Thread March 21, 2015 editorial: comments

Drive-Reformatting: A Survival Story

I was in software purgatory. My computer, a Mac Pro from 2009, had been acting quirky for a long time. Programs crashed more than they should, and there was a general instability that got me thinking that maybe it was time to start with a clean slate — in other words, reformat the hard drive.

Because I was (and still am) in the middle of an enormous mixing project, I was hesitant to take such a radical step. I couldn’t afford extended downtime. But after resisting the idea for a while, I finally realized that I was spending so much time restarting after crashes and troubleshooting strange software anomalies, that it was time to bite the bullet and start afresh.

After some research I discovered that Apple's OS X includes a "Recovery Mode," which makes it possible to first erase a drive and then download the latest OS X and install it. Although I was not thrilled at the prospect of all the software I'd have to reinstall after I got the new system going, I decided it was time. I made sure I had a backup of the drive in case I needed any files from it, and I rolled up my sleeves and got started.

All I can say is, it's lucky that I have a lot of experience with Mac troubleshooting, because things started going wrong right from the start. According to Apple, restarting and holding down the Command and R keys would initiate Recovery mode. I tried it once, and when the computer restarted, I was back at my familiar home screen. I tried it about three more times, all with the same result, and was starting to think I was at a dead end.

Then it occurred to me that maybe I should try plugging the keyboard into one of the built in USB ports on the computer, rather than the hub it was in, and voila, the Recovery Mode screen appeared after I restarted again. (No mention of this in the online instructions, of course).

I then erased the drive, after which Recovery Mode was supposed to let me reinstall the system software, but instead, I got an error message telling me that the system could not be installed. Yikes. Now what? I looked online, and found a bunch of articles about how to create a bootable installer for OS X Yosemite, a somewhat convoluted process that required, among other things, putting in text strings in the Terminal, OS X's command line interface.

Thankfully, I was able to create it successfully, and I installed the system. It was at that point that I realized that I'd forgotten to de-authorize some of my plug-ins, which meant I might have lost installs for them. As it turned out, I didn't because the installs were pegged to my computer ID, which didn't change even though I reformatted. Whew.

It all turned out ok, but the whole thing, including the reinstalling of all my various applications and plug-ins, took the better part of the day, and I still don't have everything restored. But Pro Tools is working, as are my plug-ins, so I'm happy. And yes, my computer is behaving a lot better.

So, if you're thinking of reformatting your computer, proceed carefully, make sure you have all the files and installers you'll need before you reformat, and be ready for anything.

Have a great week.

Mike Levine

U.S. Editor, Audiofanzine