MAC - Format/Reinstall

Tesla · 7 Jun 2006 at 11:04

Hello,

I set up a wireless network for one of my customers amongst a few other things.

They asked me if I could start there Mac over from scratch again.

I told them I havnt done that before but would find out some details and let them know.

I am unsure of the exact version but it is running OSX.

Also, it's a G4 if that makes any difference.

I said I would also enquire about upgrading the memory, are they easy to work on. Have done upgrades to G5 but that's basically the same as a desktop PC where as this looks cramped to say the least.

AJUK · 7 Jun 2006 at 11:21

You will need to find out how to change the ram in their particular machine as it is different for every model. If it is a tower then it is exactly the same as a PC but if it is one of those old iMac with the screen on an arm then it is somewhat more difficult.

As for reinstalling OS X you have several options and you will need their original disks. You need to boot from the CD by holding down 'c' at start up and you will be given several options. There is a disk utility that can be accessed from the top menu and that will give you the ability to zero overwrite the whole hard drive and then you can restart, boot from CD (as above) and then reinstall. This method wipes out everything on the drive so they will lose all data.

The other method is an erase and install that just wipes the boot sector and reinstalls OS X and the final method is to just reinstall OS X to the default settings but will keep all the documents etc., accounts, mail settings and applications.

Sounds like option one would be best but make sure they have a backup of what they want to keep (a .Mac account is great for this because it should have already synchronised) and the applications they want to use.

Tesla · 7 Jun 2006 at 13:46

Many thanks AJUK. The process doesn't sound to unfamilar to a windows user.

What sort of time scale would I be looking at from start to finish? 2 1/2 hours?

AJUK · 7 Jun 2006 at 14:15

Wien I zeroed my iMac 160Gb drive using that method it took about an hour, theirs will be smaller I guess and OS X only takes about 15 minutes to install from fresh. 2 max hours should get you up and running with an OS but then you need to add on time for the apps.