I bought an old iMac 2009 from a buddy. It didn’t have an OS installed on it, so I fuigured I would just use one off line. That’s where my first mistake was, and installed clover on the iMac and it would boot properly. Then I read that I could just gparted and reformat the drive and everything would be good to go. But now all I get is the recovery disk, no MacintoshHD folder, can’t get anything to come up but the do not sign on boot and when I hold down my control key all it will show is the recovery disk. If anyone has any idea on how I can at the least get OS X utilities back up or reinstall it. Thank you so much.
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I need help, anyone please.
- Thread starter morpheusphd72
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If you have another Mac available, I'd start here:
http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/
You can follow his directions to build a bootable USB installer.
The directions work fine, I just followed them on a 2009 iMac. Went smooth.
http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/
You can follow his directions to build a bootable USB installer.
The directions work fine, I just followed them on a 2009 iMac. Went smooth.
I don't believe the 2009 can do "internet recovery".
That means you have to "install your OS locally" -- from a source you have "on hand".
The best way to do this is with a USB flash drive installer.
They can be easily made on another Mac.
But -- you have to have "another Mac" on which to make one.
I recall seeing a way to do this using only a PC, but it was long and complicated.
I don't touch Windows so I can't help with that.
If you come up against a wall, there is "another way":
Go to ebay.
There are sellers there who will sell you a USB flashdrive with the OS installer of your choice already installed on it.
Will cost about $20.
That means you have to "install your OS locally" -- from a source you have "on hand".
The best way to do this is with a USB flash drive installer.
They can be easily made on another Mac.
But -- you have to have "another Mac" on which to make one.
I recall seeing a way to do this using only a PC, but it was long and complicated.
I don't touch Windows so I can't help with that.
If you come up against a wall, there is "another way":
Go to ebay.
There are sellers there who will sell you a USB flashdrive with the OS installer of your choice already installed on it.
Will cost about $20.
If it came down to having to have buy an installer, I’m always skeptical of eBay for that stuff.
If you sent a flash drive and enough stamps or money for return postage, I’d put an installer for Sierra or High Sierra or El Capitan on there for you. Personally, I’d go High Sierra. I just did it on mine, and works great.
If you sent a flash drive and enough stamps or money for return postage, I’d put an installer for Sierra or High Sierra or El Capitan on there for you. Personally, I’d go High Sierra. I just did it on mine, and works great.
