How to restore your mac to factory settings?

OK...im trying restore my mac to factory settings, but thats ALL I want to do.... I dont it want it to look like I got a new Mac with all Welcome music and all of that, because I dont have my stuff backed up or anything. Is there a way I can restore my mac to factory settings but keep everything else like (programs, music, photos, documents, etc.)?

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asked Jul 18 '10 at 11:33

iGirlyyyy
1.9k●26●50●57

6 Answers:

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4	Yes, put that stuff on an external drive, then use the discs that came with it to reinstall the OS, then put those applications back on. answered Jul 18 '10 at 11:50 AppleHack23 (suspended)

I dont have an external drive... thats the problem. All I want to do is restore the settings, not the whole computer....

answered Jul 18 '10 at 11:56

iGirlyyyy
1.9k●26●50●57

Then buy a external hard drive for like $100.

(Jul 18 '10 at 12:24) TheTechDude

No, make another partition on your hard drive.

(Jul 18 '10 at 12:26) AppleHack23

How would I do that?

(Jul 18 '10 at 12:33) iGirlyyyy

I used to know. Google it. lol

(Jul 18 '10 at 15:24) Madison Tries

0	What about upgrading your OS?? Can you just put in your OS disk and just upgrade it your OS instead of restoring it to factory settings.... I think the settings will be restored and not your whole computer... but im not 100% on that... answered Jul 18 '10 at 12:40 blazenn 61●1●3

0	Make a partition on your harddrive by going into disk utility. Then go to partition and make the partition. After that put all the stuff that you want to save on the partition and then reinstall OS X. answered Jul 18 '10 at 14:13 FilipinoPower 13.0k●135●219●313

0	You could always make another user, and after that, you could erase your old user. That's the closest that I've come to restoring a Mac to factory settings without using an external hard drive or the install disks. answered Jul 18 '10 at 15:21 catchatyou 20.7k●89●165●383

0	If you have the original install disks, pop those in and follow the onscreen instructions. That should do it. answered Jul 18 '10 at 19:10 alexleiphart 1.9k●26●34●55

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