Initializing a hard disk
The hard disk inside your computer was initialized (formatted for use) at the
factory, so you shouldn’t need to initialize it. You need to initialize a hard disk
only if
myou purchase a hard disk that has not been initialized at the factory
myour hard disk is damaged
If a hard disk needs to be initialized, the disk’s icon does not appear on the
desktop when you start up the computer using another disk.

Starting up from a CD-ROM disc

To i ni ti a lize, test, or repair a hard disk, or to install system software on a hard
disk, you need to start up your computer from another disk. If your computer
has a CD-ROM drive, you can start up your computer using the CD-ROM
disc containing system software that came with the computer.
To s ta rt up the computer using the CD-ROM disc, follow these steps:
1Turn your computer on.
2Press the Open/Close button on your CD-ROM drive, and quickly insert the CD-ROM disc
containing system software into the drive.
3Immediately press and hold down the Shift, Option,
x
, and Delete keys on your keyboard
at the same time.
Continue to hold down the keys until you see the “Welcome to Macintosh”
message.
WARNING
Initializing a disk erases a ny information that may be on it.
Before you initialize a damaged disk, try to repair it as described in
“Repairing a Damaged Disk” later in this chapter.
58 Chapter 5