Going back to Mac OS X after installing Ubuntu So a while ago I made the step of going completely over to Ubuntu on my laptop and I completely removed Mac OS X and just had Ubuntu going. 

Now I want to re-install Mac OS X - I remember having snow leopard on my machine previously, but do not hold the install disks any longer. My CD drive has also broken, so I cannot use a disk anymore.

I have seen on eBay and other websites that you can buy a USB stick with OS X Lion 10.7 booted on and then boot this from the USB. 

Is this possible, without the need of the first ever install disks?
The original Apple "OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive" is a full upgrade, so you don't need your old DVD installer disks.

Depending on your Mac and your update history you may even start to Internet recovery mode (hold altcmdR while booting until you see a spinning globe in the center of the screen) and install Lion then. You had to install a special Firmware update before installing Ubuntu to do that though.