Click to expand...

that sounds about right, can i just ask two dumb questions, what is the option key (i don't have mac with me) and will that format too?
 
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