An Apple iMac Restore Without a Disc

All Apple iMac computers are capable of running one or more versions of the Mac OS X operating system. All iMac computers also have a disc drive included with the computer. New iMac computers are distributed with restoration discs in case you need to reinstall the operating system. If your iMac's disc drive is not functioning properly, you need a method of restoring the computer without using the disc directly in the computer.

Things You'll Need

• USB storage device of eight gigabytes or larger

Instructions

1. Insert the iMac restore disc into the disc drive of another Macintosh computer.

2. Connect a USB storage device, such as a flash drive or an external hard drive, to the same Macintosh computer.

3. Open the Disk Utility program located in the Utilities folder.

4. Click the external hard drive in the left column of the window.

5. Click the "Restore" tab.

6. Drag the iMac restore disc from the left column of the window to the "Source" box.

7. Drag the USB storage device from the left column of the window to the "Destination" box, then click "Restore." This erases all data from the USB storage device.

8. Disconnect the USB storage device when the copy process is finished.

9. Connect the USB storage device to the iMac, then power it on.

10. Press and hold the "Option" key immediately after the start-up chime sounds.

11. Click the USB storage device, then follow the on-screen prompts to proceed with the iMac restoration.

Tips & Warnings

• These steps require an Intel-based iMac. Replace the USB storage device with a FireWire storage device to perform these steps on a PowerPC-based iMac.

• This process removes any existing data from the USB storage device. Back up important data before proceeding.