First thing I would do here is make sure your systems firmware is upto date. Follow this Apple T/N:. You might have something still newer depending on your OS version. • Hint: the last digits (after the last dot) are hexadecimal so you'll need to convert it to decimal to know if your systems version is newer or older than the T/N.

How to format a startup drive for a Mac. Sometimes you want to wipe out all the data that’s on a hard drive or solid-state drive—erase it and start over. You can format the drive. May 09, 2012  Question: Q: Replacing the internal hard drive??? Hello, I'm going to to replacing my internal hard drive (R.I.P.) and I'm looking for advice on the best one to choose. Could my Mac handle a 2TB hard drive? Or should I go for a smaller capacity? SSD = solid state drive. This is a whole new bag of cats for me.😕. Microsoft access for macbook.

Mavericks and newer OS's have firmware updaters within the OS installer. You'll need to get a SATA to USB adapter so you can connect your SSD externally to your system. Here's one unit: for 2.5' drives. With the SSD plugged in to your system you'll need to run Disk Utility to partition the drive with GUID and format it with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition. The next step is to download from the Apps Store the OS installer. Run the installer selecting the SSD drive it will install a fresh OS onto your SSD. Once done you'll want to double check if it's working correctly.

Restart the system and press the Option key so you can select the SSD as the boot up drive. If the system starts up you can then shut down the system and swap over the drives.

Follow this IFIXIT guide:. Yes, the OS installer is placed in your Application folder. You'll want to copy it to your desktop or another folder as the installer in the Application folder will self erase after you run it from there. This gets a bit confusing here as it depends on what you want to do. First make a full backup of your stuff (TimeMachine) On another drive. If you are swapping out your current drive and want to save your stuff you'll want to have both drives connected to your system.

Ultimately, what you get is the familiar layout of Apple's operating system and much less of a learning curve than with what we've seen so far of Windows 8's completely new touch-screen-focused interface. In the tale of two operating systems, Apple's Mountain Lion is a less ambitious endeavor. Download internet explorer on mac. The Mountain Lion release marks the second time Apple has offered an incremental upgrade, rather than releasing a new cat entirely (previously Leopard upgraded to Snow Leopard, for example). Rather than completely rewriting the book as Microsoft is attempting with Windows 8, Apple's latest operating system simply cleans house, clearing clutter, while bringing more cloud and sharing features into the fold -- specifically to make the desktop play nice with iOS devices. Some of the new features come directly from iOS, and many are welcome, but some seem unnecessary.

Then run the Installer to first formatting your new SSD and then install the OS (hint: use a new user account name). At the end it will ask you if you want to migrate your user accounts, Apps and data over. If you want to limit what is transferred either clean things up before hand or limit your folders as you want to move over. I would strongly recommend you also replace the HD cable and place some tape under the cable that rubs against the upper case. Don't make the mistake by insering the new ssd stright out of the box.

OS and disc formatting need to be done first. I wanted to install a new OS into a mac mini and had no previous useable HD. The way I successfully did it was: Connect ssd via sata cable to a Mac. (Ssd icon shows on desktop) Disc Utilty/ Erase ssd then partition ssd and give it a name. Inset flash drive with bootable OS ( icon appears on desktop) Click on OS icon. Disc Utility/ Install OS then select Show all disks Click on new SSD and install. When cooked, remove ssd from Mac and insert into mac mini.

Then boot up.

Photo by Sharon Vaknin/CNET If you need to expand your storage space with an external hard drive and you use both Mac and PC, you'll likely run into a few obstacles. Hard drives advertised as being compatible with Windows and Mac OS may have misled you into thinking you could actually use one hard drive for both computers. You can, but not out of the box. Most external hard drives (HD) are sold in a format called NTFS, which is designed to work with Windows. Macs read and write to a different format, called HFS+. Another format, called FAT32 is compatible with both OS platforms.

Here's a look at how the different HD format types function: FAT32 (File Allocation Table) - Natively read/write FAT32 on Windows and Mac OS X. - Maximum file size: 4GB - Maximum volume size: 2TB NTFS (Windows NT File System) - Natively read/write NTFS on Windows.