Steps to Restore Mac OS X
Mac OS X Lion includes a Recovery HD volume you can use to start your Mac when the primary system fails. This volume enables you to solve problems with the system software that you can’t solve while you are started up from the primary system or in the event that you can’t even start your Mac because something has gone wrong with your primary system software.
NOTE: Alternative Startup Disk
Previous versions of Mac OS X did not include the Recovery HD volume.
You had to use the Mac OS X software install disc to start a Mac from an alternative drive, or you had to install a version of Mac OS X on a different hard drive than what your primary system was installed on. You can still choose to install Mac OS X Lion on a different disk and use that to run your Mac while you solve problems, but it is more complicated and requires a drive with sufficient space to store the operating system. The benefit is that should your Mac have a problem that prevents the Recovery HD volume from working, you can still run your Mac.
To access the Recovery HD, restart your Mac and then choose to start up from the Recovery HD volume. When you do this, you are able to use the Mac OS X Utilities tool to solve some of the minor and more serious problems you might encounter.
To start up and use the Recovery HD, perform the following steps:
1. If you can shut down your Mac normally, do so; if not, hold the power button until the Mac shuts off.
2. Restart the Mac while holding down the Option key. After a moment, each volume you can use to start your Mac appears. You see at least two options: one is your primary startup volume and the other is the Recovery HD volume.
3. Click the Recovery HD volume and press Return. Your Mac starts up from this volume. The first screen that appears is the Language Selection screen.
4. Select the language you want to use and press Return. The Mac OS X Utilities dialog box appears.
5. Select the utility you want to use to try to solve the problem you are having. The options are
Restore from Time Machine Backup: Select this option to restore your Mac from your Time Machine backup.
Reinstall Mac OS X: This option reinstalls the operating system software. If you can’t solve the problem in other ways, this option should solve most problems (it won’t help if you have a hardware problem). However, it can also remove customizations and configurations you’ve done and can take a long time, so you shouldn’t use this option lightly.
Get Help Online: This option enables you to access the Internet to find help with a problem.
Disk Utility: This option opens the Disk Utility application to try to solve disk or permission issues that may be causing the problem.
6. After you’ve selected the option you want to use, click Continue and use the resulting tools to implement the solution you are trying. For example, if you select the Disk Utility option, select your primary startup volume and click Repair Disk to try to solve the problem. If you’ve decided that you need to reinstall Mac OS X Lion, use the install assistant to reinstall the system software.
CAUTION: Reinstalling Mac OS X
Be cautious about using this option. Although it often solves even severe problems, in many cases, it requires you to start over with your Mac, such as reconfiguring preferences, re-creating user accounts, and so on. After the reinstall is complete, you also need to run Software Update to ensure you are using the current version of Mac OS X.
To return to your primary system software, restart the Mac and hold down the Option key. This time, select the startup volume instead of the Recovery HD volume.
Reinstalling Mac OS X
Reinstalling Mac OS X is about the most severe action you can take to correct a problem. It is unlikely you will need to do this, but once in a while, it is what you need to do. Here’s how:
1. Restart using the Recovery HD and access the Mac OS X Utilities tool.
2. Select the Reinstall Mac OS X option.
3. Click Continue.
4. Click Continue. This step sends the serial number of your Mac to Apple.
5. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the re-installation.
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