MAC OS Disk

[generalj]

I am not real familiar with MAC OS. I have used them and played around with it and I use linux and unix a lot.

I was wondering how the OS disk work. I mean do these mac systems come with full retail type versions of the MAC OS or is some short of recover disk like dell use for windows?

Just wondering what type of things I would need to have to work on these systems.

I have a call from a customer who has an older mac in a kindergarten not working and if its a OS problem how would I boot it up to work on it if it cant be booted? I know how to get into safe mode with mac but can I also use some sort of OS disk to repair from?

I think I am going to get my hands on a mac desktop to have around my office to mess with and get more familiar with it.

[14049752]

Mac machines come with Discs specifically for the model of computer that they came with. So, like a Macbook comes with restore software for a Macbook. You can't use that disc to install to a Mac Pro.
The retail copy of OS X will install on any supported machine.

If a system doesn't start up, you can boot from a firewire or usb drive that has OS X loaded on it. (hold down Option during boot up to get to a boot menu) From there, you can run disk utility, or whatever other diag tools you want on the internal drive. Also, if it's just a software problem, you can typically reinstall right over top of a bad OS X install, and all of the user data and apps will still be there and work.
Another tip is, if you want to back up a customer's data before installing, you can use Target Disk Mode by holding down "T" when the system boots. That'll basically turn the machine into a big external firewire hard drive, that you can connect the firewire port to another working machine to access the data.

As for hardware diagnostics, I think every system came with a basic Apple Hardware Test disc, though I might be wrong. Beyond that, each type of machine has a specific AHT or Apple Service Diagnostic that it'll run. You can also run TechTools Pro on almost any system if you don't have access to ASDs or don't want to carry around a billion different discs.

[generalj]

Thanks a lot good info for me.