How to do a clean install ?

[vim147]

Ive been having problems with my Mac Mini lateley with booting/running very sluggish. Done a Disk Utility test and it shows an error relating to a failed HDD in which i am taking back to apple shop.

I Upgraded from Lion to Mountain Lion 2 months via iTunes.

If i do an erase from ultilities to wipe the whole HDD, can i then download a fresh install of OS from itunes after pressing options key on startup ?

 

[Weaselboy]

You would have downloaded the Mountain Lion update from the App Store application and not iTunes.

If you have Mountain Lion running now, you can command-r boot and that will take to you a recovery partition. From there you can run Disk Utility to try and repair the drive, then reinstall the OS.

Try that and see what message you get in Disk Utility and post back.

 

[vim147]

Already did that. Took 5hrs to reinstall os. Still gave me hdd failure code of 4hdd/11/4000000.

Can I wipe the hdd then do a complete fresh install from app store at boot up. Don't really wanna give my Mac in with my personal files still on it.

 

[Weaselboy]

Already did that. Took 5hrs to reinstall os. Still gave me hdd failure code of 4hdd/11/4000000.

Can I wipe the hdd then do a complete fresh install from app store at boot up. Don't really wanna give my Mac in with my personal files still on it.

You can DL the Mountain Lion installer from the App Store and then once it is downloaded quit the installer. Then use this free app with a 8GB USB key to make an installer.

Then option key boot to the USB key and use Disk Utility to format the drive. When you do this, select the drive brand name (like 1TB Seagate for example) when you erase. Then after that do the install.

 

[benwiggy]

What model is your Mini? If it came with Lion, then it will have Internet Recovery in firmware, so that you can boot up and reinstall the OS onto a new drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

If the OS takes 5 hours to install, then your hard drive does sound knackered.
Just erase it and take it back -- no need to reinstall the OS.

 

[vim147]

What model is your Mini? If it came with Lion, then it will have Internet Recovery in firmware, so that you can boot up and reinstall the OS onto a new drive.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

If the OS takes 5 hours to install, then your hard drive does sound knackered.
Just erase it and take it back -- no need to reinstall the OS.

Done a full erase and reinstall ML, taken it back to apple shop yesterday and left it with them so hopefully they'll replace the HDD.