Hasta La Gadget!

I had to clean my old Macbook Pro 15 and Macbook Pro 15 Retina laptops before I get rid of them, so I wanted to be able to install a new, clean, version of Mac OS X Mavericks and ensure that none of my apps and data is left on the computer. I don’t have a CD with Mac OS X Mavericks v10.9.2 (nor an optical drive for that matter). Since Mac OS X v10.9.2 is a free update, procuring it pretty easy, but Mac OS X does not have an easy mechanism that lets one build a USB bootable version for a clean install. Here’s a way to do just that in a few steps

Prerequisites

your mac needs to run on Mavericks for this to work

You will need

• an access to the Mac App Store (an Apple user account)
• have Mavericks v10.9.2 free update installed on your mac (the script will rely on this and won’t work on Mac OS 10.6. Update to Mavericks before taking the steps below.
• a USB drive with 8GB of space

Step 1: prepare a target USB drive

Insert a USB drive and change its volume name if needed

Prepare a USB disk of 8GB+ to receive the Mac OS Mavericks installation (the compressed download from the App Store is 5.3GB, so it will expand somewhat on our disk). Insert it into a USB slot and launch the Disk Utility. Erase all data and rename the drive to a specific name: the script that we will use later will erase the data again, but it does need the correct name for the USB drive.

Format the drive using “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” and use a new name. I’m using mavericksinstall. If you already have a volume using that name, pick another name and change the script below accordingly). 

Before doing this, verify that there is nothing that you need on this USB drive – data from it will be lost.

Step 2: retrieve the Mavericks.app file from the Mac Store

Download Mavericks from the Mac Store. You have to do this since the Mavericks.app installation file was deleted at the end of the previous upgrade. The Mac Store will save it as a file on disk, and we will use a script to quickly access it.

As you download it, the Mac Store will point out that you are already running on Mavericks, but click on Continue and it will download the file.

Step 3: install Mavericks as a bootable USB drive with a script

Open a Terminal Window and copy or type the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/mavericksinstall –applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app –nointeraction

This command will basically delete data on the USB drive, and it will make it bootable using the update file downloaded from the store, and named Mavericks.app. It will also install a recovery partition on the USB drive, so don’t be surprised to see it later. Thanks to forum user tywebb13 for sharing this command.

The process will take a while, and you will see something like:

Erasing Disk: 0%… 10%… 20%… 100%…
Copying installer files to disk…
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable…
Copying boot files…
Copy complete.
Done.

Once the USB installer is ready, the Mavericks install will appear

Step 4: Reboot on the USB drive and start the clean install

Method 1

Go into the settings, and select the boot drive. Pick the newly built USB drive with the installer for Mavericks and restart.

Method 2

You can also reboot your Mac and hold the “Options” key to enter the boot menu. Pick the USB drive to boot on it and start a clean Mac OS X Mavericks installation.

Step 5: All done, happy clean installation!

Hopefully, the installation should be easy and by now, you have a clean Mac with Mac OS X Mavericks. Enjoy!

If you know an easier way to do this, let me know and I’ll be happy to give it a try. If you can’t make it work, double-check that the USB drive volume name matches the name in the script.

How To Install Mac OS X Mavericks From A USB Drive , original content from Ubergizmo, Filed in Apple, os x, os x mavericks,

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For Mac and iOS users, an alternative to Skype would be FaceTime, which allows Mac and iOS users to video call one another through their phone numbers or Apple IDs. Unfortunately for Mac, FaceTime is still limited to video calls, which iOS users have the option of placing audio-only FaceTime calls. Well the good news is that Mac users can look forward to the audio-only option in a future OS X Mavericks update, thanks to the latest beta OS X 10.9.2 that is currently being seeded to developers.

While Apple did not make any formal announcement regarding this feature, it was discovered by developers that FaceTime audio had been integrated into the likes of the Messages and FaceTime app, hinting that the feature could be officially introduced in a future OS X Mavericks update. Similar to Skype, users will be able to seamlessly switch between audio and video thanks to a new button, as well as mute the chat.

According to developers who have tried the feature, apparently FaceTime audio on iOS devices offers a better-sounding call, and that it takes a while to stabilize. Presumably these are some of the kinks Apple is working on ironing out which hopefully will be resolved once the feature goes live for the public.

FaceTime Audio Calls Arrive In Latest OS X Mavericks Beta original content from Ubergizmo.

When Apple seeds new versions of OS X to its employees, then you know a public release is just around the corner. In this case, reports are coming in that Apple has recently seeded OS X 10.9.1 to AppleCare employees, which means you should prepare yourself for the update to come any time now.  (more…)

OS X 10.9.1 Seeded Out To AppleCare Staff; Public Release Imminent original content from Ubergizmo.