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User profile for user: travlnwoman
travlnwoman Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Is there a disk or program that makes a damaged iMac new?

My iMac is really messed up. No recovery drive. No Macintosh HD. I did all the usual things like repair, download Mac OS from the internet recovery. I have an external disk drive and there are USB ports on the iMac. I really want to restore this and make it "new". Is there a disc I can buy or download that I can put on a thumb drive so wipe out everything and really restore it like new? The only thing that shows up when I hit options is OS Base. Not worried about losing data or anything. It is a: Apple® - 27" iMac® - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive Purchased on: February 5, 2013 Model: MD095LL/A. Any help you can give is appreciated. BTW I don't have any computer knowledge other than all the research here and videos I've watched.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.12

Posted on May 25, 2021 4:17 PM

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User profile for user: padams35
padams35
User level: Level 4
3,445 points

Posted on May 25, 2021 5:24 PM

  1. How to make a bootable USB installer: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
  2. How to use disk utility (available on a recovery partition) to erase and reformate the drive. https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/mac
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User profile for user: babowa
babowa
User level: Level 9
78,429 points

May 25, 2021 6:04 PM in response to travlnwoman

Is the 10.12 OS version as shown in your signature what you were/are running before things got messed up? If so, the link to Disk Utility in Big Sur will not be helpful.


You can also try to see if the instructions here would help:


https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496


Try to get to internet recovery since you don't seem to have the local recovery: hold Option + Command + R while booting up. Keep holding the keys until you see a rotating world globe. Then wait for it to get to Apple's servers - will take a while. Doing this while being connected to your modem or router via an ethernet cable is better than WiFi. Then follow instructions in the link.



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User profile for user: travlnwoman
travlnwoman Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Jun 7, 2021 6:37 PM in response to travlnwoman

I wasn't sure how to "reply to all" so hopefully all of you that helped me will see this post. I did get my iMac up and running but in a weird way. I got a 128 gig USB 3.1 flash drive and used the instructions I was given here to make the bootable installer with El Capitan on it. I wasn't able to get it to load to the iMac's hard drive using the terminal command I was given here. The command R only would show Mac Base OS no matter what I tried.


At some point I partitioned the flash drive into the OS and a Recovery thing. I have no idea how I did this but now the computer works as long as the flash drive is in the port. I am so happy because it only cost me $20 for the flash drive and a never give up attitude to make this work instead of having to come up with the money for a new computer for my grandson's 13th birthday present. I want to thank you all for all the suggestions and help you gave me. I've learned so much throughout this whole process.


Sincerely,

Kim A.

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Is there a disk or program that makes a damaged iMac new?

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