How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies Average ratng: 6,2/10 8105 reviews

Nov 16, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

'Is it possible to reinstall macOS without losing data?'

If you have a similar question in mind, then we have got you covered. Just like any other computer, Mac systems can also suffer from unwanted issues at times.

Boot from your Recovery HD partition by restarting your Mac while holding down the Command+R keys. The OS X Utilities window appears. Select Reinstall OS X, and click Continue. The OS X Yosemite splash screen appears.

  1. Start up your Mac from a shut down state or restart it, then immediately hold down Command-R. The Mac should recognize that there’s no macOS Recovery partition installed, show a spinning globe.
  2. How to reinstall Mac OS X from scratch. Published April 11th, 2013 at 11:11 AM EDT, modified January 2nd, 2016 at 9:32 PM EST. For whatever reason, you have decided that you want to reinstall the system from scratch, restoring your machine to an “out-of-the-box” state.

In this guide, we will teach you how to boot Mac into recovery mode and reinstall macOS without losing your data. Let's explore this macOS solution in detail.

When to reinstall macOS?

There are all kinds of reasons for us to reinstall macOS on the system. The following are some of the common problems that force a complete reset on a Mac.

  • Firmware issues – Mostly, a firmware issue related to macOS demands a reinstallation of the operating system. It can happen when macOS seems to malfunction and can't complete the needed operations.
  • Startup issues – Apart from the firmware, there would be a problem with your Mac's startup or bootstrap program as well. Mostly, the issue is resolved by visiting the Mac recovery mode.
  • Corrupt OS – Ideally, your macOS can get corrupt or compromised due to different reasons. In order to fix it or run troubleshooting, you would need to reinstall the OS.
  • Malware attack – A virus or malware can also infect the core function of macOS and would demand a complete reinstallation of the tool.
  • Other issues – There could be numerous other issues with your Mac as well that would demand a reinstallation. For instance, if your system has been upgraded to a corrupt macOS version or the update was halted in between, then you need to reinstall OS X.

Preparations before reinstalling macOS

Before we teach you how to reinstall macOS X, there are certain vital things that you need to consider.

  • Mostly, it takes 30 minutes to 3 hours to reinstall macOS (the exact time would vary among different OS and system models). Therefore, your Mac should be charged enough to complete the installation.
  • During the reinstallation process, your Mac might be overheated or restart multiple times. It is recommended to not keep it in direct sunlight or a hot place during the process.
  • Chances are that your existing data on Mac might be deleted after the reinstallation. Thus, you can consider taking its backup if you don't want to lose it.
  • Disconnect all the attached units like USB drive, SD card, etc. from your Mac beforehand. Also, if you think your system has been infected by malware, then consider formatting it as well.
  • Your system might download the needed patches and updates during the process. Keep your Mac connected to a stable internet connection for a seamless updating.

Once you are ready, simply take the following steps to reinstall macOS without losing its data.

How to Reinstall Mac OS?

Step 1: Backup Files on Mac

If you don't want to suffer from an unexpected loss of your important files during the reinstallation, then you should take a backup of your data beforehand. There are different ways to backup data on Mac.

1. Backup files Using Time Machine

Time Machine is the inbuilt solution to backup data on Mac and restores it afterward. If you do not want to let go of your important files during the reinstallation process, then consider taking their backup beforehand. Atlas copco 1900 0710 31 manual transmission. You can use an external data source so that Mac can create a Time Machine on it. Mostly, Time Machine will detect a connected unit and would ask you to take its backup automatically. If not, then follow these steps to back up your Mac data using Time Machine.

  1. Simply connect a secure data storage to your Mac and launch Time Machine by visiting Menu > System Preferences > Time Machine.
  2. Here, click on the 'Select Backup Disk' so that you can manually choose a location to save the backup content.
  3. As a pop-up screen would appear, just select the available drive and confirm your choice. If you want, you can choose to encrypt your data as well.
  4. To further customize things, you can visit its 'Options' and even enable the automatic backup feature.
  5. As a pop-up screen would appear, just select the available drive and confirm your choice. If you want, you can choose to encrypt your data as well.

2. Backup files Using Cloud Storage

As you know, Time Machine will only take a manual backup of your Mac data to a dedicated storage unit. If you want to save your data on the cloud, then take the assistance of iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or any other cloud-based service. Since iCloud is the native cloud storage solution from Apple and an inbuilt Mac app, it is widely recommended. You can easily backup files to iCloud from Mac by following these steps.

  1. Firstly, go to System Preferences and launch the iCloud app. If you are not logged in, then enter your Apple account details to sign-in.
  2. The iCloud app has options to sync various data types. Simply enable the features (by checking it) and turn on the backup feature.
  3. There is an 'Option' button adjacent to some data types (like Photos) that you can visit to customize your backup.
  4. You can go to the 'Manage' section from here to view how much space is left on iCloud. Since only 5 GB of space is provided for a free (basic) account, you can also upgrade your account as well to get more space on iCloud.

3. Backup files Using External Hard Drive

If you are running short on time, then you can also take a manual backup using an external hard disk as well. Just connect the hard disk to your Mac and make sure that you are using a hard drive that is compatible with your macOS. Now, simply copy the content from your Mac's storage that you wish to save and paste it to the external hard disk. In this way, you would be able to maintain a second copy of all the important data at a dedicated source.

In contrast, you need to know how to recover files from external hard drives.

Step 2: Boot Mac in the Recovery Mode

Once you have taken a backup of your Mac data, you need to restart in the recovery mode. The Mac Recovery Mode is a dedicated module in the operating system that provides all kinds of firmware and disk-related options. You can run disk utilities via the Recovery Mode on MacBook, reinstall macOS, recover Time Machine backup, and do so much more. In order to learn how to restore Mac in recovery mode, follow these steps:

  1. Firstly, go to the main menu by clicking on the Apple icon and choose to restart your system.
  2. While the system is restarting, press the Command and R keys at the same time till your Mac enters the Recovery mode.
  3. When you get the utility window on the screen, just click on the 'Reinstall macOS' option and continue the process.

Please note that if you wish to upgrade your Mac instead, then press the Option + R keys instead of the Command + R key combination.

Step 3: Erase the Mac Hard Disk

This is an optional step during the reinstall macOS process as a lot of people would like to delete the existing data on their system. If you are reselling your Mac or your system has been infected by malware, then you can consider this option as well.

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies
  1. When you get the macOS utility window, click on the 'Disk Utility' option instead of reinstalling it. You can also go to the 'Utilities' menu to get this option.
  2. As the Disk utility window will open, you can just select the drive that you wish to erase from the left panel.
  3. On the right, you will get detailed information with numerous other tools. Just click on the Erase icon and confirm your choice (by entering the firmware password).

This will start the erasing process on the selected drive. You can also go to the Security Options here to further customize things.

Step 4: Reinstall Mac OS X without Losing Data

When you get the macOS utility window on the screen, you can just click on the 'Reinstall macOS' option to proceed. Afterward, you simply need to follow this basic drill to reinstall macOS on your system.

  1. A confirmation message will appear, informing you about the reinstallation details. Just click on the 'Continue' button to proceed.
  2. Subsequently, you will be asked on which disk you wish to install macOS. Simply select the inbuilt disk on your Mac to start the process.
  3. That's it! Your system will reinstall macOS on it by performing all the needed tasks. You can just sit back and wait for the process to be completed and make sure that you don't turn off Mac in between.
  4. In the end, you can just choose to restore data from the Time Machine backup. You can get this option from the macOS Utilities or just launch the Time Machine application on your system as well.

Recover Erased Files after Reinstalling Mac OS

A lot of times, users are not able to maintain the backup of their data and end up losing their important files during the macOS reinstallation. If you have also lost your data on Mac due to this, then don't worry – simply take the assistance of Recoverit Mac Data Recovery software. A highly advanced data recovery tool can retrieve all kinds of lost, deleted, and inaccessible content from your Mac storage. It is known to b yield positive results under all scenarios, including data loss caused by macOS reinstallation.

After installing Recoverit Data Recovery on your Mac, simply follow these basic steps to get your data back.

Step 1: Select a Location

Firstly, you need to install Recoverit Data Recovery on your Mac by downloading the application from its website. Launch it whenever you want to restore notes on Mac and select a source location to scan. That is, select the native source drive of Mac and click on the 'Start' button.

Step 2: Scan the Location

As the application would start scanning your Mac for the lost notes, you can just wait for a while for the process to be completed. The interface will also display the progress of the entire process for your convenience.

Step 3: Preview and Recover

When the extraction process is completed, the application will notify you. Now, you can just preview and select the files you wish to get back. Click on the 'Recover' button and make sure that you save your notes to a trusted location.

I'm sure that after following this guide, you would be able to reinstall macOS without losing data. Since working on Mac can be a bit tricky at times, it is recommended to always maintain a backup beforehand. Also, consider using a data recovery tool like Recoverit Data Recovery as well. In this way, you can take immediate measures as soon as you lose any information and get it back without much trouble. Recoverit also provides a data recovery solution for Windows as well and is considered a must-have application for both Mac and Windows users.

If OS X Yosemite came preinstalled on your new Mac, you’ll probably never need this article. In this article, you discover all you need to know to install or reinstall OS X, if you should have to.

If you’re thinking about reinstalling because something has gone wrong with your Mac, know that an OS X reinstallation should be your last resort. If nothing else fixes your Mac, reinstalling OS X could well be your final option before invasive surgery (that is, trundling your Mac to a repair shop).

You don’t want to reinstall OS X if something easier can correct the problem. So if you have to do a reinstallation, realize that this is more or less your last hope (this side of the dreaded screwdriver, anyway).

Get

Reinstalling is a hassle because although you won’t lose the contents of your Home folder, applications you’ve installed, or the stuff in your Documents folder (unless something goes horribly wrong or you have to reformat your hard drive), you might lose the settings for some System Preferences, which means you’ll have to manually reconfigure those panes after you reinstall. And you might have to reinstall drivers for third-party hardware such as mice, keyboards, printers, tablets, and the like. Finally, you might have to reregister or reinstall some of your software.

How to get my mac to reinstall os x for dummies iphone

It’s not the end of the world, but it’s almost always inconvenient. That said, reinstalling OS X almost always corrects all but the most horrifying and malignant of problems. The process in Yosemite is (compared with root-canal work, income taxes, or previous versions of OS X) relatively painless. Create bootable usb mac os x tiger.

How to install (or reinstall) OS X

In theory, you should have to install Yosemite only once, or never if your Mac came with Yosemite preinstalled. And in a perfect world, that would be the case. But you might find occasion to install, reinstall, or use it to upgrade, such as

  • If your Mac is currently running any version of OS X except Yosemite

  • If you have a catastrophic hard-drive crash that requires you to initialize (format) or replace your boot drive

  • If you buy an external hard drive and want it to be capable of being your Mac’s startup disk (that is, a bootable disk)

  • If you replace your internal hard drive with a larger, faster, or solid state drive

  • If any essential OS X files become damaged or corrupted or are deleted or renamed

The following instructions do triple duty: Of course they’re what you do to install OS X for the first time on a Mac or a freshly formatted hard or solid-state disk. But they’re also what you do if something really bad happens to the copy of OS X that you boot your Mac from, or if the version of OS X on your Mac is earlier than 10.10 Yosemite. In other words, these instructions describe the process for installing, reinstalling, or upgrading OS X Yosemite.

If you’ve never had Yosemite on this Mac, the first thing to do is visit the Mac App Store, download Yosemite, and install it. Once you’ve done that, here’s how to install, reinstall, or upgrade Yosemite, step by step:

  1. Boot from your Recovery HD partition by restarting your Mac while holding down the Command+R keys.

    The OS X Utilities window appears. Select Reinstall OS X, and click Continue. The OS X Yosemite splash screen appears. Click Continue.

    A sheet appears informing you that your computer’s eligibility needs to be verified by Apple. Click Continue to begin the process of installing or reinstalling OS X.

    If you’re not connected to the Internet, you’ll be asked to choose a Wi-Fi network from the AirPort menu in the top-right corner.

  2. The Yosemite software license agreement screen appears. Read it and click Agree.

    A sheet drops down, asking whether you agree to the terms of the license agreement. Yes, you did just click Agree; this time you’re being asked to confirm that you indeed clicked the Agree button.

    If you don’t click Agree, you can’t go any farther.

  3. Choose the disk on which you want to reinstall OS X by clicking its icon once in the pane where you select a disk.

    If only one suitable disk is available, you won’t have to choose; it will be selected for you automatically.

  4. Click the Install button.

  5. A sheet asks for your Apple ID and password. Type them in the appropriate fields; click Sign In, and your Yosemite installation (or reinstallation) begins.

    The operating system takes 30 to 60 minutes to install, so now might be a good time to take a coffee break. When the install is finished, your Mac restarts itself.

If you were reinstalling Yosemite on the hard disk that it was originally installed on, or upgrading from Mavericks, you’re done now. Your Mac will reboot, and in a few moments you can begin using your new, freshly installed (and ideally trouble-free) copy of OS X Yosemite.

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies

If, on the other hand, you’re installing Yosemite on a hard disk for the first time, you still have one last step to complete. After your Mac reboots, the Setup Assistant window appears. You need to work your way through the Setup Assistant’s screens as described below.

Getting set up with the Setup Assistant

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies Youtube

Assuming that your installation process goes well and your Mac restarts itself, the next thing you should see (and hear) is a short, colorful movie that ends by transforming into the first Setup Assistant screen (Apple Assistants such as this are like wizards in Windows, only smarter), fetchingly named Welcome.

To tiptoe through the Setup Assistant, follow these steps:

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies Windows 10

  1. When the Welcome screen appears, choose your country from the list by clicking it once, and then click the Continue button.

    If your country doesn’t appear in the list, select the Show All check box, which causes a bunch of additional countries to appear.

    After you click Continue, the Select Your Keyboard screen appears.

  2. Choose a keyboard layout from the list by clicking it once; then click Continue.

    If you want to use a U.S. keyboard setup, click the U.S. listing. If you prefer a different country’s keyboard layout, select the Show All check box, and a bunch of additional countries’ keyboards (as well as a pair of Dvorak keyboard layouts) appear in the list. Choose the one you prefer by clicking it — and then click Continue.

    The Select Your Wi-Fi Network screen appears.

  3. Click the name of the wireless network you use to connect to the Internet, type in its password, and then click Continue.

    If you don’t see the network you want to use, click Rescan. If you don’t use a wireless network, click Other Network Setup, and then choose one of the available options, or choose My Computer Does Not Connect to the Internet. Click Continue.

    The Migration Assistant (also known as the Transfer Information to This Mac) screen appears.

  4. Choose to transfer data, then click Continue, or choose not to transfer data, then click Continue.

    If this is a brand-new Mac or you’re installing OS X Yosemite on a Mac and have another Mac or Time Machine backup disk nearby, you can transfer all of your important files and settings by following the onscreen instructions and connecting the new and old Macs via FireWire or Ethernet cable.

    Transferring data can take hours — that’s the bad news.

    The good news is that once the data transfer finishes, you’re finished, too. In other words, you can ignore the steps that follow (which are only for brand new installations with no data to transfer).

    Goodbye and good luck.

    Assuming you chose not to transfer data, the Sign In With Your Apple ID screen appears.

  5. If you want to use your Apple ID with this Mac, type it (such as tcook@me.com) and your password in the appropriate fields, and then click Continue. Or, if you don’t have an Apple ID or prefer not to use one with this Mac, click Don’t Sign In, and then click Continue.

    To learn more about getting an Apple ID, click the blue “Learn More” link. In a nutshell, it lets you make one-click purchases at the iTunes Store, iPhoto, or the Apple Store, and includes free iCloud membership.

    The Allow iCloud to Use the Location of This Mac for Find My Mac sheet appears.

  6. Click Allow or Not Now.

    The Terms and Conditions screen appears.

  7. Read the Terms and Conditions and click Agree. A dialog confirms your agreement. Click Agree again.

    The Create A Computer Account screen appears.

  8. Fill in the Full Name, Account Name (sometimes called Short Name), Password, Verify Password, and Hint fields, and then click Continue. Or, check the Use my iCloud Account to Log In checkbox. Then fill in the Account Name (sometimes called Short Name), and click Continue.

    This first account that you create will automatically have administrator privileges for this Mac. You can’t easily delete or change the name you choose for this account, so think it through before you click Continue.

    You can’t click the Continue button until you’ve filled in the first two fields. Because a password is optional, you can choose to leave both password fields blank if you like. If you do, your Mac warns you that without a password, your Mac won’t be secure. If that’s okay, click OK. If you change your mind and want to have a password, click Cancel.

    Click on the little picture to the right of your name (it’s labeled “edit”) if you want to choose a different picture or take a picture of yourself with your Mac’s built-in camera.

    If you choose to take a picture, click the Take Photo Snapshot button. When the picture appears, you can change its size by using the slider control directly below the image and/or move it around in the frame by clicking your face and dragging. If you’re not happy with this snapshot, click Retake a Video Snapshot. When you’re happy with it, click Continue.

    If you choose to select a picture from the Picture library, click the picture you want to represent you — the butterfly, dog, parrot, flower, or whatever — and then click Continue.

    The iCloud Keychain screen appears.

  9. Click Set Up iCloud Keychain or Set Up Later.

    If you choose Set Up iCloud Keychain, a screen requesting your passcode appears. Type your four digit passcode, and click Continue.

    If you’ve forgotten your passcode or don’t have one, click Forgot Code to reset iCloud Keychain.

    In either case, a verification code is sent to your iPhone or other Apple device; type it in, and click Continue.

    The OS X Finder’s Desktop appears.

How To Get My Mac To Reinstall Os X For Dummies Windows 10

And that’s all there is to it. You’re done.