Reinstall question

[Serban]

Probably for a lot of people this is a "noob"question.
But i have an mac with Lion preinstalled when i bought it.
I made an upgrade through mac appstore redeem to Mountain Lion.
Now if i choose to reinstall MAC OS it will be back with Lion or Mountain Lion??

Thanks a lot

 

[Macman45]

You would need to download a copy of Lion and make a bootable USB stick....OR I think apple may still sell Lion on a USB stick, but it was expensive...If you are considering selling it, it should have Lion on it when it goes...Erase and clean install it.

If you perform a non destructive reinstall now, you will get Mountain Lion back.

 

[Serban]

What it means "non destructive reinstall " ??

 

[Designer Dale]

I think he means using the recovery partition on your system to reinstall the OS. It dosen't require reformatting the hard drive to do that, so it's "non destructive"

Dale

Note: it's still a good idea to make and keep a regular backup of all your files and the OS, too. Some use Time Machine and I use Carbon Copy Cloner. If I'm going to take a screwdriver to a computer I always make and test a full external backup first, then put it in a drawer as insurance to my own foolishness.

 

[Bear]

If I understand the original question correctly, I believe it depends on whether you enter your Apple ID when you go through the initial installation process.

Your system is registered as having come with Lion, your Apple ID would force the install to be Mountain Lion since you purchased it.