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Would I get in trouble if..

D

DH54

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 3, 2012
6
0
Ok so Next Wednesday I'm taking my MacBook Pro to be repaired at the Apple store. But recently my data got corrupted on my HDD and I had to erase it and now I'm having to reinstall OS X Lion. I thought I could just boot into the Recovery HD and reinstall lion fine that way. But it's giving me an error saying "Can't download additional components" so I can't install OS X. I backed up my data on a external HD but it's over at my cousins and he's on vacation so I can't get it until next Friday.

What I'm trying to ask is, Since it won't let me reinstall OS X right now, Can I download OS X Lion 10.7.4 off thepiratebay, mount it on a USB and Install it that way? Will Apple find out that I have a pirated copy causing me to get in trouble?
 
DH54 said:
Ok so Next Wednesday I'm taking my MacBook Pro to be repaired at the Apple store. But recently my data got corrupted on my HDD and I had to erase it and now I'm having to reinstall OS X Lion. I thought I could just boot into the Recovery HD and reinstall lion fine that way. But it's giving me an error saying "Can't download additional components" so I can't install OS X. I backed up my data on a external HD but it's over at my cousins and he's on vacation so I can't get it until next Friday.

What I'm trying to ask is, Since it won't let me reinstall OS X right now, Can I download OS X Lion 10.7.4 off thepiratebay, mount it on a USB and Install it that way? Will Apple find out that I have a pirated copy causing me to get in trouble?
Click to expand...

My Recommendation Is Just Taking It To Them And Telling Them What Happened, They Would Most Likely Be Able To Help You Reinstall It.
 
I agree with Erock2. What happened to you is not that uncommon. Your honesty regarding the matter won't hurt and probably result in the Genius guy resolving your issues during your appointment.
 
+1 on Erock2's idea. Apple has seen it happen numerous times and your probably not the only one this has happened to. Just when you check in say your hard drive went corrupt and that your tried to setup Lion, but it wasn't working for some strange reason. I'm sure he will take it to the back do some of the Apple magic to the laptop and fix it. Then come out and talk to you about what the problem was and to also bring up the original reason for the appointment.

Note: Similar thing happened on a iPhone I had, so judging all the content above based on my experience.
 
The apple disk image (dmg) is going to be the same from the pirate bay/or some other private torrent site as it is on the install disk or usb stick.

They simply do not care about pirating of their os because #1: they barely charge anything for it, and #2: there is no serial numbers or any "genuine" crap built in to try to catch counterfeit installs like windows.
 
JoshGlzBrk said:
The apple disk image (dmg) is going to be the same from the pirate bay/or some other private torrent site as it is on the install disk or usb stick.
Click to expand...

Of course it is, and it could never have any malware or keystroke loggers integrated. Of course not, because pirates are such ethical trustworthy people.

Pirating an OS is the epitome of fail. You have no idea what you're getting and you're installing as a root level user. Dumb, Dumb, and extra dumb.
 
Ccrew said:
Of course it is, and it could never have any malware or keystroke loggers integrated. Of course not, because pirates are such ethical trustworthy people.

Pirating an OS is the epitome of fail. You have no idea what you're getting and you're installing as a root level user. Dumb, Dumb, and extra dumb.
Click to expand...

It's trivial to compare the checksum against a known good one. Furthermore, if the OP has a licence, then it's not piracy.
 
Ccrew said:
Of course it is, and it could never have any malware or keystroke loggers integrated. Of course not, because pirates are such ethical trustworthy people.

Pirating an OS is the epitome of fail. You have no idea what you're getting and you're installing as a root level user. Dumb, Dumb, and extra dumb.
Click to expand...

Paranoid much?

You obviously have no knowledge of torrent sites beyond the pirate bay and "semi private" ones such as demonoid. You also can't *magically* insert a key logger and malware into binary files.
 
Is it not reinstalling because of the problems you're taking it in to be repaired for? I'd just let the Genius know what happened, I'd imagine they can pop a copy of Lion on the drive quickly and easily and it'll save you the hassle.

While it may be unlikely, there is always the possibility of problems arising from a pirated copy of the OS. When you have the option of letting the Geniuses take care of it, it's silly to mess around doing it that way.
 
Erock2 said:
My Recommendation Is Just Taking It To Them And Telling Them What Happened, They Would Most Likely Be Able To Help You Reinstall It.
Click to expand...

Don't take this the wrong way, but you only need to capitalize the first word of a sentence. :)
 
Ccrew said:
Of course it is, and it could never have any malware or keystroke loggers integrated. Of course not, because pirates are such ethical trustworthy people.

Pirating an OS is the epitome of fail. You have no idea what you're getting and you're installing as a root level user. Dumb, Dumb, and extra dumb.
Click to expand...

Oh please, do you actually believe your own bull or is that some ploy to get people not to pirate because you feel ethically obliged to perform a duty to Apple?
...

OP: it's absolutely fine.
 
JoshGlzBrk said:
Paranoid much?

You obviously have no knowledge of torrent sites beyond the pirate bay and "semi private" ones such as demonoid. You also can't *magically* insert a key logger and malware into binary files.
Click to expand...

The installer is nothing but a dmg package, and the package can be manipulated. You have the correct MD5 checksums that you can check?

----------
Dangerous Theory said:
Oh please, do you actually believe your own bull or is that some ploy to get people not to pirate because you feel ethically obliged to perform a duty to Apple?
.
Click to expand...

No, I have ethics period. something which a few here clearly lack.
 
As others have said just tell Apple. Or you could always reschedule your Apple Store appointment until after your cousin gets back.
 
Why should he have to shell out 30 bucks for software he rightfully had. If you live near an apple store, just bring it to them. If not, pirate it and save yourself some time.
 
If it is convenient, just take it to the Genius bar. You should go before Monday though because it is going to be a crazy week next week in the Apple store. :D
 
Just do it.

You already own the license to Lion.

Quite frankly, I download images online all the time. If I buy it game and find I need to use my CD all my time, I will download a cracked version to circumvent this. Same thing with activations; buy a game, tell me I can only activate twice? I'll download a cracked version to circumvent such artificial roadblocks. I'm not an attorney, so I can't say this legal or not, but as a human being, I can decide for myself whether or not this is right thing to do.

If you have trouble deciding, the Apple Store can wipe your drive for you and install a fresh copy of OS X. I've taken several machines to the store with blank disks. I tell the store as such and they will reinstall OS X as needed.
 
if you have other ram try that i was getting "can't download additional components too and found out it was due to bad RAM put my original ram back in and it installed with no issues
 
mikeo007 said:
Lol at anyone who pays full retail for Windows Ultimate. The only people that pay full retail for Windows are businesses.
Click to expand...

No, businesses usually do not pay full retail for Windows. They use volume licensing ;)

People who pay full price are usually common folk who aren't "system builders" so they don't know much about OEM, so when they go to Best Buy or Staples, and want to upgrade, they get the retail version.
 
alphaod said:
No, businesses usually do not pay full retail for Windows. They use volume licensing ;)

People who pay full price are usually common folk who aren't "system builders" so they don't know much about OEM, so when they go to Best Buy or Staples, and want to upgrade, they get the retail version.
Click to expand...

Yikes...but still, would they be buying Win 7 Ultimate? If I saw 3 versions of something from $100 - $300, I'd probably have some serious questions about whether the $300 version is worth it or not.
 
mikeo007 said:
Yikes...but still, would they be buying Win 7 Ultimate? If I saw 3 versions of something from $100 - $300, I'd probably have some serious questions about whether the $300 version is worth it or not.
Click to expand...

Sure why not? I bought a retail copy of Vista Ultimate when I needed to upgrade a computer of mine. Sure it was expensive, but I didn't really mind (It was much easier to buy the store copy at the time).
 
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