I have some glitches in Lion on my new RMBP, so I want to do a clean install of the OS. With no disc I have to do the download option. When installing it that way will it leave my files and apps in place and just install the OS, or will it wipe the hard drive and make it exactly as it came out of the box?

I read on another forum that it left apps and files in place, which I think is something I would like to try first before a complete wipe of everything. I have backups so I am not worried about losing anything, but would like to save some time if possible as it is a production machine.

There should be a recovery partition on your Mac. Should be able to boot into that partition & reinstall lion.


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There should be a recovery partition on your Mac. Should be able to boot into that partition & reinstall lion.


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The only thing I have read about is holding down cmd + R, everything I see says it would download. Do new macs come with the installer already on this partition by default?

The only thing I have read about is holding down cmd + R, everything I see says it would download. Do new macs come with the installer already on this partition by default?

All the latest Lion Macs that I've come across have the normally "invisible" "Recovery HD" partition installed.

And if you want to make it available for viewing etc. with Disk Utility, you can invoke it with the hints from:

View & Mount Hidden Partitions in Mac OS X (http://osxdaily.com/2011/09/23/view-mount-hidden-partitions-in-mac-os-x/)

Manage all partitions with Disk Utility in OS X | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20081463-263/manage-all-partitions-with-disk-utility-in-os-x/)

How to restore a missing Recovery HD partition in Lion | MacFixIt - CNET Reviews (http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-57366205-263/how-to-restore-a-missing-recovery-hd-partition-in-lion/)

etc. ....

The "Recovery HD" on my "new" refurb 2011 MacBook Air showed up when I held down the option key when booting up.

Not that it helped any with a new install of Lion, that is still downloaded over the net which is a pain.

And the Lion install USB stick I made using my last Lion Mac, an MBp 13-inch can't be used with the MacBook Air which is another pain.

Having to make a unique USB Lion install stick for every machine type is another pain.

All of this is not exactly enhancing the user experience - Apple is moving backwards now in many areas.

Dropping a popular option like "Save AS...." is another example and I just found out that the "Bounce" option on Apple Mail has disappeared as well.

And the Lion install USB stick I made using my last Lion Mac, an MBp 13-inch can't be used with the MacBook Air which is another pain.

Having to make a unique USB Lion install stick for every machine type is another pain.


You don't have to make a unique USB install for every Lion machine, you just need one that has the latest version of Lion to support all available machines. The one from your MBP was probably 10.7.0 while the Air requires a custom release 10.7.0 or generic 10.7.1+.

To answer the OPs question, the recovery installer installs right over the current OS leaving all of your files and settings in place. To do a clean install, use Disk Utility from the Revovery HD to erase the "Macintosh HD" first.

You don't have to make a unique USB install for every Lion machine, you just need one that has the latest version of Lion to support all available machines. The one from your MBP was probably 10.7.0 while the Air requires a custom release 10.7.0 or generic 10.7.1+.

This was a 13-inch MBp bought in January of this year, I'm pretty sure it came with 10.7.2 - definitely not with 10.7.0

This was a 13-inch MBp bought in January of this year, I'm pretty sure it came with 10.7.2 - definitely not with 10.7.0

How did you make your "Lion install stick"? Do you mean you used Disk Recovery Assistant from your MBP to make a recovery stick? If so, that's not an install of itself (although it can download one), those recovery sticks ARE machine specific. If you extract the actual downloadable Lion installer to a disk or USB stick to make a physical installer, it will work on any supported Mac.

I made that install stick following some credible instructions on the net - don't ask me which ones now because that was quite some time ago.

I had no end of problems with MA at the time and after erasing everything on the hard drive a few times and then downloading a new install of Lion over the net a few times I finally got fed up doing that so I made, what was advertised, as a Lion installer on a USB stick.
I actually never tried it out because the last time I downloaded Lion from the net I finally got things going.

But when I plug that USB stick into a USB port on my Mini running 10.6.8 I get this poppimg up on the screen automatically:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/krs/Mac%20Lion%20Install%20DVD.jpg

So I think this is a valid installer, not just a recovery stick.

That's a Snow Leopard installer.


http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/krs/Mac%20Lion%20Install%20DVD.jpg

I have some glitches in Lion on my new RMBP, so I want to do a clean install of the OS. With no disc I have to do the download option. When installing it that way will it leave my files and apps in place and just install the OS, or will it wipe the hard drive and make it exactly as it came out of the box?

I read on another forum that it left apps and files in place, which I think is something I would like to try first before a complete wipe of everything. I have backups so I am not worried about losing anything, but would like to save some time if possible as it is a production machine.

It would not erase your hard drive or your data - it would simply replace the operating system data. What makes you think you need to reinstall OS X? Just curious.

That's a Snow Leopard installer.

:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

This was created on a brand new refurbished MBp that came with Lion pre-installed.

It says "Lion" everywhere on the install screen....where do you get the idea this is a SL installer?

Snow Leopard never even got close to the MBp and the software this was created from.

It says "Lion" everywhere on the install screen....where do you get the idea this is a SL installer?

Probably because there's a Snow Leopard on the disc icon.

Probably because there's a Snow Leopard on the disc icon.

Hmmm...

Now I really don't know what is going on.

The only USB stick like that I ever made was on the Lion MacBookpro that never even "saw" SL.

When I open the instructions, sure enough, they are SL instructions....

But when I try to install from this USB stick to even my two year old Mini which should run either SL or Lion, I get a message that this software can't be installed on this volume.

So the software on this USB stick is essentially useless - I wish I could remember which instructions I followed creating this in the first place.

It would not erase your hard drive or your data - it would simply replace the operating system data. What makes you think you need to reinstall OS X? Just curious.


I had this issue:
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j164/wonderings/ScreenShot2012-07-09at81537AM.png

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j164/wonderings/ScreenShot2012-07-09at81607AM.png

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j164/wonderings/ScreenShot2012-07-09at81636AM.png

Also CS6 is behaving terrible, but after searching around the inter webs, it seems like the problem is that large MacBook pro update that was over a gig in size that causes indesign cs6 to be unusable.

Did the reinstall of Lion, all files and programs stayed exactly as they were, so nice and painless. Get to do it again tonight to go back before that update and restore some sanity to my work flow.