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iMac Intel 27" EMC 2309 (Late 2009, Core 2 Duo 3.06 or 3.33 GHz) ID iMac10,1, EMC 2374 (Late 2009, Core i5 2.66 GHz or Core i7 2.8 GHz) ID iMac11,1

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after replace of hard drive, what then?

now i have made the hard drive replacement, so now i have a blank hard drive and can't boot on anything, if i hold the cmd key down, nothing happends and it goes to flashing questionmark folder, if i hold the c key down nothing happends either. actually only if i hold the option key down something else happends, the mouse pointer apeers and then nothing more happends. i'm totally stuck.

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You need to have another drive which is bootable and has the OS installer to prep your new HD.

Do you have the grey recovery CD or DVD that came with the system? That would do it. Or if you have access to another mac you could prep up a USB thumb drive and they install the OS installer on to it to carrier over to your system.

The other choice here is to setup your system in target mode then connecting your mac to the other mac like a HD. Then you can use the other mac to prep up your internal HD. This is the way we mostly do it with this series of iMac via a FireWire cable. Take a look at this Apple TN on how to do Target Mode: Startup key combinations for Intel-based Macs

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2 Comments:

Would this be needed if I was to clone the hard drive onto the blank hard drive?

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In years past cloning was a useful method. Today, it's not as good. The problem is Apple has altered the low level format a few times so if you're not careful you can encounter issues using the older structure which can create reliability & performance issues . Besides the risk of bringing over structure issues from the older drive.

Given the ease of getting the needed OS and the speed to install it and migrate the apps & data over using the installer or migration assistant app I find it just easier to do it right than half-assed.

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