Unable to boot up old iMac 2009 A1311 model

i have an old iMac 2009 A1311 model with snowleapord installed on it i tried with multiple keyboards but not able to boot it to recovery mode and my is getting connected after 15 mins after my imac is started please suggest and i dont rmember my password as i started after very long time



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iPhone 16 Plus

Posted on Apr 4, 2025 6:15 AM

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Posted on Apr 4, 2025 12:25 PM

Snow Leopard is too old to have a recovery partition. Recovery started with macOS 10.7 Lion.


You really need either the original system install/restore disks that shipped with the computer, or a full OSX retail install CD or DVD

3 replies

Apr 4, 2025 3:02 PM in response to Akguota

Is that your only working computer? If it is I recommend you do the following:


1 - see if it will boot into Target Disk Mode.

2 - if it can get a new Mac. I recommend the Mac Mini M4 with 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB storage and pair it with a 3rd party 27" or 32" 3rd party monitor w/speakers. It'll be about $640 less than a new, comparatively configured 24" iMac and will be nearly 10 times faster than your current model which Apple considers Obsolete.

3 - connect the two in Target Disk Mode and turn on the new Mac. When it asks you where you want to get the data from say your old Mac.


NOTE: if you've used Time Machine regularly to backup your 2009 iMac that would be a better source for migrating your user data to your new Mac.


 Just some food for thought.


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Unable to boot up old iMac 2009 A1311 model

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