Install or Reinstall OS X from Scratch


Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

  1. May 08, 2015 How to restore the recovery partition in OS X 10.10 Yosemite Solution 1: Reinstall OS X. Are you in the process troubleshooting issues with existing storage, or provisioning new. Solution 2: Restore the recovery HD using Carbon Copy Cloner 4. Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) 4 is an application that.
  2. Restoring Mac OS X To an Earlier Date. Casual Mac OS X users may not be aware of the fact that they are able to restore their Mac OS X running devices to an earlier date simply by running a built-in tool. This feature is available on Windows under the name of System Restore but Mac users have their own alternative called Time Machine.
  3. Thus, if you are planning to install Yosemite, one of the best Mac operating systems, then it is better to go for a clean install, rather than performing a simple OS X upgrade. Before you clean install the Yosemite, restore Mac to factory settings. That will wipe out the hard drive, software/apps and restore the configuration to default settings.
  4. Nov 24, 2014  How to restore your Mac back to it's factory settings with Yosemite OS X without a disc! This works for iMac, Macbook, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, Macbook Air, etc.

Aug 24, 2015  How to Restore a Mac from a Time Machine Backup. Be careful trying to return to 10.14 if 10.15 does not work for you. If you use the Time Machine recovery method and you have run a backup while on 10.15, even if you have ones still there that ran on 10.14, the Recovery may not leave you with a bootable HD and Time Machine will not see the drive or files from 10.14. Mar 24, 2020  Restore From Time Machine Backup: Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup. Reinstall macOS: Download and reinstall the Mac operating system. Get Help Online: Use Safari to browse the web and find help for your Mac. Links to Apple's support website are included. Browser plug-ins and extensions are disabled.


Boot to the Recovery HD:


Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.


Erase the hard drive:


1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.


2. After DU loads select your startup volume (usually Macintosh HD) from the

left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.


3. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Optionally, click on

the Security button and set the Zero Data option to one-pass. Click on

the Erase button and wait until the process has completed.

Get Yosemite For Mac


4. Quit DU and return to the main menu.


System Restore For Mac Yosemite 2017

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Install button.


Mac System Restore Point

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible

because it is three times faster than wireless.


This should install the version of OS X that you had installed.

Apr 28, 2015 8:29 PM

macOS Recovery is part of the built-in recovery system of your Mac. You can start up from macOS Recovery and use its utilities to recover from certain software issues or take other actions on your Mac.

How to start up from macOS Recovery

  1. Turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold these two keys: Command (⌘) and R. Need help?
  2. Release the keys when you see an Apple logo, spinning globe, or other startup screen.
  3. You might be prompted to enter a password, such as a firmware password or the password of a user who is an administrator of this Mac. Enter the requested password to continue.
  4. Startup is complete when you see the utilities window:
  5. After starting up from macOS Recovery, select a utility, then click Continue:
    • Restore From Time Machine Backup:Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.
    • Reinstall macOS: Download and reinstall the Mac operating system.
    • Get Help Online: Use Safari to browse the web and find help for your Mac. Links to Apple's support website are included. Browser plug-ins and extensions are disabled.
    • Disk Utility: Use Disk Utility to repair your disk or erase your disk or other storage device.

      Additional utilities are available from the Utilities menu in the menu bar: Startup Security Utility (or Firmware Password Utility), Network Utility, and Terminal.
  6. To quit macOS Recovery, choose Restart or Shut Down from the Apple menu . If you want to choose a different startup disk before quitting, choose Startup Disk from the Apple menu.

If you can't start up from macOS Recovery

If your Mac can't start up from its built-in macOS Recovery system, it might try to start up from macOS Recovery over the Internet. When that happens, you see a spinning globe instead of an Apple logo during startup:

To manually start up from Internet Recovery, press and hold either of these key combinations at startup:

  • Option-Command-R
  • Shift-Option-Command-R
    Learn more

If startup from Internet Recovery is unsuccessful, you see a globe with an alert symbol (exclamation point):

System Restore For Macbook Pro

In that case, try these solutions:

Yosemite Mac Version

  • Make sure that your Mac can connect to the Internet. If you're not prompted to choose a Wi-Fi network during startup, move your pointer to the top of the screen, then choose a network from the Wi-Fi menu , if available.
  • Press Command-R at startup to try using the built-in Recovery system instead of Internet Recovery.
  • Connect to the Internet using Ethernet instead of Wi-Fi, or vice versa.
  • Connect to the Internet from a different Wi-Fi or Ethernet network. Your network configuration might not allow the Internet access that macOS Recovery needs.
  • Try again later, because the issue might be temporary.
  • Start up from another disk or volume, if available, or use a bootable installer to reinstall macOS.

If you still need help, please contact Apple Support.