H,
I just did #3 yesterday, for selling, I did the erase, and I can't remember now how I got the OS on it. I think they asked me to be on internet.. can't remember now! I think they may just offer the OS online.. then set up assistant starts, and I quit to leave it in that state for the buyer.
You are good to go.
Now for me in crisis: I do have that file on Clone, but I think that sounds kind of hairy using SD restore, if you are not familiar with doing that in crisis. I think finish set up assistant, put same user name as suggested, and then use migration tool, migrate from SD or TM is easier and more intuitive at that crises point...
Once again, you need to look at my two posts above:
1. $40498 - That is a blow-by-blow description of what I did the other day, and that addresses, in one respect, the "fear" you are expressing above.
2. #40545 - The one right above yours. That also addresses the "fear" you express.
I'll say it again: the quickest, easiest, and fastest way to get things going again is to do a restore from a SD/CCC backup/clone. That will not install a "fresh", pristine version of the most current Mac OS you have on your machine. But, it is seem less, easy to follow, and is proven to work (trust me, I have recovered that way a number of times, as have others, with either SD or CCC).
The primary reason I did it differently the other day (but again, doing
EVERYTHING from the SD backup/clone), is because something got "hosed" on my MacBook Air when I was doing some testing last week directly related to this discussion, and I just decided to Erase and Format the Air's SSD, and install a pristine, fresh, and "virgin" OS 10.11.4, then used Migration Assistant
on the clone to get all my "stuff" from the SD backup/clone.
When OS 10.12 comes out in the fall, after insuring that my 5 critical apps will work with the new OS, I will go with #3 that I described in my post #40545, but
FROM the SD backup/clone. That is, I will of course first insure to have downloaded the file "Install OS X "whatever the name is for OS 10.12"", and again, do everything from the clone. I did
EXACTLY that when I "moved"/upgraded for OS 10.10.5, the last one for Yosemite, to OS 10.11.1, the first "updated" version of OS 10.11, El Capitan (I previously explained why I first went to OS 10.11.1, instead of OS 10.11).
So, is that clear now?
