I just forgot I owned a mac in my house. It used to be someone else's in my family, so I backed up and now want to reinstall. I read countless tutorials on how to reinstall MacOS. They all were the same: used recovery mode. My mac cannot boot into recovery mode, and once I use command->R, all that happens is a regular boot. It ignores this. I held option key while booting up to see things to boot up from, and Recovery HD wouldn't show up. Any suggestions? I have a very simple goal: Reinstalling MacOs because this one is broken and used. If you can think of any other ways to reinstall mac, that would help too.
One other suggestion: while you're running yosemite - you can legally download the el capitan dmg. Just don't install it; keep it somewhere safe (and even burn the dmg to a DVD for safe keeping. Also make the installer too. This link (which I think I posted earlier) has a link within it to a download, via the App store, the dmg to allow you to upgrade to el capitan from Snow Leopard. The site clearly states it can be used for those systems which will not run sierra, but will run el capitan...
Read thorugh it carefully and check out the link(s) various and you'll see what I mean?
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-e...
I make it habit to download each version of Mac OS X as they become available just in-case they disappear at a later date...
As best I know if it won't rebuild/re-install as new via the Recovery partition... then treat the drive as if a new/blank drive. You need either a Mac (bootable) DVD with the OS, as would once have been provided with earlier versions of Mac OS X; or the usb based installer utility, and a download of the actual OS X required.
To this end use the Apple installer routine - as per the info in this link:
This link has another detailed how to - scroll down aways...
And this one may be of interest too; it has a couple of links within the first/second response
How olde is this Mac; is it compatible for more recent versions of OS X?
If the Mac is current enuff for el capitan - likely you might need to increase RAM to 4Gig - I'd go that option?
It is compatible with OS X Yosemite, and is not compatible with OS X Sierra. I really don't know if it able to run OS X El Capitan. Just wondering... will upgrading from OS X Lion to OS X Yosemite do anything like allow recovery mode?
I'm not sure... What model Mac do you have; and how much RAM installed? My Macbook Pro is late 2011/early 2011; came with Snow Leopard went up to Mountain Lion, then Mavericks, and is now on el capitan. Works fine...
I suspect that if your Mac is OK with Yosemite it'l be OK with el capitan.
But knowing the model number etc. will allow to confirm if it can run el capitan or not...
How do I find the model? But I do know that it is 2GB if you look at my specs on this post. Even if it were compatible, on another mac I never got OS X El Capitan and just skipped to OS X Sierra, so I really have no clue on how to install OS X El Capitan. Any other way to get it besides app store?
Providing it boots up - top left corner (Apple logo) click on it >>> About this Mac. You get the basic info in the opening image; and there are assorted tabs and options to give you more detailed info.
el capitan was (is) more or less a better version of yosemite; a few bugs etc. ironed out.
I am updating on the computer to OS X Yosemite so I can't see model. Will OS X Yosemite allow recovery mode? That is my main question. message edited by TechGuy
There are ways to get the el capitan version; no-longer on Apple's formal site since sierra was released. But allegedly still around. https://7labs.heypub.com/tips-trick...
Keep this link (immediately below) safe; as it has assorted how to instal el capitan links within it.
This is dated, but useful how to nonetheless - once you have managed to get a copy of el capitan download...
http://osxdaily.com/2015/09/30/os-x...
And "this" link may be what you're really looking for; how to go from 10.6.8 to el capitan
https://discussions.apple.com/threa...
Presuming you dtill have 10.6.8 installed and bootable it may be the anser you seek?
The link(s) you need are in the first response under Helpful answers (from Lanny)
Failing which if you know anyone locally with el capitan .dmg downloaded... see if they can send you a copy of it on a DVD?
message edited by trvlr
Wow. I feel bad. Upgrading to OS X Yosemite fixed it. I can now use recovery mode. Apparently, recovery mode wasn't available to OS X Lion. Thanks for the help anyway, @trvlr
Your welcome. I suggest you keep a note of the assorted links as the info they contain "might' b e useful at some time anon? Also consider making your own installer and a recovery disk; and even a clone image (Carbon Cloner), or an Acronis image of your hard drive. I have both, as I seldom trust just one of anything in terms of data security (copies/backups) and OS recovery routines...
That way you're covered in-case of future problems.
Incidentally very likely the upgrade to yosemite has created a yosemite version of the recovery routine.
I would still advise upping the RAM to 4Gig; go to crucial.com and let them scan the system and advise what's best in terms of RAM.
One other suggestion: while you're running yosemite - you can legally download the el capitan dmg. Just don't install it; keep it somewhere safe (and even burn the dmg to a DVD for safe keeping. Also make the installer too. This link (which I think I posted earlier) has a link within it to a download, via the App store, the dmg to allow you to upgrade to el capitan from Snow Leopard. The site clearly states it can be used for those systems which will not run sierra, but will run el capitan...
Read thorugh it carefully and check out the link(s) various and you'll see what I mean?
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-e...
I make it habit to download each version of Mac OS X as they become available just in-case they disappear at a later date...
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