08-31-2007, 07:30 PM

Hi, I recently came into possession of a used iMac and I would like to reformat it to factory settings. With it being second hand it didn't come with any discs or anything beyond the keyboard and mouse, however it does have the full Adobe CS2 Creative Suite package along with some other useful photo manip programs. I bought it from the guy because I'm a 3d/2d animation major and he said the software was already on it. If I reformat the system obviously it'll be wiped so my question is: is there any way I can reformat it but somehow copy the programs to a safe space without having the discs? I'm not too mac savy so any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks alot.

08-31-2007, 08:15 PM

Why do you need to reformat it?
Copying the apps would violate the EULA, so that isn't an option.
Its bad enough that you don't have the discs for them, you really got hosed by the guy who sold it to you, IMO.
And anyway, if it didn't come with discs, then how would you plan on reformatting it in the first place?

I'm not trying to rub this in or anything, but this is just another example of why nobody should buy a second-hand computer unless it comes with all of the necessary install media for OS and ALL of the included software.

08-31-2007, 11:59 PM

I bought a retail copy of os x 10.4 tiger from the apple store today. I'm reformatting it because for one, all of his orginal "short" name I think it's called, is a string of expletives as one word, also his admin name is and expletive, and while I've changed them all, the home folder is still the name the copy of the os was registered to. So I'd like to just break ties with it all completely.

09-01-2007, 09:42 AM

bump
bump

09-01-2007, 08:59 PM

CS2 spews files all over the hard drive so it's difficult to backup. Upgrading the OS and choosing 'archive and install' still affected CS2 in my experience and it required a reinstall.

I'm afraid you might have to get hold of your own copy of CS2.

09-07-2007, 06:36 AM

here is what i did when i got my macbook pro used. go to users menu, create a new account user (you) delete all pervious accounts. i dont remember correctly but you might need their passwords.

when i did this it reseted everything back to factory settings keeping all previously installed apps. all my apps required for me to go through the beginning intro setup (the setup procedure when you use/open an app for the first time).

hope this helps.