Reinstall from CLONE?

[sharon22]

How do I reinstall Mavericks from an EXTERNAL hard drive with a Mavericks installer on it?

I do *not* want to do a clean install -- because I don't want to lose all my files, preferences, applications, etc.

Background:

When my mid-2010 i5 iMac was running perfectly, I CLONED it to an external drive, and even put a Mavericks installer on that clone!

I plan to hook up the clone to my iMac via a firewire cable, and boot from the Clone.

I just need to know exactly what to do, exactly what to select, etc., to reinstall Mavericks without doing a clean install.

Thank you!

p.s. I used to know ALL this stuff by heart -- I used to even answer other peoples questions just like this. But something went haywire with my brain and I cannot remember jack s**t anymore hahahaha

 

[jbarley]

p.s. I used to know ALL this stuff by heart -- I used to even answer other peoples questions just like this. But something went haywire with my brain and I cannot remember jack s**t anymore hahahaha

I think they call that "the twilight years", I myself at 80yr can feel your pain.

 

[CoastalOR]

How do I reinstall Mavericks from an EXTERNAL hard drive with a Mavericks installer on it?
I do *not* want to do a clean install -- because I don't want to lose all my files, preferences, applications, etc.
Background:
When my mid-2010 i5 iMac was running perfectly, I CLONED it to an external drive, and even put a Mavericks installer on that clone!
I plan to hook up the clone to my iMac via a firewire cable, and boot from the Clone.
I just need to know exactly what to do, exactly what to select, etc., to reinstall Mavericks without doing a clean install.

I'm assuming your iMac is currently running Mavericks. Make sure you have a recent backup of your current iMac, just in case there is a problem.

I recommend:
Connect your external drive to your iMac.
Copy the "Install OS X Mavericks" app from your clone to the Applications folder of your iMac.
Disconnect the external clone drive.
Launch the "Install OS X Mavericks" app in the Applications folder on the iMac.

This method will install a fresh copy of Mavericks on the iMac without losing your data and it does not require you to select which disk to install Mavericks on when running the install app from the clone. The installer app will automatically be deleted from the Applications folder on the iMac after it completes the install.

Here is a helpful link for a reference of the install process:
http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-mavericks-what-you-need-to-know.html

 

[BrianBaughn]

To clarify...is this the situation?: You had a nicely working Mavericks install and at that time you cloned it to an external drive. You have since added files and apps and changes preferences but something is making you think you need to reinstall Mavericks and you'd like to go back to the condition it was in at the point of the clone and yet not lose the files, apps and preferences added since the clone.

 

[JohnDS]

CoastalOR's procedure is correct. But before doing that, while booted from the external, open Disk Utility and run Repair Disk on the internal drive. Run it twice, once while the top line is highlighted under "internal" on the top left (which should show the brand of your drive) and once while the next line down is highlighted (probably listed a "Macintosh HD").

Once that is done and presuming that Disk Utility does not show any errors that it has not repaired, follow CoastalOR's instructions.

 

[sharon22]

CoastalOR I *LOVE* your username! Reminds me of the Oregon Coast! Okay, so I read your suggestion about first transferring the Mavericks installer to my iMac..... um.... can I NOT do that?!? The reason is -- my iMac is totally glitchy (like me) and I fear that if I run the installer from the iMac, it would say "Time Remaining: 6 Weeks." However, if I run the installer from my externally connected CLONE, it would take the normal amount of time (ie. 1 to 3 hours).

1.) I'm wondering why you suggested moving the installer to my iMac.
2.) I'm worried that you suggested it because by running the installer from my CLONE, I could accidentally erase my iMac, whereas if I move the installer to my iMac and run it from there, it won't delete everything.

Your thoughts, please?

 

[JohnDS]

Yes. You can install from the clone by selecting the internal hard drive as the destination.

It sounds like you may have some major problems that re-installing the operating system won't fix. Did you try my suggestion of running repair disk? Was it successful?

It may very well be that repairing the disk is all you need and re-installing the operating system would be redundant.

 

[CoastalOR]

Okay, so I read your suggestion about first transferring the Mavericks installer to my iMac..... um.... can I NOT do that?!? The reason is -- my iMac is totally glitchy (like me) and I fear that if I run the installer from the iMac, it would say "Time Remaining: 6 Weeks." However, if I run the installer from my externally connected CLONE, it would take the normal amount of time (ie. 1 to 3 hours).
1.) I'm wondering why you suggested moving the installer to my iMac.
2.) I'm worried that you suggested it because by running the installer from my CLONE, I could accidentally erase my iMac, whereas if I move the installer to my iMac and run it from there, it won't delete everything.
Your thoughts, please?

I didn't know you were having such problems running your iMac, if I did, I would not have made my suggestion. I can understand why you would not want run the installer from your iMac currently.

My previous post listed some reasons for my suggestion which I will not repeat. In a nutshell I was trying minimize opportunities for confusion during the install. I was not worried about running the installer deleting your data if it runs normally and no problems are encountered with your iMac drive. Apple always recommends doing a backup before performing a OS install, but I'm not sure if that is an option for you at this time.
The link I posted will be a good reference for installing Mavericks, especially about selecting the drive to install it on.

CAUTION: As previously stated, the installer app normally deletes itself after installation when run from the internal drive. I'm not sure about if it is run from an external clone for install on another drive. I would recommend copying the Mavericks install app before running it, just in case the installer app is deleted after using it.

As JohnDS said, there may be more going on than a OS reinstall will fix. I also recommend checking the iMac's internal drive before proceeding. You could also run Disk Utility from the clone while booted on the clone.