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How To Do A Clean Install Of Lion?

H

highmarcs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2006
21
0
I recently purchased and installed the upgrade to Lion from Snow leopard to my MBP. Before doing so, I installed a larger hard drive and cloned using Carbon Copy Cloner.


Anyway, ever since the cloning, I have like two directories, one under finder and one under Mac HD. Ever since installing Lion, several programs aren't working right anymore and things just are a mess on my machine.


I'd like to take everything off of my MBP, do a clean install of Lion and then reload all of my other programs.


I've read that I need to make a bootable Lion disc in order to do this. The problem is, I can't find the install file for Lion anywhere on my machine. I installed it from the App store, and now... strangely... the App store has removed Lion from my purchases?...


Any advice on how to remedy this would be extremely appreciated!...


Thanks,

Marc
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,460
4,407
Delaware
If you downloaded the Lion install from the App Store, then Lion should show in your App Store, in Purchases.
Click on that to re-download. It will complain that Lion is already installed, but continue anyway. It may not be easy to tell that Lion is downloading, so just give it an hour or so. The Lion installer will launch automatically when the download completes, so be patient.

If Lion is NOT in your Purchases, then you will need to call or email Apple support, as they can provide you with a voucher code to use in your App Store to get Lion again. https://getsupport.apple.com/ServiceOptionAction.action If you have purchased Lion, then you can download it when needed.

Step 2 - Quit the installer, because it deletes itself if you let the install continue.
Step 3 - purchase an 8GB flash drive (I like to use a new flash drive for this)
Step 4 - Use DiskMakerX to create a bootable Lion installer on that 8GB flash drive. http://diskmakerx.com
And, then you have a permanent copy of the Lion installer, to boot from, and erase/install when you get ready to do that.
Once you have the flash drive with Lion, you can drop the installer that's now in your Applications folder into the trash (It takes up nearly 5 GB space on your drive)
 
H

highmarcs

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 10, 2006
21
0
DeltaMac said:
If you downloaded the Lion install from the App Store, then Lion should show in your App Store, in Purchases.
Click on that to re-download. It will complain that Lion is already installed, but continue anyway. It may not be easy to tell that Lion is downloading, so just give it an hour or so. The Lion installer will launch automatically when the download completes, so be patient.

If Lion is NOT in your Purchases, then you will need to call or email Apple support, as they can provide you with a voucher code to use in your App Store to get Lion again. https://getsupport.apple.com/ServiceOptionAction.action If you have purchased Lion, then you can download it when needed.

Step 2 - Quit the installer, because it deletes itself if you let the install continue.
Step 3 - purchase an 8GB flash drive (I like to use a new flash drive for this)
Step 4 - Use DiskMakerX to create a bootable Lion installer on that 8GB flash drive. http://diskmakerx.com
And, then you have a permanent copy of the Lion installer, to boot from, and erase/install when you get ready to do that.
Once you have the flash drive with Lion, you can drop the installer that's now in your Applications folder into the trash (It takes up nearly 5 GB space on your drive)
Click to expand...

Ok, but how do I copy/save something from my purchases in the App store? I can't find any "copy" or "save file" commands on the "my purchases" page of the App store, just an "install" command.
 
B

Bruno09

macrumors 68020
Aug 24, 2013
2,202
153
Far from here
Click "Install" to download the installer (it will go to your Applications folder, not the Download folder).

When the download is completed, the installer will launch automatically and wait for you to press "Continue".
Don"t press "Continue", but quit the installer instead.

Now you are back to the "Step 2" as explained above.
 
R

reubs

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2006
1,866
175
I'm trying to use Diskmaker X right now, and I'm not sure how long I should expect it to take to copy all of the files. Anyone have any idea?
 
DeltaMac

DeltaMac

macrumors G5
Jul 30, 2003
13,460
4,407
Delaware
I have used DiskmakerX a few times. Depends on the speed of the hard drive, or flash drive that you use - but 15 to 20 minutes is usually all it needs. If something makes it slow, then wait for it.
My suggestion - I keep a flash drive for each OS X generation, and buy a new flash drive when a new version is released, and use that flash drive only for that installer.
 
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