Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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I have an imac, like this one
Basically its gone a bit slow and there is stuff everywhere so I want to completely start again and just wipe it and reinstall the OS again. Only problem is the CD drive doesn't work, is there a way of doing it without the CD?
I'm not too clued up on computers at all so it needs to be pretty simple if its possible.. maybe worth upgrading the OS at the same time if its downloadable?
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adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
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why doesn't the CD drive work? 
How much space do you have left on your HD?
OSX shouldn't slow down unless you have hardly any space left.
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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If you want Snow Leopard you could download a retail copy (not sure how legit that is) and put it on a 8GB USB stick; likewise if you've got access to another Mac you can do the same with the retail disc you got.
Alternatively you can purchase/download Lion or purchase it on USB - personally i wouldn't bother until they update Lion and fix some of the issues.
Edit - Could also just get a replacement drive (eBay it) or buy an external.
[Edited on 19-09-2011 by Dom]
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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No idea to be honest, it just doesn't read CD's. Been like that for ages, should have sorted it but never got round to it.
There is plenty of room but I just want a clear out and to start a fresh.
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Sam
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Location: West Midlands
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I think the only way would be to:
- create a new partition on your hard drive
- download a DMG file of OS X <whatever version you've got>
- extract said DMG on to that partition
- set that partition to be the bootable one in the disk util thing (sorry can't remember what it's called)
- reboot and in the OS X setup format the partition where your existing OS X is installed to, and then install on to that
I'm sure there's a better way of doing this TBH but it's the only way I've done it on a *cough* PC *cough*.
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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Right, someone help me please.
I am tying to remote install off my mums windows laptop.
Doing it with the remote install program I have the same problem as this fella...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcnuwqHzaDg
But I have managed to get my mums CD drive to appear in devices on the mac, so I have been able to load the disc and start the install.. but it says restart the comp and the install will start. But on restart it just boots the computer up as normal and doesn't start to install.
So basically I have 2 options which seem like they should work but neither are... I have turned the WEP key off as I found this can be an issue but I'm stumped otherwise!!
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willay
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Organiser: South East, National Events
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
Location: Roydon, Essex
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Format and reinstall windows
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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If this is your idea of a joke William then its not funny, I'm at the end of my tether here!
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Gary
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Registered: 22nd Nov 06
Location: West Yorkshire
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SHouldve bought a PC tbh 
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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Seems like you're fannying around for the sake of it.
Easiest option, grab one of THESE! Otherwise hunt for a Sony AD-5690H which is apparently the optical drive used in the 2011 iMac's.
Edit - Or as previously mentioned, download/or make an image of (can use Transmac on Windows if you haven't got access to another Mac) a copy of the Snow Leopard DVD and bung it on a 8GB+ USB stick.
[Edited on 22-09-2011 by Dom]
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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Yeah, it seemed straight forward to be fair but it's being a pain.
Cheers dom, I might try and copy the install cd first. If that doesn't work will just buy a cd drive!
Thanks
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Joe
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Registered: 20th Jun 04
Location: Hesketh Bank, Lancashire
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Bought a cheapo drive, all as new now. Seems alot better now.
Cheers Dom 
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adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
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Was about to say, sounds like hard drive failure.
That's the only way OSX would slow down unless you'd run out of space.
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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quote:
Originally posted by adiohead
Was about to say, sounds like hard drive failure.
That's the only way OSX would slow down unless you'd run out of space.
If it was a HDD failure then it'd usually show itself in other ways, slowing of read/write access isn't usually (i say usually because you're most likely to see file/disk corruption or audible/mechanical failure first) one of them. Secondly, HFS/+ suffers from fragmentation like any other OS, it just that OSX tries to deal with it in the background (Windows now does the same with idle-defrag). And Apple even states to use a defrag tool (iDefrag etc) or reinstall OSX as solutions for 'slowness' (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375?viewlocale=en_US).
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adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
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quote:
Originally posted by Dom
quote:
Originally posted by adiohead
Was about to say, sounds like hard drive failure.
That's the only way OSX would slow down unless you'd run out of space.
If it was a HDD failure then it'd usually show itself in other ways, slowing of read/write access isn't usually (i say usually because you're most likely to see file/disk corruption or audible/mechanical failure first) one of them. Secondly, HFS/+ suffers from fragmentation like any other OS, it just that OSX tries to deal with it in the background (Windows now does the same with idle-defrag). And Apple even states to use a defrag tool (iDefrag etc) or reinstall OSX as solutions for 'slowness' (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1375?viewlocale=en_US).
nah, I've never had OSX slow down except when I only had HD failure, and I've used it since it came out. Windows on the other hand....
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