Snow leopard restore without discs

kylemalco · May 27, 2011

Im a newbie here found the site through google, there where a few posts along the lines of what I was looking, but not quite.

I bought a macbook pro 13inch of ebay about 8 months ago and its running well problem is it didnt come with any discs and now I am looking to sell it on to upgrade.

Is it possible to completely clean all my details from the macbook by adding a new admin user and deleting my user?

Thanks

6string · May 27, 2011

It's not the ideal way to go but yes, you can do that.
You also have other options (as it is always better to sell with original media).
Best option is to call Apple 800 number, and for around $20 they will send you out replacement discs.
Other option is to purchase Snow Leopard for $29. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.)

http://www.apple.com/contact/

kylemalco · May 27, 2011

Thanks for the help I will phone apple uk and see if I can order the disc

thurstmw · May 28, 2011

Note that the SL retail disc will not work if it is a 2010 or 11 computer

ycl1688 · May 28, 2011

thurstmw said:
Note that the SL retail disc will not work if it is a 2010 or 11 computer

I bought a used mbp mid-2010 one, the seller has the SL retail disc, and not the original disks, yet when i installed the retail one, no problem.
Can you clarify a bit ?

bobtomay · May 28, 2011

ycl1688 said:
I bought a used mbp mid-2010 one, the seller has the SL retail disc, and not the original disks, yet when i installed the retail one, no problem.
Can you clarify a bit ?

It depends partially on the version of SL that shipped with the machine and the version of SL on the retail disc. It has to do with driver availability. The original retail discs will not install on 2010 Macs and the current ones will not install on 2011 models. As every 2010 & 2011 Mac shipped with SL and a SL disc was included, there was no reason for the drivers for those models to be included on the retail discs.

You have a Mac that shipped with SL, you really need the original discs. You takes your chances with a retail version that may not work.

ycl1688 · May 28, 2011

bobtomay said:
It depends partially on the version of SL that shipped with the machine and the version of SL on the retail disc. It has to do with driver availability. The original retail discs will not install on 2010 Macs and the current ones will not install on 2011 models. As every 2010 & 2011 Mac shipped with SL and a SL disc was included, there was no reason for the drivers for those models to be included on the retail discs.

You have a Mac that shipped with SL, you really need the original discs. You takes your chances with a retail version that may not work.

Thanks.
For future reference the best bet will be to get from Apple the replacement disks instead of retail ones ?

thurstmw · May 28, 2011

ycl1688 said:
Thanks.
For future reference the best bet will be to get from Apple the replacement disks instead of retail ones ?

Not necessarily. If they work with your computer then than is great and it dosent really matter which you have. And the retail has much more versatility. The retail version might lack some of the apple hardware tests though (Im not sure).

But if a computer was shipped with 10.5 and some one offered me the SL retail discs or the original disc I would go with the SL discs (not sure why I would have to choose between the two though).

But hopefully you get what I am trying to say.

6string · May 28, 2011

thurstmw said:
Not necessarily. If they work with your computer then than is great and it dosent really matter which you have. And the retail has much more versatility. The retail version might lack some of the apple hardware tests though (Im not sure).

But if a computer was shipped with 10.5 and some one offered me the SL retail discs or the original disc I would go with the SL discs (not sure why I would have to choose between the two though).

But hopefully you get what I am trying to say.

You would be missing out on iLife and the hardware test.