Mac OS® X Snow Leopard™ for Dummies®

Appendix A. Installing or Reinstalling Mac OS X Snow Leopard (Only If You Have To)

If Mac OS X Snow Leopard came preinstalled on a new Mac, you'll probably never need this appendix.

Warning

If you're thinking about reinstalling because something has gone wrong with your Mac, know that a Mac OS X reinstallation should be your last resort. Be sure you've tried all the stuff in Chapter 19 before even thinking about reinstalling OS X. If nothing else fixes your Mac, reinstalling Mac OS X could well be your final option before invasive surgery (that is, trundling your Mac to a repair shop). You don't want to reinstall OS X if something easier can correct the problem. So if you have to do a reinstallation, realize that this is more or less your last hope (this side of the dreaded screwdriver, anyway).

In this appendix, you discover all you need to know to install or reinstall OS X, if you should have to. I say reinstalling is a hassle because although you won't lose the contents of your Home folder, applications you've installed, or the stuff in your Documents folder (unless something goes horribly wrong or you have to reformat your hard drive), you might lose the settings for some System Preferences, which means you'll have to reconfigure those panes manually after you reinstall. And you might have to reinstall drivers for third-party hardware such as mice, keyboards, printers, tablets, and the like.

It's not the end of the world, but it's almost always inconvenient. That said, reinstalling ...