How do I format iMac with OSX Lion?

iRob1990 · Jan 2, 2012

Hi, I'm going to be selling my iMac in the next few days (hopefully) and obviously I need to wipe it completely clean.

It has OSX Lion on it and I'm not sure how to format the hard drive. Also, when I do format it, will it still have Lion on it when the next person gets it? It had Leopard on it when I bought it, and I upgraded to Snow Leopard and then Lion, but because I paid for Lion from the App Store with my account details, can the next person still use it? Or shall I just put Snow Leopard back onto it?

Thanks.

balamw · Jan 2, 2012

iRob1990 said:
Or shall I just put Snow Leopard back onto it?

I'd go that route. It's not like the US$29 Lion should be a real draw for the next owner.

This is one thing that got most confusing with the shift to MAS deployment. As with most downloadable content, its resale potential and value is questionable.

B

Darth.Titan · Jan 2, 2012

I don't understand the confusion. Lion installs a recovery partition for just this purpose.

Hold down 'option' at boot and select the recovery partition, then find the option for "erase and install".

That's pretty much all there is to it.

balamw · Jan 2, 2012

Darth.Titan said:
I don't understand the confusion. Lion installs a recovery partition for just this purpose.

The licensing is the problem. As the license for Lion is tied to your Apple ID it is unclear if that is transferable.

B

nippyjun · Jan 2, 2012

Ask the buyer if they already purchased lion. If they did it seems reasonable for you to give it to him/her with lion on it.

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How do I format iMac with OSX Lion?

iRob1990

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