Couple of user account questions

I bought a macbook pro off craigslist awhile back that the guy couldn't load a OS to. It came with a 160GB regular platter hd, but said nothing was on it. I had a hard time finding an image file to install on the computer. I ended up finding a guy on craigslist that was selling SSDs and he put yosemite on it for me. After that, the macbook was brought back to life and then gained a little performance from the SSD. He told me how to download whatever OS I needed/wanted to whatever media I would like.
I ended up making a SD that has Yosemite on it, in case I ever need it again.

Flash forward and I found another A1278 2010 MBP for pretty much free, the guy said the HD went bad and didn't fix it. So I got the hard drive that came with MBP #1 and installed Yosemite to that drive via SD card. Well low and behold that HD has Apple files already on it, because when I booted computer #2 it has a user named "CEO" of which I have no idea what the password is.

How can I completely erase this HD and start from fresh? I was looking in the properties and couldn't find anything to wipe clean. I even tried to manually delete all the folders within the HD, but nothing happened. I'm going to give this one to a buddy, but want it to be a fresh install where he has to create his own user info etc.

Let me know if that doesn't make sense.

TL;DR
I have a HD that wasn't mine previously and want to wipe it completely clean and then install Yosemite to it.

JTToft said:

Put in your Yosemite SD card, boot from it and then use Disk Utility to erase the hard drive (possibly secure erase). You can then install Yosemite from scratch if you wish.

Or connect the hard drive externally to another Mac, and then use Disk Utility from within OS X to do the same.

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That worked out great.

Have a few more questions stemming from that.

The SD card has the "Install OS X Yosemite" icon in it. I assumed this is what I should have on there, but should I actually install it by double clicking? My intention was to have a SD card with a Yosemite image incase I came across needing a OS file.

I erased the old harddrive that I didn't know whose stuff was on there and fresh installed OS Yosemite by copy/pasting then double clicking on that icon from my SD card. I think it installed on that drive. BUT what I would really like to do is take my buddies harddrive that came out of his MBP that was water damaged, and install Yosemite on that, such that all his stuff is saved and I can just use that hard drive in this machine and gain my old one back. Is that possible?

JTToft said:

- I'm not quite sure I understand the steps you have taken or want to take. For the SD card, merely copying the installation file is not enough to be able to boot and install from it.

If you want to install Yosemite on an internally installed hard drive that has nothing on it, do this:
1. Download Yosemite from the App Store
2. Download and run DiskMaker X to automatically create a bootable SD card or USB flash drive
3. Once done, plug the SD card into the computer you wish to install Yosemite on, boot holding Option/Alt, and select your SD card from the menu
4. From there you can: Use Disk Utility to do whatever you want, or simply start the OS X installation.

If you want to install Yosemite on an externally connected hard drive, the procedure is much the same, except you may have to specify the drive you want to install on when running the installer.

If you want to install Yosemite on a hard drive that already has a working installation of OS X on it, just boot from that and perform the traditional upgrade via the App Store.

Does that cover what you're trying to do?

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Ok this makes a bit more sense. Here is what I have right now. I have a 13" MBP that is fine. I have a SD card with the "Install OS X Yosemite" icon on it. I have 2 hard drives. One that is mine and you previously helped me wipe clean, because anything on it, wasn't mine. The second is my buddies from his old 13" MBP, I think from 2008-2009. Because of that alone, I'm sure it has Mountain Lion or something older on it, which from my understanding can't upgrade to Yosemite.

So here are the two things I want to accomplish, if possible.

1. Install Yosemite on his hard drive, without disturbing anything. Ideally, I would be able to get it on his hard drive, install in the computer and make essentially his old computer, sans a newer operating system.

2. Make a bootable SD card, in case I ever need to boot from an external source. I think this one may also be done, just have to double click the icon in there and it'll take me through the steps?


My computer is basically there to aid in the process if I need to transfer files. I have an external hard drive enclosure so I can install either drives with relative ease.


Does that make sense? When I have that "Install OS X Yosemite" icon do I just need to "open" it and then it'll bring me through the motions of installing the OS on whatever I would like?

JTToft said:

- Sure it can. Versions all the way back to Snow Leopard 10.6.8 can be upgraded directly to Yosemite.
- Just put the drive in the machine, boot from it, and perform the upgrade through the App Store.

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I tried putting it in the computer, and just got a kernel panic. The grey screen came down and said restart or some junk. I got that with my current computer, but once a new OS was installed it was fine.

Then I tried choosing that disk via external enclosure once I was trying to install Yosemite and the drive is grayed out and says it "Can't update this OS X". From my reading it's because the OS on the disk is too old. Again his computer was 2008-2009 and I doubt he did any OS updates.

- No, you need to follow the steps I outlined above (steps 1 and 2). Unless I'm misunderstanding you. Do you wish to have an SD card you can boot from and use to install OS X on a computer, or do you wish to have an SD card with OS X installed on it and that you can boot directly into OS X from?
If the former, follow steps 1 and 2 above. If the latter, I'm not sure how you would do that most effectively. I suppose it could be done by simply choosing the SD card as the destination for the installation when booting from the installation medium (which would then have to be another SD card or USB flash drive).


- Like I said above, I'm actually not sure. Maybe. But it's definitely not designed to work that way. When opening the "Install OS X Yosemite" file from within OS X, the intention is that it be used to upgrade the OS X installation (Mavericks, Mountain Lion, etc.) that's already on the machine.

Click to expand...

I think I want to do what your first situation was. When I got my current computer it, the guy couldn't get a OS on it. I thought it would be easy but ran into the problem of not being able to find an dmg/image of the OS on line to put on the hard drive it came with. Then I found a guy on craigslist selling new SSD and touted capabilities with Apple. I had him load the newest OS (Yosemite) on it for me, as I didn't have the capabilities to get it. So for under $80 I got a 128gb SSD with Yosemite on it.

I want to avoid that at all costs if there is a next time. A SD card with Yosemite on it would have been exactly what I needed at the time. So that's what I would like to create.

I'm thinking based off some quick reading that I'm going to have to wipe the hard drive I wanted to install it on, and do a fresh install. Being that the OS that is on that hard drive is likely too old, the only way to get it back to something similar would be to backup anything important, wipe the hard drive, and then reinstall anything important. Does this sound correct?