Need reformat without CD/DVD drive

[Jaymier]

I have been trying to back up with Time machine with no luck, after 24 hours it looked like it had frozen up for the third time in a row. My cd/dvd drive won't take in disks so i do not have the option of using a dvd to do a reinstall. My Mac is fairly old so wont have a Recovery HD so i have created a USB version by downloading the Recovery Disk Assistant program. I have manually dragged my music, games and documents onto an external.

Now i just need to know what to do next? Will this recovery HD allow me to reformat? Do i go through disk utility first? I am a little nervous trying to reformat without knowing what i am doing and without having the option of using a DVD

 

[chscag]

We need more info: Year and model of your Mac and which version of OS X are you currently running? And just for your information sake.... you can always purchase an external DVD drive to do the reinstall.

 

[Jaymier]

iMac 24-inch Early 2009, Software - OSX 10.9.4 (13E28), Model A1225

Thanks, will keep that in mind as an option, but would be great if i could get this sorted without having to buy one

 

[gsahli]

My Mac is fairly old so wont have a Recovery HD so i have created a USB version by downloading the Recovery Disk Assistant program

OS X 10.9 installs a hidden recovery partition. You access it by restarting and holding Option key or Command-r.
The USB installer is another option. Again, startup holding Option key.

 

[Jaymier]

thank you gsahli