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talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,726
332
Oregon
While I've made a USB Key installer for Lion, I'm not sure if I'll bother for Mountain Lion. Once you have downloaded the installer, just move it out of Applications. Then when you run it it won't delete itself! I basically copied the single download two my three other Lion systems' Desktop and upgraded all four from there. I archived a copy to my server system in case I need it again.
 

Rapscallion

macrumors regular
Sep 28, 2010
130
0
While I've made a USB Key installer for Lion, I'm not sure if I'll bother for Mountain Lion. Once you have downloaded the installer, just move it out of Applications. Then when you run it it won't delete itself! I basically copied the single download two my three other Lion systems' Desktop and upgraded all four from there. I archived a copy to my server system in case I need it again.

So all I really have to do is copy the OS X mountain lion download to a usb stick from my applications folder prior to installing ML, and I will be able to copy it back and run it anytime I want to have a clean install?
 

ATC

macrumors 65816
Apr 25, 2008
1,185
432
Canada
So all I really have to do is copy the OS X mountain lion download to a usb stick from my applications folder prior to installing ML, and I will be able to copy it back and run it anytime I want to have a clean install?

No, you won't be able to do a clean install. For that, you need to make the USB stick bootable which is a tiny bit more involved (very easy still though, just follow the various methods; my favourite one that I used today flawlessly was using the Lion Diskmaker script posted here and elsewhere). Once you have made a bootable USB drive with ML installation files on it, you can then unmount and erase/format the drive before clean installing ML.
 

morespce54

macrumors 65816
Apr 30, 2004
1,331
11
Around the World
FYI, I *had* to mound the "InstallESD.dmg" volume, then drag that (mounted) volume as the "source" to avoid the "Could Not Restore - Invalid Argument" problem. Then, everything went on, just like Lion.
 

chalmers4three

macrumors member
Jul 15, 2012
84
17
so i already installed mountain lion and now i am redownloading so I can create a backup bootable USB with the lion disk maker. my question is by running the lion disk maker does this remove the 4GB+ ML installer file on my computer too or once I make the bootable disk should I just move the ML file to the trash?
 

OrangeSVTguy

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2007
4,127
69
Northeastern Ohio
Don't know about anyone else but when I tried to burn the .dmg in disc utility but said the file was too big. I just right clicked the file and clicked burn to disc. Worked that way for me if you want to put on a DVD.
 

Tobias Funke

macrumors 6502a
Apr 3, 2012
628
61
Can this be done with an SD card ??

And does it remove the image from the SD card/USB drive after installation ??

Thank you. :D
 

dreamsayer

macrumors member
Feb 9, 2010
45
58
Lion diskmaker error message

I used the Lion Diskmaker program to make a bootable usb key of both Lion & Mountain Lion on 2 different computers. In both instances I received an error at the end.

Doesn't seem to have affected the keys as they both booted and worked fine.
 

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cooa99

macrumors regular
Sep 30, 2011
122
2
Dumb question but can this be done with a new Mac that already has ML, when they start coming out?

I would like an answer for this as well please.
I have a rMBP with factory Installed Mountain Lion and would like to know how I can go about getting the ML file as well

cheers
 

minifridge1138

macrumors 65816
Jun 26, 2010
1,175
197
I would like an answer for this as well please.
I have a rMBP with factory Installed Mountain Lion and would like to know how I can go about getting the ML file as well

cheers

Use the apple recovery disk assistant.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

It finds the recovery partition on your hard drive (which is already on your Mac if it shipped with 10.7 or later) to create a bootable usb drive.

Good luck!!!
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,726
332
Oregon
Use the apple recovery disk assistant.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

It finds the recovery partition on your hard drive (which is already on your Mac if it shipped with 10.7 or later) to create a bootable usb drive.

This isn't the full ML installer image -- it will go to the Internet to download ML when used.

Best bet is to know someone who has purchased ML from the App Store and make an image from that using the widely published techniques. It might not be technically legal, but you have paid for a license and are entitled to a copy.

I just remembered that I read somewhere about being able to stop the Internet install in progress and capture the downloaded image to a USB stick. Can't recall where I read it, though. The process is a bit tricky as you have to intervene just at the point where it is rebooting to do the install.
 

minifridge1138

macrumors 65816
Jun 26, 2010
1,175
197
This isn't the full ML installer image -- it will go to the Internet to download ML when used.

Best bet is to know someone who has purchased ML from the App Store and make an image from that using the widely published techniques. It might not be technically legal, but you have paid for a license and are entitled to a copy.

I just remembered that I read somewhere about being able to stop the Internet install in progress and capture the downloaded image to a USB stick. Can't recall where I read it, though. The process is a bit tricky as you have to intervene just at the point where it is rebooting to do the install.

I read about that trick, too. But I couldn't find the article.

I have also used the version of Lion from the App Store to make my own usb installer (as so many guides tell you how to do). But when I used it on a MBP it still downloaded ML. It's the only time I used it, so I don't know if that's normal (it certainly wasn't expected).
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,726
332
Oregon
I have also used the version of Lion from the App Store to make my own usb installer (as so many guides tell you how to do). But when I used it on a MBP it still downloaded ML. It's the only time I used it, so I don't know if that's normal (it certainly wasn't expected).

The Mac App Store will not download Lion on systems running Mountain Lion.
 

hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
You don't have to "catch it" at the right time ... ML downloads and waits for you to start the installation. You can simply copy the installer from your applications folder to your desktop (or somewhere else) and then open the package to remove the actual installation file.

There is a link in the first post of this thread for doing so.
Here is another one of the many published articles for doing so:

http://lifehacker.com/5928780/how-to-burn-os-x-mountain-lion-to-a-dvd-or-usb-flash-drive




-howard
 
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hfg

macrumors 68040
Dec 1, 2006
3,621
312
Cedar Rapids, IA. USA
The Mac App Store will not download Lion on systems running Mountain Lion.

They may have changed something recently ... I just tried it and it did pop up a dialog box telling me I was already running Mountain Lion, and asked if I wanted to download it again. :)

I had tried awhile back, and as you said, it would not directly let me download it again (although I believe there is a trick to holding down one of the modifier keys (option?) which will override any purchased app and allow you to re-download it.


-howard
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,726
332
Oregon
You don't have to "catch it" at the right time ... ML downloads and waits for you to start the installation. You can simply copy the installer from your applications folder to your desktop (or somewhere else) and then open the package to remove the actual installation file.

There is a link in the first post of this thread for doing so.
Here is another one of the many published articles for doing so:

http://lifehacker.com/5928780/how-to-burn-os-x-mountain-lion-to-a-dvd-or-usb-flash-drive

-howard

This is when making the installation flash drive from ML purchased from the Mac App Store. I was talking about making the installation flash drive from the image downloaded using Internet Recovery. The article about that seems to be elusive and it is a tricky process.
 
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