Macbook/Lion/Appstore help for Mac newbie

Ben Cole

Ben Cole

Ben Cole

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Joined
24 Feb 2003
Posts
3,152
Location
Porthcawl and Southampton
I have just bought a Macbook from the MM.

It comes with Lion installed but only Snow leopard install discs. When I open Appstore and go to Lion it shows as "installed".

OK so fair enough but what do I do if I want to re-format?

I aim to put an SSD in here (OCZ Agilty 3 ok???) so what do I need, will it allow me to re-install from Appstore because the previous owner did it for this Mac?

The previous owner hasn't responded to my emails.
 
and I can then move this file to an external HDD or is it a disc image or what? Is it an "upgrade" with which I have to use the Snow Leopard discs or is it a stand alone product?

Thanks for the quick response, saves lots of aimless googling :-)
 
mrbell1984 said:
It may not be shift, try the command button? It's one of them! Lol
Click to expand...

After a quick search it appears it is the option key. However, this only changes it from "installed" to purchase.

I think it's because the previous owner installed it using his Apple account. I don't know how the licensing works, whether Lion belongs to the previous owner or THIS Macbook but I'd rather not have to purchase it if I don't have to.

I think Dave's recovery thingy should work as I'm presuming this Mac has the required recovery partition.
 
Having the partition on the currently installed HDD isn't what you need if you are installing a new hard drive, as ofc this will stay on the old one.

If you follow that link I sent before, the guide to creating an external USB drive is also here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4848 This will guide you through the process of creating a separate rescue drive that you will be able to boot from (hold CMD + R)

***HOWEVER***

Having read the above, because it was a purchase through the app store, if you go through any of this you will be asked for iTunes credentials on install - as a result you will need to know the user and password for the guy you bought it from...

This gives you 2 realistic options:

1 - Buy it yourself to save the hassle =]

2 - Use something like Carbon Copy Cloner to image the internal drive, and then put this onto the internal SSD...it's a bit of a faff and you will need an external drive to save the image to..but it'll save you the £20 odd that it'll cost to buy Lion..
 
Would also like to know how to re download! Mine is reading as installed but the other da hen downloading it it failed about 1gb in so I know it's not installrd
 
Hmmm.

Got my SSD today. Hardware installation no problem.

Made myself a bootable disc of Lion from my appstore download...Which it seems is no good because I need to have Snow Leopard first.

Now the mac I bought off the MM was advertised as "having Lion". Now it seems to me that the person I bought from effectively sold it to me with a dodgy copy because not only is the app store download for Lion attached to his account, he also hasn't included Snow Leopard. All I've got is Tiger install discs.

There are guides on the internet for installing Lion fresh from a DVD but when it boots into utilities I cannot click on anything. The trackpad wordks but I cant enter anything by clicking. :-(

Any ideas?
 
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