formatting a mac (no cd, no recovery partition)

[TwoFace]

I usually dont run into a bunch of mac people (since i live a stones throw away from the microsoft campus), but i had a friend of mine bring her old (2007) mac to me without asking me and is wanting me to "factory reset" her mac for her... she dosnt have the os installation cd and there is no recovery partition on the mac. are there any tools out there that any of you could recommend that may help me in accomplishing this task? kinda stuck right now and navigating os x isnt my forte.

p.s. i suppose its worth mentioning that this is one of the intel core duo models

 

[Markverhyden]

What is the serial number? If it boots, get to the desktop, click on the Apple in the upper left corner> About this Mac. If you do not see the serial number there should be a button, more info or something like that. That should get the serial number.

 

[NviGate Systems]

If it boots and is running at least 10.6.8 and has the App Store, you can sign in with her Apple ID, upgrade to the latest release for free, which will then place a recovery partition on the Mac which you can then use to restore. Better yet once that's done you can create a recovery boot USB using apples tool. I made them with 32GB drives, 1GB went to the recovery tools, the other space I made a new volume and imaged the O's partition to. Complete offline backup. Works well if you install your apps and office etc.

 

[frase]

Yosemite is now available for free from Apple store. If you can access via another mac and download from there
http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/16/os-x-yosemite-available-free-download/
http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/16/os-x-yosemite-available-free-download/
Heres how to make a bootable USB for mac

 

[NviGate Systems]

The only thing I will mention here is that *technically* you would be breaking Apple's EULA as the OS is meant to be downloaded and licensed by means of Apple ID on the machine it is destined to be installed on. Technicalities yes, but helps keep the shop in the clear. Oh, and make sure you use her Apple ID, the OS needs to be registered and "purchased", that way if you ever need to use the Recovery Partition and it asks for you to sign in, it's won't give troubles.

Gotta keeps thing legit.

 

[TwoFace]

Thanks for the help guys, the app store kept crashing and the Mac wouldn't let me download anything. I just ended up buying the snow leopard disk and putting nor ram in the computer (only had 1 gig) now it's running el capitan and is slightly faster haha

 

[carmen617]

An SSD would make all the difference in the world on that system. Ask her if she's open to spending a bit more money - it's definitely worth it if she is.