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How to install mac os after replacing hdd. FAQ: How to install Mac OS X on a new hard drive yourself

Sooner or later, the day comes when you need to reinstall the Mac OS operating system on your MacBook PC. This task- no more difficult than reinstalling Windows. This will be discussed.

operating system on macbook

Reasons for reinstallation operating system MacOS on a Mac computer are:

damage or deterioration of the built-in drive (HDD);
selling or gifting a MacBook to another person;
"moving" to another MacBook (newer model, but keeping old version macOS systems);
transferring data to Apple gadgets or to another computer.

What is the reinstallation of MacOS:

"from scratch", including formatting the built-in disk;
reinstallation "on top", with the preservation of personal data and applications (updating MacOS).

For example, using the MacAppStore, you can update the version of OS X Lion and OS X mountain lion to a newer one - OS X Mavericks.

Procedure for sale or transfer Mac computer another user next. It deserves special mention.

Backing up personal data from a MacBook to a separate media or cloud service.
Disabling special services and functionality that manages copying and transferring data.
Erase all personal information from the drive.

Attention! Before you start reinstalling MacOS on your MacBook PC - take the trouble to save all your data on external media! This will be discussed first.

Backing up data with Time Machine

Application time machine created for Reserve copy personal files from MacBook and their reverse recovery on it. But it requires external USB drives (HDD, SDD drives) formatted in MacOS Extended or Xsan - file systems FAT/NTFS for Windows and Android are not supported. If the disk was previously formatted in FAT / NTFS formats, the MacBook will not accept it if it refuses to reformat "for itself".

Time Machine starts from system settings MacOS in the Apple menu. When an external hard drive is connected, a corresponding notification will appear.

Do you really want to destroy all data written to this drive in a different format?

If a external drive has already been formatted, Time Machine will give the go-ahead to use it. Confirm the request.

Are you sure you want to copy your data to this drive?

If Time Machine does not show disk selection, do the following.

It is interesting that backups in the Time Machine program are fully automated - the backup is "refreshed" hourly, and their saving is ordered, you will not "get lost" in them. In addition, copying is also possible on an Apple server (like iCloud) and in storage local network that support the Apple File Protocol. All this often helps in case of need to re macOS installations do not waste valuable working time.

After copying all your data, you can proceed to reinstall MacOS.

Reinstalling macOS on a Mac

There are several ways to reinstall macOS on a MacBook: a clean install from a flash drive, an over-install of a previous version (updating from the MacAppStore), and restoring macOS from a backup.

How to reinstall Mac OS from an installation flash drive

The preliminary steps are as follows.

Download the Mac OS X installation image from the Mac Store App Store or from third party websites.
When the download is complete, right-click on the downloaded file and select "Show Package Contents".
Go to the /Contents/SharedSupport/ folder, copy the InstallESD.dmg file to a safe location on your disk, and mount it on your macOS desktop.

We need the Disk Utility app included with MacOS. These are the next steps.

Launch MacOS Utilities and select Disk Utility.
Select MacOS Utility Disk
Insert the USB flash drive that is supposed to be installed.
Launch the "Our media" component (the name of the flash drive will appear in the header) - the "Partition Disk" tab will open.
Give the drive a name that will make it easy to find
Select the location of the partitions and under the "Options" button, check "GUID Partition Scheme".
Click OK
Open the Restore tab. Make the MacOS image the source, and the USB flash drive the “receiver”, and click on the “Restore” button.
Specify what and where to copy

Creating an installation flash drive "Disk Utility" will perform in automatic mode, and she does this operation quite reliably. When the copy is complete, Disk Utility will notify you of this.

Congratulations! The macOS installation flash drive has been created! You can restart your MacBook. Preparing to install MacOS is as follows.

Everything! MacOS installation started. The macOS operating system will install automatically - this will take 30-100 minutes depending on the performance of your MacBook. After it, your PC will immediately be ready to work.

How to install the system without formatting the internal drive

Installing macOS without erasing a drive is all about downloading and installing macOS updates directly from the MacAppStore. The installation flash drive is not needed here. It reminds iOS update on smartphones and tablets "over the air". This method is good for those who once bought a MacBook - and are not going to change it, but, on the contrary, will work on it for many years, because MacBook computers, like Apple iDevice gadgets, are of very high quality, reliable and convenient.

Before updating, check if your MacBook meets the hardware requirements new version macOS - in otherwise she will slow down.

Not every previous version of MacOS may work to upgrade to the desired version. So, if your MacBook is running macOS Snow Leopard (10.6.8) and your MacBook is running macOS Sierra, first upgrade to macOS X El Capitan.

The macOS Sierra version is taken as an example. Other copies are searched for and "placed" in exactly the same way. Your actions are as follows.

If you have OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 (or newer) operating system, the MacOS Sierra version is downloaded silently. You will then be prompted to install this version.

Click on the install button

During the installation of MacOS, the PC restarts several times. If this version did not suit you (Macbook performance dropped) - “roll back” to the previous one (for example, OS X El Capitan), with which PC performance was very satisfactory.

Restoring macOS from a backup

For example, a “rollback” from MacOS Sierra (10.12) back to OS X El Capitan (10.11) or OS X Yosemite (10.10) is taken. Let's say there are backups made in the Time Machine application before installing macOS Sierra.

Important! You can only restore a MacOS system from a backup on the same MacBook. Trying to transfer your copy of MacOS with data to another PC in this way is useless. Use other methods.

Connect external drive to MacBook and save existing files in Time Machine, naming the new copy macOS Sierra.
Open an old copy of OS X Yosemite from Time Machine on another drive, after connecting it to your MacBook.
Restart your MacBook by holding Command+R on your keyboard. The familiar macOS recovery menu will open.
From the OS X Utilities menu, select Restore from Time Machine Backup.
Once in the "Restore from Time Machine" recovery window, click on "Continue", and then specify the source - the disk with the "backup" of OS X El Capitan.
The saved copy should be like this: in the case of OS X El Capitan, the MacOS version should be 10.11.x. Click the "Continue" button. Specify installation disk to restore from a copy, click on "Restore".

Ready! The OS X El Capitan version will be reinstalled.

Transferring a copy of the operating system and your data to another MacBook

Go to "Programs/Utilities" and open "Migration Assistant". The structure of your files and folders will be preserved.

Click to continue

When running, the application requires the closure of all other running programs.

If both computers are working, but you still want to duplicate your version of MacOS and all data on the second computer, connect the computers to each other using network cable LAN, by wireless network WiFi. Connecting directly with a Thunderbolt or FireWire cable will require your previous Mac to be running in backup storage mode, making the Assistant a little more difficult. However, both methods work well. Instead of the previous PC, you can connect an external drive with a backup to the new PC - in this case, the work of the "Assistant" on the new PC will not change significantly.

So, the procedure is the following. For example, the usual mode of operation of the old PC with the "Assistant" is taken.

Everything! Copy session started. This can take anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours, depending on the amount of data and the performance of both Macs.

Problems when reinstalling macOS

Problems during an update or "rollback" can be as follows.

There are no recent backups. Have you turned off backups yourself? Copy your files right now so you don't lose them by starting the process manually. Turn on backup.
An error occurred during the next backup or when restoring personal data from a previous copy. The external disk that has been written to so far is not suitable for further use. Contact an Apple Service Center or a certified computer repair shop to restore your data. This procedure is not free.
Error when next update macOS. Your Mac PC may no longer be supported. This happens every few years. You are left with the current version of MacOS until you replace your Apple PC.
The computer began to work noticeably slower than before the update. Minimum system requirements next new version equal or exceeded specifications your PC. Rollback to any of previous versions macOS. Usually Apple tries not to allow this - it simply stops supporting obsolete computers, similar to how to install on iPhone 4x devices iOS version 10.x is no longer possible.
Your PC, after a few active years, suddenly began to "freeze" despite the fact that you did not update MacOS. Maybe it's time to replace the internal HDD / SSD drive? Try to do backup of your important data before replacing the internal drive - while something is still being read from it.
It is impossible to "roll back" to one of the previous installed versions macOS. Rollback should be done gradually. If there are no previous backups, download a new "image" and "roll back" first to this version, and only then repeat the "rollback" to an even earlier version of MacOS.

How to install OS X Mavericks on a blank hard drive:

First you need to download OS X Mavericks from the official Mac App Store. Attention, do not agree to start the installation after downloading!
Create bootable USB flash drive for OS X Mavericks. We wrote about it.
After the creation of the bootable flash drive is complete, hold down the Alt button.
When starting your computer or laptop, select Mac OS X Installer.
Open Disk Utility and select the hard drive you will be formatting. Click the Erase tab and from the Format drop-down menu select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and enter any name.
Click the Erase button to completely format the hard drive.
When finished, close Disk Utility and among top points select "Install Mac OS X".
Select the drive and start installing OS X Mavericks.

That's all. Once the installation of OS X Mavericks is complete, you can transfer all the necessary data from Time Machine.

In the section on the question I need to put a new hard drive with OSX on a macbook given by the author Masterjke the best answer is Hello,
Installing Mac OS X is tricky.
In fact, it’s no more difficult than installing Windows XP, I think it’s even easier if you choose the right kexts and fixes. There are 2 options:
- Windows bootloader + chain0
- Acronis OS Selector
If the same physical drive where you are going to install Mac OS has partitions in NTFS format, then it is better to convert them to FAT32 (We work with hard drive without a pre-installed OS), because when creating a new partition, an error may occur and the FS will become unreadable, but there is another, easier way - to transfer your data to another physical disk or flash drive.
Next, you need to download the installation disk image.
After selecting OS X versions If the downloaded file is in ISO format, then you can safely burn it to disk, and if it is in DMG format, you will also have to download the DMG2ISO application (download DMG2ISO (12.29 Kb)) and convert the downloaded file into an image in ISO.
You will need a DVD-R or DVD+R disc. You can write through third-party programs. After burning a disk with Windows, several documents of about 150 KB in size will be “visible” on the disk, or maybe nothing can be “visible” at all, as it should be.
Insert the disc you just burned into the drive and restart the computer. At the time when a message appears on the monitor about the installation from disk, press F8 or wait a few seconds, and enter the "-v" parameter (without quotes). If you press any other key or continue the installation without this action, then instead of text mode, graphical mode will turn on - this is beautiful, but you can only find out about errors in text mode.
There are two most common mistakes:
"system config file '/com.apple.boot.plist' not found"- there is a problem with the Mac OS X distribution (you will have to download another one)
"Still waiting for root device" - most likely, there is a problem with the hardware, perhaps some kind of incompatibility.
If the initial boot went without problems, then a blue display (not a BSOD) with a wait cursor will open in front of you. Next, you will be prompted to select a language. Choose Russian (or English, if not). Click on the arrow, after which a menu will appear at the top, select Utilities -> Disk Utility and format the partition into which we are going to install Mac OS X into the Mac OS Extended journaled format.
Sometimes it happens that Disk Utility cannot format this partition in HFS or mount it, then this can be fixed with Acronis. To do this, select in Acronis Disk Director Suite manual mode partition changes and create a partition in FAT32 format. Next in his context menu select the item to change the partition type and set the value to 0xAFh (Shag OS Swap). Acronis, of course, will swear that all the data on this partition can be lost and become unreadable, but we don’t have anything there anyway. 🙂 Apply the changes and reboot.
After the disk has been successfully formatted, click Continue, read and accept the license agreement, and select the partition you prepared for installation. Next, click Continue. Next, click the settings (Customize) and select the components that you need to install. Special attention to patches and kexts: you need to install only those patches that are necessary for your system, and nothing more. Do not install patches for SSE2 and SSE3 at the same time! Install only the one that matches your processor. Click continue. Then it will prepare for installation and check the disk. The installation will complete by restarting the computer.
I hope this was helpful, Citizen_WD

After replacement hard drive(if you bought a new one or the old one broke) on an old Mac, you can install the current version of OS X on it without having to use the standard system restore function (from a disk or via the Internet).

As you know, all Mac models released after 2010 have support for the Internet Recovery feature, which includes all the tools you need to reinstall OS X, fix disk problems, and even restore from a Time Machine backup without using optical media.

Internet Recovery is a convenient solution, because sometimes a damaged (or blank) hard drive prevents you from starting System Restore in the usual way.

However, if your Mac was released before 2010, and even if it already has one of the latest versions of OS X installed, then Internet Recovery is not provided in it, which can lead to some problems when replacing a hard drive or installing software — .

However, if you need to install a new HDD, you can also connect the old one to the computer and boot the system from it, and then use the cloning tool to transfer data from the old disk to the new one. However, if the HDD is damaged, this method may not work.

But it is still possible to solve the problem, moreover, at least in two ways. The first is to install OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard on your Mac, either from the optical disc that came with your computer or from an installation DVD purchased separately. After the installation of this version is completed, you will need to update it, for which the computer will connect to the App Store, from where you can download the previously purchased version of Mountain Lion.

This procedure involves installing and updating the system. But if the task is only to install the latest version of OS X, then for this you should create an external recovery disk, which can later be used to restore the system. If you have already carried out similar actions with the new OS X, then you may already have such a disk. Otherwise, you'll need a computer running OS X Mountain Lion and Recovery Disk Assistant to create a "mirror" of the recovery system on a new drive.

Connect the recovery disk created in this way to your Mac, and then restart the computer while holding down the Option button on the keyboard. The disk should appear in the boot menu, select it and continue the boot process until the OS X tool window appears, with which you can now format the new HDD and reinstall OS X.

Important nuance Note: If you will be reinstalling this way and your computer did not come with Mountain Lion, you will need a valid Apple ID associated with your copy of Mountain Lion. You will need an Apple ID to sign in to the App Store and download the Mountain Lion installer from the Recovery CD.

With own preset operating Mac system OS. Like all products of the company, it claims for exclusive quality, the use of advanced technologies. On the this moment The following varieties are on sale:

MacBook;
Macbook Air;
Macbook Pro.

How to update your Mac OS - in the article below

The MacBook Pro comes in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes and in a variety of specifications. All Mac models have Intel processors battery life without recharging up to 10 or up to 12 hours.

The newest operating system currently in use on Mac computers is Mac OS Sierra. Older versions of the OS can be updated free of charge via the Internet. The company's main advantage of the system is that it was created specifically for Mac equipment. Unlike Windows, which is installed on computers of the most different manufacturers. By the way, now MacBook Pro and other models support the ability to install and Windows.

MacBook Pro and others are already on sale with installed system. However, in some cases, you may need to install or reinstall Mac OS on your MacBook. It is necessary to distinguish between the terms:

An installation is otherwise called a "clean" installation, which is performed on a blank (formatted) hard drive or on a new one.
Reinstallation is when new system installed over the old one without full formatting and saving user data.

The need to install and reinstall the Mac OS arises when there are serious problems in its operation, an unsuccessful update. Like Windows, it still leaves behind garbage, which over time leads to slowdowns, freezes and other troubles. We will consider these processes using the example of the latest operating system, namely Mac OS Sierra. For previous versions, such as Mac OS X, in fact, there will be no differences, but it is still recommended to upgrade to latest version if your device supports it.

Operating system installation

A clean install may be required if you decide to sell your laptop and need to permanently remove all data and Apple ID from it, or if there is a serious system problem. The installation algorithm on the MakBook Pro looks like this:

Data backup.
Create a bootable flash drive.
System installation.

To back up your data, use external drive and the Time Machine program, which automatically starts when you connect removable media. The utility will ask you whether to use an external drive for backup, click "Use. as a backup disk.

After the backup is completed, you need to do bootable flash drive using disk utility:

The MacBook Pro itself will find the desired image on the USB flash drive and begin installing the Mac operating system. You only need to follow the instructions on the screen.

Reinstalling the operating system

You can reinstall the system from the OS recovery menu on Mac OS, which is called by a key combination during boot:

Command+R - Reinstall the latest version of the OS installed on the Mac without updating to the latest.
Option+Command+R - Upgrade to the latest compatible Mac OS.
Shift+Option+Command+R - If your Mac is already running macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later, pressing the combination will reinstall the OS that came with your Mac laptop.

After pressing these key combinations, a menu will appear in which you need to select the "Reinstall Mac OS" item. Next, do the following:

When Mac OS Sierra appears, click Next.
Select the drive where the system will be installed (usually called Macintosh HD).
The system reinstallation will begin, after which the Mac laptop will boot as usual.

All data, including passwords and Apple ID, will be saved, as well as user data. But still create a backup before starting the reinstall, just in case. A reinstall is sometimes referred to as a restore because it often resolves performance and health issues. If the problems have not been fixed, then you can already try to install a system with formatting boot disk on your Macbook, while not forgetting to copy all the data to an external drive, because after such a procedure they will all be deleted.