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Formatting MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive

J

Jkarman8

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2007
5
0
So, I just received my new MacBook Air 11" and love it! Though I no longer want the USB Software Reinstall Drive to contain the 10.6 and iLife '11 and I am looking for a way to format the USB thumb drive into a usable flash drive. I tried using the disk utility, but it only sees the drive like a CD containing the information and not like a flash drive, eliminating the simple option to just use the disk utility to erase.

Hoping that someone can help me use this neat looking USB drive for something more than a piece of plastic I never pull back out of my box.

Thanks for the ideas in advance!
 
GoCubsGo

GoCubsGo

macrumors Nehalem
Feb 19, 2005
35,741
153
I'd give it a little longer, I'm sure someone will figure out what to do. However, you may be sorry if you ever need to reinstall your OS.
 
alust2013

alust2013

macrumors 601
Feb 6, 2010
4,779
2
On the fence
It's formatted to be read-only(unchangeable), so you're out of luck there. It is always a good idea to keep a restore disk (or drive in your case). Flash drives are pretty cheap, so if you need one, go pick up a 4GB drive for $20
 
J

Jkarman8

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2007
5
0
Yeah, not too worried about the need for the restore drive, since my brother bought one at the same time; and I have multiple flash drives, but as nerdy as it may be, something about an Apple flash drive is pretty cool to me. I just figured since it was a flash drive, I'd be able to somehow format it, even though it is read-only, perhaps a third party program?
 
David085

David085

macrumors 6502a
Nov 9, 2009
811
3
Jkarman8 said:
Yeah, not too worried about the need for the restore drive, since my brother bought one at the same time; and I have multiple flash drives, but as nerdy as it may be, something about an Apple flash drive is pretty cool to me. I just figured since it was a flash drive, I'd be able to somehow format it, even though it is read-only, perhaps a third party program?
Click to expand...

Let us know if you find a third party program to format the flash drive just curious if is possible.
 
J

Jkarman8

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 13, 2007
5
0
The drive is definitely read-only and I haven't had much luck finding any programs that will be able to format it, any suggestions?
 
Darth.Titan

Darth.Titan

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2007
2,905
753
Austin, TX
Jkarman8 said:
The drive is definitely read-only and I haven't had much luck finding any programs that will be able to format it, any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I doubt there ever will be a way around it. The read-only functionality is imbedded in the hardware. I've received similar write only flash drives containing promotional materials, and computers basically see them as CDs. I don't think you can bypass it.
 
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