Need help formatting MacBook ASAP!

[MarkTbh]

Guy coming in 5 hrs to buy my macbook, I told him I'd format it before he came. I tried formatting the hard drive but it said unable to unmount disk, so I tried downloading OSX from the app store AND IT SAYS I DONT OWN IT, I AM 100% SURE THAT I BOUGHT OSX MOUNTAIN LION!!!!! Help !!!

I cant create a bootable OSX USB drive, and I cant format the HDD, what now??

 

[dsciel]

Guy coming in 5 hrs to buy my macbook, I told him I'd format it before he came. I tried formatting the hard drive but it said unable to unmount disk, so I tried downloading OSX from the app store AND IT SAYS I DONT OWN IT, I AM 100% SURE THAT I BOUGHT OSX MOUNTAIN LION!!!!! Help !!!

I cant create a bootable OSX USB drive, and I cant format the HDD, what now??

call apple, if you did purchased, then you will able to redownload, after it is downloaded, use
http://liondiskmaker.com

 

[MarkTbh]

Ok I turned it on and held alt, and I went into recovery mode, and there was an option to reinstall OSX. I chose that and now theres a loading screen saying "3 hours and 50 minutes remaining". Did I do something wrong?


I chose to install it on the hard drive that already had OSX on it. Hope I didnt screw up lol

 

[Weaselboy]

Ok I turned it on and held alt, and I went into recovery mode, and there was an option to reinstall OSX. I chose that and now theres a loading screen saying "3 hours and 50 minutes remaining". Did I do something wrong?

You are fine. When you reinstall like that it has to download the 4.7GB OS from Apple's servers.

I chose to install it on the hard drive that already had OSX on it. Hope I didnt screw up lol

It depends on what you were trying to accomplish. An OS install over top of the existing OS will not erase your data. So if you were trying to erase the drive and have nothing but the clean install of the OS on there, this won't do that.

To really get the drive fresh you need to start Disk Util from that recovery screen and erase Macintosh HD... then install the OS.

Also, using your purchase of Mt. Lion like this if the new owner ever needs to reinstall the OS, they will not be able to since they won't have your AppleID.

The best thing to do is to reinstall the OS that came with the system. What year is the Macbook and what OS version did it come with?

 

[MarkTbh]

You are fine. When you reinstall like that it has to download the 4.7GB OS from Apple's servers.



It depends on what you were trying to accomplish. An OS install over top of the existing OS will not erase your data. So if you were trying to erase the drive and have nothing but the clean install of the OS on there, this won't do that.

To really get the drive fresh you need to start Disk Util from that recovery screen and erase Macintosh HD... then install the OS.

Also, using your purchase of Mt. Lion like this if the new owner ever needs to reinstall the OS, they will not be able to since they won't have your AppleID.

The best thing to do is to reinstall the OS that came with the system. What year is the Macbook and what OS version did it come with?

Mid 2012 came with 10.8.2.

So what is this download doing? I want to erase all of my files and programs.
The reason I wanted the OSX from app store is to put it on a USB stick to reinstall everything..


Whats the download gonna do then if it wont erase everything and have it a fresh OSX?

 

[Weaselboy]

Mid 2012 came with 10.8.2.

So what is this download doing? I want to erase all of my files and programs.
The reason I wanted the OSX from app store is to put it on a USB stick to reinstall everything..


Whats the download gonna do then if it wont erase everything and have it a fresh OSX?

It is just installing the OS over top of the existing install. This will just fix problems like say you have a corrupt OS file causing troubles... that sort of thing. It will not erase the drive and when you get done all your info and data will still be there.

Since your machine came with ML, just command-r boot to recovery and use Disk Util to erase Macintosh HD... then install the OS. This will DL the 4.7GB OS over the Internet and install it. Then your data and account will be gone and just the OS will be there like you want.

No issue with AppleID, since your machine came with ML.

When the fresh install completes you will get a screen where you set the language etc. Just command-q to stop at that point and when the new owner starts the machine he will get that setup wizard.

 

[MarkTbh]

It is just installing the OS over top of the existing install. This will just fix problems like say you have a corrupt OS file causing troubles... that sort of thing. It will not erase the drive and when you get done all your info and data will still be there.

Since your machine came with ML, just command-r boot to recovery and use Disk Util to erase Macintosh HD... then install the OS. This will DL the 4.7GB OS over the Internet and install it. Then your data and account will be gone and just the OS will be there like you want.

No issue with AppleID, since your machine came with ML.

When the fresh install completes you will get a screen where you set the language etc. Just command-q to stop at that point and when the new owner starts the machine he will get that setup wizard.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE HELP!!

I got another question though, the bar for OSX is like 30% done, is it okay if I cancel it? do you know?

 

[Ccrew]

is it okay if I cancel it? do you know?

I certainly wouldn't.

 

[Weaselboy]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE HELP!!

I got another question though, the bar for OSX is like 30% done, is it okay if I cancel it? do you know?

Ordinarily, I would say not to, but since you have a 2012 it supports Internet Recovery. So even if you shutting down borks the install, you can always boot to a firmware based Internet Recovery by booting while pressing command-option-r (all three at once). You will get a spinning globe for a couple minutes while the recovery console loads, then you can proceed as I explained before.

 

[MarkTbh]

I canceled it and went into disk utility again. I set the format to Mac OS Extended (journaled) and hit erase, saying:

DISK ERASE FAILED
Disk erase failed with the error:

Couldn't unmount disk.




If I can find out how to do that I can just install OSX from the recovery thing

----------

I think I fixed it

I was trying to erase the Hardrive, when I was supposed to just erase the partition and make a new one. So I did that, hit "reinstall osx" and I chose my new partition.

Hope this works, thanks for the help everyone.