I am about to do a factory default clean install of Snow Leopard. What's the best way to do this? Install the DVD when in Leopard? Will the DVD then reboot on its own?
Backup your data, reboot holding the option/alt button, and select the disk to boot from. The open disk utility and wipe the partition. Then let it install SL fresh
All the good old days when if you wanted to do a reinstall you just inserted a dvd or usb stick and where done in about 20 min...now we get the fun of waiting for 4+ gig's of data to download every time we wanna do same thing....ah progress ;-(
OPTION=AltI thought I just had to hold Option button to select what to boot from, but I must hold Option + ALT?
No, since all the data is on the DVD, and tom vilsack was talking about Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, though one can circumvent that: Make An OS X Lion Boot DiscWhen I do this install Snow Leopard needs to download 4+ GB of data?
Macintosh HD.I followed the link above and selected Utilities menu to erase hard drive, but which one I choose? The one that says "250 GB WDC WD250" or the one under it as a sub menu that says "Macintosh HD"?
Macintosh HD.
I found a video and the guy says NOT to select the second part but the upper first one. So which one is it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eazd4AB1fXw
Is he wrong?
You can select what you want, if you only have one partition. The upper part is the actual HDD or SSD, the lower part is the actual partition. If you select the upper part, you go to the Partition tab as outlined in the following non-video guide:
I selected the upper part and its wiping with zeros atm.
When it's finished and I continue, won't SL automatically create the partition for me?
Why the wiping with ZEROS? It is unnecessary and adds time. Anyway, once the zeroing out is completed, it should be properly formatted if you followed the guide I linked to. I have done this countless times (100s and more), without ever zeroing out data.
So why do Apple include zero formatting if it was never needed?
The kids have played a lot with our iMac and I was worried that they made have downloaded stuff they shouldn't etc.
So why do Apple include zero formatting if it was never needed?
The kids have played a lot with our iMac and I was worried that they made have downloaded stuff they shouldn't etc.
I did not say it was never needed, it is not needed, if the HDD stays with you. If you wanted to sell your Mac and leave the HDD inside, ZEROING OUT is a way to prevent future data recovery on that HDD if the new owner decides to try.
I noticed the guy on the video didn't show him creating a new partition for some reason.
I named the main hard drive as "Macintosh HD" so what do I name the partition?
My guide recommends GUID for your case.But my iMac has an 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, so should I select the GUID Partition Table and not the "Apple Partition Map" like your screenshot page recommends?
You named the partition, and it does not matter how you name it.
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My guide recommends GUID for your case.
I did not say it was never needed, it is not needed, if the HDD stays with you. If you wanted to sell your Mac and leave the HDD inside, ZEROING OUT is a way to prevent future data recovery on that HDD if the new owner decides to try.
It's also a way of checking for bad sectors. If you're doing a clean install, you can just use the combo update to get the last version of Snow Leopard.
So doing a zero format checks for bad sectors too?
Installing Snow Leopard now... says about 30 minutes. Time for a tea
Yes. It doesn't mean it will keep a failing hard drive from failing, but it does check for bad blocks so as to remap them.
After that I'd use the combo update rather than individual ones.
Whats the combo update and where do I find that in Snow Leopard?
It's on the Apple site. Use the link once the installation finishes.
Whats the combo update and where do I find that in Snow Leopard?
It's on the Apple site. Use the link once the installation finishes.