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I have a 2009 MacBook Pro 15". I woke up one day, but my Mac didn't. I was getting nothing but a blank screen so I tried to shut it down a reboot it. Now it won't boot up.. I get the white screen as it tried to boot and th processing bar starts to fill up, but it never finishes. I have been told it's the hard drive.

I am ready to install a new SSD Samsung evo 850 drive, but how am I supposed to install the OS? Design is no longer my main career and I don't need a lot of the programs and extra stuff I once had. I also have most everything saved in the cloud so I would rather start fresh and not transfer the old OS over.

What are my options?

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You can run the Apple Hardware Test to confirm first. Basically boot your Mac up and hold the D key and you will be prompted for some instructions.

To reinstall your Mac with new SSD you can try the Internet Recovery. For this one you boot up your Mac holding down the Command + R keys. It will take a very long time to complete depending on the speed of your Internet connection. According to Apple this only works if you had OS X Lion or later. I have also had mixed success with the Internet Recovery.

Second option to reinstall your Mac is to get a friend with a Mac to create a bootable USB for you. I won't go into the details on how to create a bootable Mac USB because there is tons of questions like this on Stack Exchange already. This would be my preferred way of reinstalling.

Creating bootable USB Links

How do I make a bootable USB flash drive a Mac?

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  • Thank you. I do have an old G3 tower. I'll have to check on which OS is installed. I think it's Lion. I'll read up on the bootable USB drive methods. – Sunshine Huckleberry Mar 29 '16 at 2:14
  • I would put the new SSD in the Mac Book Pro and give the Internet Recovery a try. Worst thing that can happen is it won't work. Bootable USB is not very difficult either if you have a friend with Yosemite or El Capitan; with Mavericks or below, its a bit more effort. – tyelford Mar 29 '16 at 22:14

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