Just heard that Mac's Install disks are machine specific. Is that really the case? If so, why? Coming from the PC world, I'm used to just putting the OS disk in the CD/DVD drive and take it from there. So, if I want to install a Mac OS on my machine not only do I have to obtain the OS, I also have to get the proper Install CD´s/DVD's or what? Please clear up the fog Mac experts.
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Install disks. Machine specific?
- Thread starter kenn
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Yes. When you buy a Mac, you'll get the Install disks for it. If you buy a newer OS retail, (re)install from that.
What! If I loose my Install disks and I want a new OS I have to get hold of new Install disks first. What is this? Are they freely available? I don't like this at all.
No. If you have a serious problem with your computer, reinstall the OS from Install Disk 1. If you have purchased a new OS retail since the purchase of your computer, you reinstall from that or your Install Disk, keeping in mind that the Install Disk will have the previous OS on it.
If you do not have a retail OS disk and you lose your install disks, you're stuck unless you get either replacement install disks from Apple or buy a new retail version of an OS. New machine specific install disks are $30, I think.
If you do not have a retail OS disk and you lose your install disks, you're stuck unless you get either replacement install disks from Apple or buy a new retail version of an OS. New machine specific install disks are $30, I think.
To make things absolutely clear:
The situation is no-where different from the PC world..Yes? If I obtain a, say, Mac OS X 10.5.5 Leopard, I just put it in the CD/DVD and it'll take care of the installation without further disks?
The pretty colored disk with a big honkin' X will work on any Macintosh that's supported (G4 867mhz up through Intel). The gray disks, which are also pictured below, will work with the machine it came with and other similar machines. There are ways to make a generic install disk out of these gray disks but to discuss this means I get a time-out.
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You don't 'obtain' Leopard, you buy it already on the DVD and it will install in any supported machine.
Remembering also that the Original discs have iLife on them as all Macs come with iLife. A Retail OS Disc is just the Operating system, No extras.
Never buy or sell a Mac without it's own discs..
Never buy or sell a Mac without it's own discs..
I was getting exactly that impression from reading peoples posts. I hope in reality it turns out not to be true because it sucks bigtime. It's plain and simple a mess.
I think you are over reacting. To me it doesn't seem any different than if I buy a PC from Dell. Those Windows discs will only install on a Dell. If I upgrade to the newest OS, then I would have new discs to install from.
Am I missing something? I've installed plenty of PC's with Windows but both of my Macs are with the original install on them (and I know where my discs are).
Am I missing something? I've installed plenty of PC's with Windows but both of my Macs are with the original install on them (and I know where my discs are).
I don't know. My own experiences with installing Windows in the PC world is as follows. First I check whether a given machine is capable of running a given OS. If so, I put the OS disk in the DVD/CD drive and the installation starts. That's the way it's supposed to be. I don't like the idea of disks just for installation. It's obsolete in my book and counter productive as well.
I just got both my reinstall (OEM) disc's from apple for $16.00 shipped. They say replacement disc on the cover.
I've come across Dell disks that only work in Dell Machines.
When you say OS disk you mean the standard OS disk that you purchase or that comes with most OEM's. This is not the same as the Dell (or HP or ...) custom windows CD's.
Apple just do something similar. The OS disk you get with your Mac will only install on that type of Mac.
If you buy a standalone OSX disk then it will install on any Mac.
However if you lose your install disks for your Mac then i see nothing wrong with 'borrowing' a copy of the same version of your OS for a reinstall. You can't steal/pirate what you already paid for.
Virtually no major-brand Windows computers that are sold today come with a generic "OS disk" (that could be used on any model computer). And even it did, that almost always leads to a less than optimal installation, unless you happen to get lucky and Windows detects 100% of your hardware.
If the computer come with discs at all, they're almost always "system restore discs" -- made specifically to restore the OS and the applications that came on the computer when it was purchased -- made specifically for that particular model of computer. Not much different than how Apple does it.
Most of the new Dells and HPs my friends have purchased don't even come with ANY restore discs anymore. Their hard drive has something called a "restore partition". If something goes wrong with Windows, they can press some keys when they boot their system and it restores.
how do you go about doing this? called apple? or is there a support page on apple.com for this very issue? what type of information was asked? serials? recipe numbers? purchase dates?
I'm pretty sure they only have a partial bit of the OS on them. Add a little eye of newt and iguana brain to complete the OS after the install. If you flatten these they fit easily into the DVD drive.
Or maybe because they are replacement disks then they are identical to the ones that came with the machine originally. All Mac's come with a full copy of the OS and iLife* so therefore... well i'll let you work that out yourself
*If iLife came with the Mac in the first place.
You just call Apple support and tell them you need to purchase a replacement set of System Restore disks for you computer (which they for some reason call 'fulfillent disks'). They will want your serial number which they use to look up in their database the exact right set of specific disks that shipped with your particular model/revision Mac. I recently got a set of the disks for a G5 and they ran $32 (including shipping) for the two disk set and were here in about three days.