Deleted my Macintosh HD, trying to reboot mavericks from a USB drive

[amoe]

I bought a mac book pro, mid 2012, retina version- from somebody I didn't know, off of craigslist. First mistake. It seemed to work fine, but after awhile it started freezing often and then the folder with a question mark started to appear. I was told that all I had to do was make a bootable USB drive and restart it from that, and it would solve the problem. This computer has no disk drive, so that seemed to be the easiest fix, and I put it off until today when I tried to solve the problem. I know how to use a mac, as an artist, but when it comes to fixing or partitioning and hard drives.. I know little to non. Well, today I managed to download mavericks on my old iMac desktop and then use diskmaker to make a USB with mavericks on it. It took me all day. I should have stopped then. Next I followed a tutorial on how to boot from the USB, and thats when I think I really screwed things up. Everything seem to be going well, until they started talking about partitioning and GUID.
What I did- I clicked on Macintosh HD and I deleted it...Then I went to reboot and it said it couldn't reboot from USB drive because it wasn't partitioned. so I went back and I clicked on the USB in disk utility and I tried to partition that, I did 1 partition, made sure it was mac os extended (journaled) and Guild. then I tried to install Os x by clicking on Microsoft HD... I think this tutorial was incorrect about deleting the HD or I don't know how to partition
I got confused here "Make sure you have a partition larger than your Macintosh HD and the drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with the GUID partition table."

It started to download everything seemed like It may have worked, I got happy,....and then boom fail. It said my Microsoft HD had been damaged and when I restarted the computer or went back to disk utility is now completely gone. So, at the top it just has the USB drive and in the box below I have a disk 1 and a disk 2 (Im not sure what any of this really means). It got to a point where it gave me a log screen of everything that happened so maybe I could figure it out, but it might as well be in a different language.. actually it is a different language. So, now I have no Microsoft HD... and I have no idea what to do from here. Before I did this, I backed up the computer on a external hard drive, my passport for mac, and I wonder if that could take me back to where I was before I did all this damage.

I need some major help. I don't know how I damaged my computer or how it got this bad, when it seemed like it would be so simple. partitioning in disk utility screwed me up because I don't understand it. maybe I was looking at the wrong toturial- it was a how to boot from a USB if your mac has no recovery startup. Which I don't know if that was the case.

Did I destroy the computer? Can I get a Microsoft HD back? Can I reboot from the passport? Any ideas?

One last thing, before I did this, a person who works on computers but who lives far away looked at the computer and said the diagnosis of the computer seemed that everything was good. But somebody had deleted the operating system or he couldn't find the operating system file. So, I came home and tried to do it myself and now I'm devastated, wondering how I made things so bad, so quick.

I know this is a big problem to take on, or it feels like it to me, but I still haven't given up. any advice will be truly appreciated!!!
Thanks, starving artist who bought a bad computer.

 

[Decimotox]

Well, I think this is fixable. I bought a MBP on craigslist, which is actually what I'm typing on now.

Give us some general info on this "Microsoft" HD. I think your "TLDR" post confused me, lol. It's the HD that came with the MBP, yes? From what I understand, you made the bootable USB and then, before rebooting, erased the main HD, yes?

That was the mistake. You should have rebooted in recovery mode, then used the recovery mode disk utility to erase the old HD and reinstalled. In the end, though, I'm guessing the HD was just bad and you should buy another one.

Since you have a newer-ish MBP, you could buy a new HD, install it, and then use internet recovery mode to install the OS that came with the MBP originally on the new, blank HD. That would be Lion, I believe. Maybe Mountain Lion.

 

[amoe]

Yes, it originally came with lion. So, I ordered Lion off of the mac store, originally and somebody told me it didn't matter, I could use any os x and it didn't need the original software it came with, and so I was able to download mavericks, only one I could get from app store no problem. Still have lion coming in the mail or email, not sure if disks or download. If these disk arrive, and I get a external disk drive, can I restart it with those?

but yes that exactly what I did, I deleted the Microsoft HD (HD that yes came with the mbp) and got lost with the partitioning/Guid, but the tutorial told me too =( or I didn't understand. Also internet recovery didn't work for me, I tried that as well and so the USB seemed like my only option at that point.

Ill try to work on this tomorrow, maybe start with getting a new HD.
what about my back up on my external hard drive, which I did when I first bought it, its a wd my passport. Would that help me get back to before all this mess, or do I need to start from scratch. Maybe, if you have advice on the first thing I should work on, I will start there. I think this is going to be a slow process. my eyes are getting blurry from staring at screens all day. Thanks for your help.
[doublepost=1475733364][/doublepost]general info: Mac book pro "core 17" 2.3 retina mid 2012
original os x included Im pretty sure from research 10.7.4

maybe I can post some screen shots tomorrow of what is going on... thanks, peace out for now.

 

[amoe]

Looked into getting a Hard Drive. Seems like they are about 200-300 bucks and not that hard to put into the computer. My problem here is, I would hate to spend the money only to find thats not the problem. I am confused on how before, when running a diagnosis the insides of the computer all seemed to be fine and if so, how was I able to completely damage the Hard drive so easily. Maybe its possible. I suppose before buying a hard drive and putting it in, I should take it to computer shop and see what they think. I bought the lab top second hand and have no apple care or anything like that. I would hate to just trash this computer, but nervous to start putting money into it. It worked fine, until I started getting the folder with the question mark, and then it started freezing as soon as you try to work on it. Now it won't go to the main screen at all, I'm stuck in the start up/disk utility page when I turn it on.
When I get Lion in the mail, can I try to restart it with that? Can deleting Macintosh HD, actually damage the hard drive. In disk utility the Macintosh HD is no longer existent.

 

[Decimotox]

Looked into getting a Hard Drive. Seems like they are about 200-300 bucks and not that hard to put into the computer. My problem here is, I would hate to spend the money only to find thats not the problem. I am confused on how before, when running a diagnosis the insides of the computer all seemed to be fine and if so, how was I able to completely damage the Hard drive so easily. Maybe its possible. I suppose before buying a hard drive and putting it in, I should take it to computer shop and see what they think. I bought the lab top second hand and have no apple care or anything like that. I would hate to just trash this computer, but nervous to start putting money into it. It worked fine, until I started getting the folder with the question mark, and then it started freezing as soon as you try to work on it. Now it won't go to the main screen at all, I'm stuck in the start up/disk utility page when I turn it on.
When I get Lion in the mail, can I try to restart it with that? Can deleting Macintosh HD, actually damage the hard drive. In disk utility the Macintosh HD is no longer existent.

Yeah, try installing from the Lion disk you get in the mail. With all this question-mark folder and freezing talk, it just sounds like the hard drive failed. Hopefully it didn't, but trying to install a clean version of Lion on it will be the best way to tell.

 

[amoe]

Sounds good. Question about installing lion. If it comes as a disk, and my MBP has no disk drive. Do I need to buy an external disk drive? or is there another way... I suppose I could always buy one, use it and return it to apple.

I would ask if I could put the Lion installer from the disk onto a USB, but trying to do that with mavericks was part of what got me into this situation. So, I don't think I would want to try that again.

Im still waiting to find out if Lion is coming in the actual mail or my email. Post when I get it. Thank You for helping me.

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I suggest to contact a professional to help you out. Your posts prove that you are not very well versed in this kind of things. Instead of paying randomly without clearly knowing and understanding the issue it would be much more useful to ask an authorised service to help you out.

 

[amoe]

Yah, I know, but then I have to spend money. Today, I took out the bootable usb I made, and did a safe boot and now in my disk utilities my macintosh HD is back. So, thats something. Going to wait for my lion disks, and try that. If that doesn't work then take it to a professional.

 

[CoastalOR]

it originally came with lion. So, I ordered Lion off of the mac store

Im still waiting to find out if Lion is coming in the actual mail or my email.

Going to wait for my lion disks

Ordering Lion off the Mac Store does not send disks. Apple will email a Redemption code for downloading Lion. Go back a read the Overview>What do you receive: section on the order page.
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106/os-x-lion

 

[amoe]

Ok. I opr

Ordering Lion off the Mac Store does not send disks. Apple will email a Redemption code for downloading Lion. Go back a read the Overview>What do you receive: section on the order page.
http://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6106/os-x-lion

Ok. I ordered this 4 days ago, I haven't even received a email yet. Ill check out your link. thanks
[doublepost=1476052750][/doublepost]Ok Apple send me the redemption code in the wrong email account, but I did get it. Here is my question. I can't get to the app store on my mac book pro to redeem and install lion. I can redeem it with my iMac. But not sure how this will help me. I gotta figure out how to use the lion that I purchased with the mac book pro which will only go to the disk utilities page. sorry if this is confusing I'm trying to explain it as best as possible.

 

[CoastalOR]

Here is my question. I can't get to the app store on my mac book pro to redeem and install lion. I can redeem it with my iMac. But not sure how this will help me. I gotta figure out how to use the lion that I purchased with the mac book pro which will only go to the disk utilities page.

You can download the Lion Installer to your iMac, IF your iMac is capable of running Lion. If the iMac is not capable of running Lion then the App Store will not let you download it.
Once Lion is downloaded then the installer will automatically launch, Quit it. Go to the Applications folder and look for "Install OS X Lion", that is the full Lion installer. Use the Lion installer app to create a bootable USB installer.

 

[amoe]

You can download the Lion Installer to your iMac, IF your iMac is capable of running Lion. If the iMac is not capable of running Lion then the App Store will not let you download it.
Once Lion is downloaded then the installer will automatically launch, Quit it. Go to the Applications folder and look for "Install OS X Lion", that is the full Lion installer. Use the Lion installer app to create a bootable USB installer.

sounds good, Ill try this. thanks

 

[amoe]

I got lion to appear on my old mac book pro, but it didn't appear in the app store on my iMac, so Ill make the bootable usb from my old mac book. whew

However, I can't find the lion installer in applications. Its just in my app store under purchased. Wondering if I should download it, plug in a usb, choose download it to the usb and when its almost finished unplug the external drive (USB). Then my old mac book won't download and install lion, but it would be on the usb. I think thats what this article is trying to say

http://www.macworld.com/article/116...otable-lion-install-drive-for-newer-macs.html

which I found reading this article. I was trying to just make the bootable drive, but I can't find the lion installer in applications, so this is where I'm stuck for the moment.
http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/17/make-bootable-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-usb-install-drive/

 

[amoe]

I have the os x lion in my app store under purchases, with the download button available. However, it didn't show up in my applications and I can't get to the InstallESD.dmg, so I can't make a bootable USB. Any idea what to do about this?? I just paid the 20 bucks and it doesn't come with an installer? Also, if I download it, won't that just download to the computer Im using, which I don't want to download it to... or is that what I have to do to get the installer?

 

[CoastalOR]

Download Lion from the App Store (it can be to any Mac computer capable of downloading Lion), let the installer auto launch, then Quit the installer app when it gets to the first question. The "Install OS X Lion" app will be left in the Applications folder.
Plug in a USB thumb drive of at least 8 Gb formatted for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) GUID Partition Map.
Make a bootable Lion USB installer that can be used to boot and install Lion on you problem 2012 MBP.
Plug the newly created bootable Lion USB installer in to the 2012 MBP, start the MBP while holding the option key, select the USB drive to boot from, and answer the installer questions during the installation.

My recommendation is to use the free DiskMaker X to make the USB installer. I think you need the older version 3.0.4. I used DiskMaker X to make a Mountain Lion USB installer and it worked like a charm.
http://diskmakerx.com/whats-this/

 

[amoe]

Download Lion from the App Store (it can be to any Mac computer capable of downloading Lion), let the installer auto launch, then Quit the installer app when it gets to the first question. The "Install OS X Lion" app will be left in the Applications folder.
Plug in a USB thumb drive of at least 8 Gb formatted for Mac OS Extended (Journaled) GUID Partition Map.
Make a bootable Lion USB installer that you can be used to boot and install Lion on you problem 2012 MBP.
Plug the newly created bootable Lion USB installer in to the 2012 MBP, start the MBP while holding the option key, select the USB drive to boot from, and answer the installer questions during the installation.

My recommendation is to use the free DiskMaker X to make the USB installer. I think you need the older version 3.0.4. I used DiskMaker X to make a Mountain Lion USB installer and it worked like a charm.
http://diskmakerx.com/whats-this/

ok, downloading lion. Thanks its starting to make more sense now.

 

[CoastalOR]

See this article for a Mountain Lion USB installer that mentions DiskMaker X. The steps will be the same for Lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

EDIT: Be patient when making the USB installer. It will take about 30 minutes.

 

[amoe]

See this article for a Mountain Lion USB installer that mentions DiskMaker X. The steps will be the same for Lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

EDIT: Be patient when making the USB installer. It will take about 30 minutes.

Making it now with disk maker. My only worry is: my old mbp downloaded the lion installer, but said it couldn't install lion itself. I went ahead and downloaded diskmaker and have it running now...so far so good.

In the mean time, I took my other usb and I partitioned it right this time, and then I downloaded with diskmaker a new copy of mavericks. I threw that into the mbp and it seemed like it was going to work this time. However, in the end it said invalid or something, basically it didn't work.

disk maker actually just finshed ! So I'm going to try this now.
[doublepost=1476144549][/doublepost]Instantly I got this error, "

See this article for a Mountain Lion USB installer that mentions DiskMaker X. The steps will be the same for Lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

EDIT: Be patient when making the USB installer. It will take about 30 minutes.

Instantly I got this error from my mbp after choosing to reboot from the USB.
"There was a problem installing "Mac OS X"

BUmmer..... Im going to try again

Im thinking maybe lion installer didn't fully download because it said my old mbp couldn't run it. Its a late 2011 i think or 2010 and its running 10.9.5. This computer showed lion in my app purchases, said it couldn't use it but still seemed to download the installer, and then I used this computer to make the bootable usb with diskmaker. so not sure where the problem lies.
When I click on the lion installer on my old mbp it says "this version of mac os x is too new to run "install mac os x" from mac os x 10.7" so, I take it that means I cannot make a bootable usb with this computer.

I wonder why my mavericks bootable usb won't work. Im going to make another one with a different usb and see if that changes anything. after this I'm out of options.

 

[amoe]

Sad to say. The lion usb boot did not work. I also redid the mavericks on a different usb and that did not work as well. It said the installation ran into a problem and could not load. or something of that nature. Im at a loss at this point.

 

[amoe]

GOOD NEWS !!! Thank you to everybody who helped me, and no thank you to those of you who didn't believe I could do it (just kidding). I redid the usb boot with mavericks again just to see, I tried to reboot it twice it still didn't work. So, I tried one last time. And BOOM it worked!!!! Happy to say my issues with this mbp for now seem to be fixed. It opened into the regular screen and looks brand spankin new. so happy thank you for not giving up on me.


One last question, I can take the flash drive I booted from out now, right? Im assuming yes. Or do I have to leave the flash drive in now forever? Or should I upgrade to sierra. Any advice on what I should do now? Unless I can just eject the flash drive and from here I'm good.

 

[amoe]

See this article for a Mountain Lion USB installer that mentions DiskMaker X. The steps will be the same for Lion.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/how-to-create-a-bootable-backup-mountain-lion-install-disk/

EDIT: Be patient when making the USB installer. It will take about 30 minutes.

I'm using the mac book pro now. problem with flashing folder and question mark seem to be gone. It seems to work very well, it doesn't freeze every time I do something. Not sure if I can eject the bootable usb now? I can't find anything online, on what to do after rebooting from the usb.
Im worried if I eject it, I will have to redo this whole process again and I don't want that to happen.

 

[CoastalOR]

One last question, I can take the flash drive I booted from out now, right? Im assuming yes. Or do I have to leave the flash drive in now forever? Or should I upgrade to sierra. Any advice on what I should do now? Unless I can just eject the flash drive and from here I'm good.

That is good news!
You can take the flash drive out, it does not need to remain connected.
I would recommend not making too many changes all at once. Let things settle for a bit to make sure everything is ok.
You have to make the decision about Sierra. It is pretty new and could probably use a few more updates. Check out the macOS Sierra (10.12) posts.

 

[amoe]

That is good news!
You can take the flash drive out, it does not need to remain connected.
I would recommend not making too many changes all at once. Let things settle for a bit to make sure everything is ok.
You have to make the decision about Sierra. It is pretty new and could probably use a few more updates. Check out the macOS Sierra (10.12) posts.

I appreciate your responds and help with this!! Thanks again. Im super stoked =)

 

[McRom3]

Unfortunately, the macs with Retina have their downside, and that could be one issue may be causing the not being able to install the OS x, But i did that once, erased the OSX from my MacBook Pro mid-2012.Like completely erased the whole HD, and tried doing an Internet recovery, but didn't want to work, i had bought a Mavericks OSX USB installer from anazom.com, and it worked great after that i upgraded to Yosemite.But i often hear that the Macs with Retinas have problems, but i could be wrong, i know when it comes to wanting to install an SSD on a Mac Retina, you cant, think cuz they require the M.2 SSD.