Format 10.6.8 without installation disk?

Sure it is. However, I get the feeling you are asking the wrong question. Just formatting your hard drive will remove the operating system files so your mac will no longer be booting. Are you looking to reinstall the operating system?

dreadedsledge said:

I'm finding different answers everywhere (including Apple) and figured it would be better to straight up ask. Is it possible to format the drive in my macbook, which is running Snow Leopard, without the installation disk?

If so, how?

Thanks in advance.

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If its the original drive which came with machine and never been fully formatted, boot into recovery mode and do a fresh install from there or just format the partition.
Option 2: Pull the drive, get a external hdd enclosure, plug it into any other computer (yes, any - Mac or PC) and format it that way.

Voca said:

If its the original drive which came with machine and never been fully formatted, boot into recovery mode and do a fresh install from there or just format the partition.
Option 2: Pull the drive, get a external hdd enclosure, plug it into any other computer (yes, any - Mac or PC) and format it that way.

Click to expand...

I was under the impression that only mid-2011 Macbook Pro's with Lion came with Recovery mode? I might be wrong though.

Either you will need to buy a snow leopard disc http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

or you need to download a newer OS from the App Store and create a USB installer from the download. It depends what macbook you have for which OS you can download. The original Macbook only goes to 10.6.8, the rest go to 10.7 except the aluminum macbook and white unibodies can go to 10.9. You used to have to call in to get a code to download 10.7 from the App Store. I heard something about that changing slightly, but I can't remember what.

I assume you are looking for a free way to do this, as you are selling. I have an old macbook up on craigslist, and prior to selling, I formatted and reinstalled OSX as a selling point that it was a factory fresh install. I didn't care about the data so much as none of it was private.

Free way to do this, without disks would be to download a Ubuntu Live CD. You download it, burn it to CD, then boot off of it. I've never done this on a Mac, but as it works on Intel PC laptop and desktops, I don't see why it would fail on an Intel Mac.

Also, I guess you could use a windows install CD/DVD. Boot from it, start the install, let it detect the HD, then delete the current partitions and format. Again, never did it on a Mac, but imagine it should work.

Are you then going to sell the device with no OS? Who would buy a device that doesn't boot unless you are buying it cheap for parts?