I didn't think the clean disk scenario was supported on the upgrades because they were selling boxed full versions at the time at considerably more cost. Obviously it is a bit like the Microsoft Windows 7 upgrade disk deal which was also a rather pleasant scenario to be in after the Ultimate extras debacle. In the former case Apple don't really care about serials for operating systems, their money is on the hardware and their user's dutifully roll up at the checkout to buy upgrades on a reasonably regular basis although I don't think I will be among them this time. You can get into those old style Mac minis with something like a putty knife but I do understand what you mean. Imagine as I did the process of getting into those for a repair job on my iMac which is a major deal indeed even compared to Mac mini. Regards. Tristram Llewellyn Technical Support Sight and Sound Technology -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of George Bell Sent: 20 May 2011 09:49 To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [access-uk] Clean install on a MAC, was: Updating a Mac Hi Tristram, I'm a shade baffled here when you say it was an Upgrade. I got a second hand MAC Mini from my son with no disks or such like. I wanted to start with a completely clean system on it, and so not being able to get Snow Leopard in Northampton, I toddled down to the Milton Keynes Apple store. There I purchased Snow Leopard OS X on DVD for £26.00 including VAT. On return, I put the DVD into the MAC Mini when it was running initially, but was unable at that time to figure out how to perform a fresh install. Over to Google. I found out that I should re-start the MAC with the OS X DVD in the drive and immediately after I heard the chime, how down the letter C. When the apple appear on the screen, take my finger off the C key. Now I was booting from the DVD. To erase the hard drive I had to select "Utilities" from the very top line, and then "Disk Utilities". Here I was given four choices ranging from "Quick Erase", up to a 35 pass read/write erase which said it was to US Military Erase Standards. Being completely, totally and utterly naive to Apples, I decided to go for the full 109 yards, and 109 yards tuned out to be! 1 Day and 1 Hour to erase a 135 GB hard drive. Once that was complete next day, I was able to install a completely clean Snow Leopard in around an hour, after which (and not unlike Windows) it went off and did a massive update which took another hour or more. One thing which did surprise me was that the DVD did not come with any Code to enter. It just installed. Moreover, it even joined our Windows Server 2003 network way easier than the PCs did. My only two remaining issues are, 1) The bluetooth mini keyboard and the mouse appear to have remembered the previous user's name, so I will have to investigate that one in due course, and, 2) Being an older MAC Mini, I need to go visit an approved MAC repairer to get the memory increased from 1 GB. It's definitely not a job for the faint of heart. George Bell. -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Tristram Llewellyn Sent: 20 May 2011 09:20 To: 'access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: [access-uk] Re: Updating a Mac was, Apps for the Mac, was New voices for the next apple operating system The £30 price tag was a bit of a surprise to most long term user's and that was only for the upgrade version and would not install on a clean disk. The upgrade from Panther to Leopard was nowhere as cheap whatever way you looked at it. The price was somewhat in recognition that there were few visible user oriented features and Apple were willing to massively discount against hardware. I wouldn't necessarily bank on Lion being quite as cheap. Regards. Tristram Llewellyn Technical Support Sight and Sound Technology ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. 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