Original Install discs

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Now although I'm becoming where I would consider highly knowledgable in the Mac field in only 6 months, there's something that's been nagging me and I've been meaning to ask; so I am now.



Why is it so extremely important to keep your original install discs?
 

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Now although I'm becoming where I would consider highly knowledgable in the Mac field in only 6 months, there's something that's been nagging me and I've been meaning to ask; so I am now.

Why is it so extremely important to keep your original install discs?

Because they are model specific...any only work in the model Mac that they were shipped with. Disc#1 can be used to restore a persons Mac to it's original shipping OS version. Disc #2 contains a "hardware test" program.

Having CD/DVD to "boot" from is also very important when trying to troubleshoot a problem...especially if it is hard drive related.

HTH,

- Nick
 
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^^ and also considered essential by many buyers if ever selling your Mac.
 
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You can also use the install disks to reset your password in case you forget it, though there are other methods for doing that as well.
 
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And one of the best diagnostic tools is Apple Hardware Test which of course is located on the original install discs. Checks out logic board, memory, drives, graphics etc.
 
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So if you lose them...and seriously want them, can you re-buy them from apple?
 
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That's good to know because I lost both my mothers and my girlfriends!!!!!!!!!!

I know I know, shame shame on me...I have my own discs and lost theirs! What's more sad is that all of our laptops are about only 6 months old....wow.


Thanks a lot, I'm going to get on that immediately because I want to make sure they have them.
 
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So if you lose them...and seriously want them, can you re-buy them from apple?

I don't want to sound too much like the attorney that I am, but if you purchased your Macintosh new, you purchased not just the hardware, but a *license* to own and use the software on those disks.

If you have lost those disks, you still haven't lost the right to that license. You still have a legal right to access to that software and Apple is legally obligated to make sure that you have that access.

What that means to you is that if you can prove to Apple that you purchased your Mac new (i.e. with a store receipt, or a credit card bill) you have a right to have that software replaced at no additional charge, though they are entitled to charge you a nominal sum to cover the cost of the physical media and shipping.

If you approach Apple and are really polite, and can show unequivocally that you purchased your Mac new, and explain the above, I've known them to just send a user replacement disks.

I can't guaranty that it will work that way for you, but in a perfect world, that's how it is supposed to work.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
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I don't want to sound too much like the attorney that I am, but if you purchased your Macintosh new, you purchased not just the hardware, but a *license* to own and use the software on those disks.

If you have lost those disks, you still haven't lost the right to that license. You still have a legal right to access to that software and Apple is legally obligated to make sure that you have that access.

What that means to you is that if you can prove to Apple that you purchased your Mac new (i.e. with a store receipt, or a credit card bill) you have a right to have that software replaced at no additional charge, though they are entitled to charge you a nominal sum to cover the cost of the physical media and shipping.

If you approach Apple and are really polite, and can show unequivocally that you purchased your Mac new, and explain the above, I've known them to just send a user replacement disks.

I can't guaranty that it will work that way for you, but in a perfect world, that's how it is supposed to work.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________

That is complete rubbish.

I suppose if you buy a cd and loose it, the vendor has to give you a free one?!
 
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Agreed... Buying the machine by no stretch means that Apple is "obligated" to make sure you have access to the software. Sure, you bought a license. But you lose the CD's, that's your fault, your problem. Now, they may or may not be kind and give them to you for no cost depending on the situation, but I wouldn't count on it, nor by any means are they obligated to do so. But of course you can buy them from Apple, it's easy to do and when you get them, keep them in a safe place :)
 
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Other thoughts:

The Installer disks that came with your Mac aren't necessarily specific to that model (though sometimes they are). Often, but not always, you can use the disks that came with a contemporaneous or newer model of Mac with another model of Macintosh.
What's a "computer-specific Mac OS X release"?

The commercial OS X disks that you can purchase separately (i.e. they aren't the ones that come with a new Mac) are universal. (Or at least they are for the models that are new enough to meet the hardware requirements.)
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.)
Note that OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) is only $29.

You don't always need the original disks to run Disk Utility. You can run Repair Permissions from the copy of Disk Utility (that is automatically installed with OS X) that resides in your Applications/Utilities folder.

While you can't run Disk Utility/Repair Disk from the copy of Disk Utility that resides on your hard drive, you can run the equivalent of Repair Disk without the need of your OS X Installer disks by performing a Safe Boot, or by booting into Single User Mode and running FSCK:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

You definitely need the OS X Installer Disks to run Hardware Test, but you can do a RAM test without them. Actually a more thorough RAM test, if you use:

rember (free)
Kelley Computing - Rember

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________
 
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Well once I buy new discs again I'm planning on making copies of them and giving them those "copies" to keep with them, for whatever the reason may be and keep the original discs in my filing cabinet.

I'm more interested in having the discs specifically for the sake of having the discs on hand for things such as resale or something else I cannot name at the moment.
 
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Some flaws in your post, and I really don't want to see others misled, so.....

Other thoughts:

The Installer disks that came with your Mac aren't necessarily specific to that model (though sometimes they are). Often, but not always, you can use the disks that came with a contemporaneous or newer model of Mac with another model of Macintosh.
What's a "computer-specific Mac OS X release"?
The Installer disks that came with your Mac aren't necessarily specific to that model but most often are!
It is vary rare that you can use the disks that came with a contemporaneous or newer model of Mac with another model of Macintosh.

The commercial OS X disks that you can purchase separately (i.e. they aren't the ones that come with a new Mac) are universal. (Or at least they are for the models that are new enough to meet the hardware requirements.)
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard - Apple Store (U.S.)
This is true, unless the model came with an OS newer than than that release.
ie. A retail version of OS X 10.6.0 won't work on a Mac that was released with OS X 10.6.3.

You don't always need the original disks to run Disk Utility. You can run Repair Permissions from the copy of Disk Utility (that is automatically installed with OS X) that resides in your Applications/Utilities folder.


About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature
When possible, disk permissions should be repaired while started up from a Mac OS X volume (hard disk) that contains Mac OS X, instead of a Mac OS X installation disc. Mac OS X software updates may change permissions on some files to improve security. When this occurs, the version of Disk Utility on the Mac OS X volume is updated to account for the new permissions. Running Disk Utility while started from the Mac OS X volume ensures that the changes made by software updates are preserved.

While you can't run Disk Utility/Repair Disk from the copy of Disk Utility that resides on your hard drive, you can run the equivalent of Repair Disk without the need of your OS X Installer disks by performing a Safe Boot, or by booting into Single User Mode and running FSCK:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Mac OS X: Starting up in Safe Mode

Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck
Tip: Always start up your computer from an Install or Restore disc when using Disk Utility to verify or repair your startup volume. Otherwise, you might see some disk error messages.
 
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The Installer disks that came with your Mac aren't necessarily specific to that model but most often are!
It is vary rare that you can use the disks that came with a contemporaneous or newer model of Mac with another model of Macintosh.

Indeed. To show just how specific... My wife's friend has a 15 inch MBP, from mid-2010. We have a 17 inch from this January. They lost their discs, and we tried to use ours. It would not work. Popped up a message saying it could not be used on that MBP. So the discs are VERY specific to your EXACT model. That's why the discs that come with your machine quite specifically say the model they are for. Even down to the screen size.
 
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Agreed... Buying the machine by no stretch means that Apple is "obligated" to make sure you have access to the software. Sure, you bought a license. But you lose the CD's, that's your fault, your problem. Now, they may or may not be kind and give them to you for no cost depending on the situation, but I wouldn't count on it, nor by any means are they obligated to do so. But of course you can buy them from Apple, it's easy to do and when you get them, keep them in a safe place :)

Are you an attorney?

I am.

And I studied Intellectual Property in law school and have practiced in that area of the law.

I can assure you that when you purchase software from Apple (or any other software vendor) you are purchasing a license. You can read the terms of this license for yourself:
http://images.apple.com/legal/sla/docs/macosx106.pdf

When you purchase a license, you are not purchasing anything physical at all (though something physical, such as an optical disk, may be included as part of a separate sales agreement that is part of the same transaction.) You are purchasing a right to *use* that software.

When you purchase a license you are not purchasing a right to own anything. The entire point of a license is that the vendor has an obligation to see to it that you have access to the subject matter of the license. If that were not the case, then what you would be talking about wouldn't be a license. Nothing is conditioned on the possession of the physical disks.
What is Software licensing? - a knol by Jon Gillespie-Brown

And, yes, if you purchase a music CD, and it is lost, or damaged to the point that it won't play anymore, you are entitled to a replacement subject to reasonable costs for the physical media and handling. At least that's what the law says. Of course, the music distributor might not cooperate, and then you would have to sue them to get your replacement.

Let me give you an analogy. You come up with a great invention. I purchase a license from you to build and sell that invention for $X million. You send me the plans. I lose the plans. Am I now SOL because I lost the plans? No. I purchased a license to your invention. You are obligated to send me new plans so that I can manufacture your invention. You are entitled to charge me a reasonable cost to xerox the plans again and mail them to me, but you can't charge me for another license...I already own a license.

I know that this sounds unusual, but trust me, this is how it is.
(I almost said "Trust me, I'm a lawyer.") ;)
If this wasn't how licenses were, or if there were no concept of license, then no one would ever be able to make a living creating intellectual property, such as music, books, software, inventions, etc.

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Attorney at Law

Author of: The Macintosh Software Guide for the Law Office

Webmaster of: The Macintosh Law Office Software List
Law Office Software for The Macintosh /Attorney using Macintosh Legal Software

Publisher of: The MacAttorney Newsletter
___________________________________________
 
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And do you want a cookie for that? :)

I said nothing about purchasing another license. But you will INDEED pay for the restore discs, and shipping. I am certain if it was illegal for Apple to charge you for it, they wouldn't be. Last I looked, replacements were 15-30 dollars or even more in some cases. Buying Snow Leopard new, costs 29 dollars.

As for getting those, or music cd's for free (or just the "media" and shipping...) because you "bought the license"… Good luck suing for that. Cheaper to just buy it again, in both cases.
 
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Yes, you can twist it as much as you like.
Maybe a judge would go for it, or maybe he would just give a look which suggests that you should know better :)


When you purchase a license, you are not purchasing anything physical at all (though something physical, such as an optical disk, may be included as part of a separate sales agreement that is part of the same transaction.) You are purchasing a right to *use* that software.

When you purchase a license you are not purchasing a right to own anything. The entire point of a license is that the vendor has an obligation to see to it that you have access to the subject matter of the license. If that were not the case, then what you would be talking about wouldn't be a license. Nothing is conditioned on the possession of the physical disks.
What is Software licensing? - a knol by Jon Gillespie-Brown

Exactly, you are purchasing the license, and should you damage, destroy, or lose the physical property, well..... That is your loss!
You still have the right to use the property if you still have it!

And, yes, if you purchase a music CD, and it is lost, or damaged to the point that it won't play anymore, you are entitled to a replacement subject to reasonable costs for the physical media and handling. At least that's what the law says. Of course, the music distributor might not cooperate, and then you would have to sue them to get your replacement.

You'd want to be a better lawyer than those you are suing, or have a useless judge if you wanted to win!


Let me give you an analogy. You come up with a great invention. I purchase a license from you to build and sell that invention for $X million. You send me the plans. I lose the plans. Am I now SOL because I lost the plans? No. I purchased a license to your invention. You are obligated to send me new plans so that I can manufacture your invention. You are entitled to charge me a reasonable cost to xerox the plans again and mail them to me, but you can't charge me for another license...I already own a license.

Ummm no! You lost the plans which I gave to you (sold to you).
I sold you the plans as part of that agreement and have no more copies :)
Not my problem :D

You're not the guy suing Apple because his daughter dropped her iPhone and broke the glass are you? LOL
 
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Some flaws in your post, and I really don't want to see others misled, so.....

It used to be that you were warned against repairing permissions on one disk while booted from another because only the receipt files on the drive you were booted from would be consulted, not the receipt files on the drive you were repairing, and thus not all permissions would be set correctly. Though it hasn't been documented by Apple, this is no longer necessary. As of late in OS X 10.2, you can run Repair Permissions while booted from a disk other than the one that you are repairing (i.e. the OS X installer disk), and it will correctly use the receipts on the disk being repaired.
See:
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
Item #1, Maintenance Myth #1

As for running Disk Utility/Repair Disk, yes, Apple recommends doing that over running FSCK. However, you can't run DU/RD if you don't have the original disks, which is what I was talking about. FSCK isn't deprecated, it's just that DU/RD is preferred.

Also note that doing a Safe Boot is what Apple recommends doing *first* in this article:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

___________________________________________

Randy B. Singer
Co-author of The Macintosh Bible (4th, 5th, and 6th editions)

Macintosh OS X Routine Maintenance
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
___________________________________________
 
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It used to be that you were warned against repairing permissions on one disk while booted from another because only the receipt files on the drive you were booted from would be consulted, not the receipt files on the drive you were repairing, and thus not all permissions would be set correctly. Though it hasn't been documented by Apple, this is no longer necessary. As of late in OS X 10.2, you can run Repair Permissions while booted from a disk other than the one that you are repairing (i.e. the OS X installer disk), and it will correctly use the receipts on the disk being repaired.
See:
OS X Maintenance And Troubleshooting
Item #1, Maintenance Myth #1

Actually, running 10.5 and 10.6 I have tested this theory using both methods, and have found that it is still necessary!

As for running Disk Utility/Repair Disk, yes, Apple recommends doing that over running FSCK. However, you can't run DU/RD if you don't have the original disks, which is what I was talking about. FSCK isn't deprecated, it's just that DU/RD is preferred.

Also note that doing a Safe Boot is what Apple recommends doing *first* in this article:
Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck

Actually, they recommend a safe boot before Disk Utility, so I have no idea what your point is.

Now you're just clutching at straws in my humble opinion, so I will just bow out not, and let you have the last word, should you choose to :)
 

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