Clean Install of ML on Retina 13

[theturtle]

Hey guys. Have a quick question. Is there any version of ML that allows me to do a clean install from a USB stick?

I usually do a fresh install of ML every now and then instead of doing therecovery partition because its ALOT quicker to install it from a stick/HD. My ML is the one bought from the app store. It works perfectly fine with my 15" retina but when i try to install it on the the 13 inch, i keep getting a "this is incompatible with your system" message.

 

[justperry]

Hey guys. Have a quick question. Is there any version of ML that allows me to do a clean install from a USB stick?

I usually do a fresh install of ML every now and then instead of doing therecovery partition because its ALOT quicker to install it from a stick/HD. My ML is the one bought from the app store. It works perfectly fine with my 15" retina but when i try to install it on the the 13 inch, i keep getting a "this is incompatible with your system" message.

You need to use recovery to download the right one, the one from the AppStore won't work.
There is a way to get the installer downloaded from the Recovery process, there are 2 ways, one is to monitor the process and as soon as you see the restart to install screen force quit the installer and then get the installer from the disk where the installer is downloaded, there is another way if you use a USB stick to install the new OS on, just jank the USB when downloading is finished.
Right now I don't have links for you but if you look around here on MR there are threads on how to do this.

I will try to find it.

Here you go:

Create a bootable Lion install drive for newer Macs

It's for Lion but it still works on ML.

 

[theturtle]

You need to use recovery to download the right one, the one from the AppStore won't work.
There is a way to get the installer downloaded from the Recovery process, there are 2 ways, one is to monitor the process and as soon as you see the restart to install screen force quit the installer and then get the installer from the disk where the installer is downloaded, there is another way if you use a USB stick to install the new OS on, just jank the USB when downloading is finished.
Right now I don't have links for you but if you look around here on MR there are threads on how to do this.

I will try to find it.

Here you go:

Create a bootable Lion install drive for newer Macs

It's for Lion but it still works on ML.

Damn. Is there a safer/easier way? Something about trying to stop a download at a specific moment (when it hits zero) has me a bit hesitant.

I torrent a full install of 10.8.2 and was hoping that because .2 came out in november it would have accounted for the release of the 13" retina and would finally let me do a clean install from a USB but alas it was not to be. Made 10.8.2 bootable but ended up receiving the same message and logo (the circle with the line going across the middle)

 

[justperry]

Damn. Is there a safer/easier way? Something about trying to stop a download at a specific moment (when it hits zero) has me a bit hesitant.

I torrent a full install of 10.8.2 and was hoping that because .2 came out in november it would have accounted for the release of the 13" retina and would finally let me do a clean install from a USB but alas it was not to be. Made 10.8.2 bootable but ended up receiving the same message and logo (the circle with the line going across the middle)

One word, No.

This seems to be the only way to get it, blame Apple, they should have put a complete OS Installer on the Recovery partition, not this hals A*** solution, it's just 4 GB more than what is on the partition now, someone should be smarter than this at Apple, lots of people have capped internet or too slow, we're not all having unlimited fast internet.
I live in Indonesia currently, my package is 3 GB, not even enough for this.
Just bought a Mini a few weeks ago, I want the installer but paying a full month's word of data just for this, no thanks.

 

[theturtle]

One word, No.

This seems to be the only way to get it, blame Apple, they should have put a complete OS Installer on the Recovery partition, not this hals A*** solution, it's just 4 GB more than what is on the partition now, someone should be smarter than this at Apple, lots of people have capped internet or too slow, we're not all having unlimited fast internet.
I live in Indonesia currently, my package is 3 GB, not even enough for this.
Just bought a Mini a few weeks ago, I want the installer but paying a full month's word of data just for this, no thanks.

JP, really appreciate the patience you're showing. I do have another issue though.

When i tried to do a internet recovery through the recovery partition, I kept getting an error saying my HD cannot unmount. I unfortunately do not have another mac or even another firewire where I could boot up from. Installing from the USB was always a fail proof method for me to restore without getting that dreaded "cannot unmount" error. Now that apple doesn't allow me to restore from the USB drive, what should i do?

 

[justperry]

JP, really appreciate the patience you're showing. I do have another issue though.

When i tried to do a internet recovery through the recovery partition, I kept getting an error saying my HD cannot unmount. I unfortunately do not have another mac or even another firewire where I could boot up from. Installing from the USB was always a fail proof method for me to restore without getting that dreaded "cannot unmount" error. Now that apple doesn't allow me to restore from the USB drive, what should i do?

You do have the USB stick do you, if you choose to install to the USB stick the recovery will download to that stick, and if you use the guide you then can copy the ESDInstaller over to the HD where you can make the USB installer.

Oh, and don't worry about patience, have lots of time but do live in GMT +7 so timezones might be different.

 

[theturtle]

You do have the USB stick do you, if you choose to install to the USB stick the recovery will download to that stick, and if you use the guide you then can copy the ESDInstaller over to the HD where you can make the USB installer.

Oh, and don't worry about patience, have lots of time but do live in GMT +7 so timezones might be different.

Okay. It might be the early morning but I can't make sense of what you wrote. I might need dumber instructions haha..

 

[justperry]

Okay. It might be the early morning but I can't make sense of what you wrote. I might need dumber instructions haha..

Do you have a USB stick, and how big is it, you said before you did installs from USB so you must have, I will help further if you have the answers to the questions I asked.

 

[benwiggy]

I usually do a fresh install of ML every now and then

There should be no need to reinstall the OS, unless you've gone in there and started deleting or altering system files.

OS X is designed to run and work. It doesn't clog up with swarf, or needing mucking out, oil changes or anything else.

If you have some actual problem, there are probably other ways of fixing it, like emptying caches, or trashing corrupting plist preference files.

The hopefully imminent release of 10.8.3 should fix the "incompatible" problem. You're unlikely to need to reinstall the OS until then.

I've reinstalled my OS three times in ten years, and I'm not convinced one of those was necessary.

 

[justperry]

There should be no need to reinstall the OS, unless you've gone in there and started deleting or altering system files.

OS X is designed to run and work. It doesn't clog up with swarf, or needing mucking out, oil changes or anything else.

If you have some actual problem, there are probably other ways of fixing it, like emptying caches, or trashing corrupting plist preference files.

The hopefully imminent release of 10.8.3 should fix the "incompatible" problem. You're unlikely to need to reinstall the OS until then.

I've reinstalled my OS three times in ten years, and I'm not convinced one of those was necessary.

^^This.
I should have told the OP this all along but forgot again and again, OP, you should listen to his advise.

As for myself, I went from 10.0.0 all the way through and up to 10.5.8 without ever reinstalling the OS, that's like 10 years no reinstall.
Bought a Mini shortly so I jumped SL and Lion, otherwise I still would not have reinstalled!

 

[theturtle]

Do you have a USB stick, and how big is it, you said before you did installs from USB so you must have, I will help further if you have the answers to the questions I asked.

Well to be perfectly honest. I use a throw away HD as my USB. I erase the whole drive. Partition it as journeled and then use the mountain lion ESD to restore to my drive to make it bootable.

Did the same process I always did. Opened the mountain lion DMG. Waited till it mounted. Went into disk utility, erased my "USB" and restored it with the ESD as the source file.

My USB is huge. It's 250gb

It def can't be because I'm using a HD as a substitute though. I've wiped almost 30 times with the HD (mine and family members computers)

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There should be no need to reinstall the OS, unless you've gone in there and started deleting or altering system files.

OS X is designed to run and work. It doesn't clog up with swarf, or needing mucking out, oil changes or anything else.

If you have some actual problem, there are probably other ways of fixing it, like emptying caches, or trashing corrupting plist preference files.

The hopefully imminent release of 10.8.3 should fix the "incompatible" problem. You're unlikely to need to reinstall the OS until then.

I've reinstalled my OS three times in ten years, and I'm not convinced one of those was necessary.

It might be a myth but I feel a lot better after restoring a computer. Mostly in this instance because I purchased the computer from Craigslist. That's primarily the reason why I want a clean install. I'm sure I could remove the previous owners info through other means but a complete restore would make me feel most comfortable.

 

[justperry]

Well to be perfectly honest. I use a throw away HD as my USB. I erase the whole drive. Partition it as journeled and then use the mountain lion ESD to restore to my drive to make it bootable.

Did the same process I always did. Opened the mountain lion DMG. Waited till it mounted. Went into disk utility, erased my "USB" and restored it with the ESD as the source file.

My USB is huge. It's 250gb

It def can't be because I'm using a HD as a substitute though. I've wiped almost 30 times with the HD (mine and family members computers)

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It might be a myth but I feel a lot better after restoring a computer. Mostly in this instance because I purchased the computer from Craigslist. That's primarily the reason why I want a clean install. I'm sure I could remove the previous owners info through other means but a complete restore would make me feel most comfortable.

Partition the disk in two partitions, one 20 GB, the rest for the other, then use internet restore to download the Installer, jank the USB cord when done, then extract the installer to the first 20 GB partition, startup from there and install OS X on the other partition, this because you say the HD can't be unmounted, then boot into the second partition, do the setup and use CCC to copy the second partition to the internal, that's it.

But, even if you get something from the internet you won't really need to do this, making a new User and set it as an admin and then delete the other user will also do there trick.
If you feel safer with a reinstall, go ahead.

 

[benwiggy]

It might be a myth but I feel a lot better after restoring a computer. Mostly in this instance because I purchased the computer from Craigslist. That's primarily the reason why I want a clean install. I'm sure I could remove the previous owners info through other means but a complete restore would make me feel most comfortable.

Granted, buying a secondhand computer is a good reason -- possibly the only one -- to do a clean install, as you don't know whether there's malware on it. (But installing from a TORRENT copy puts you back to square one on the security front.)

The current problem with Late 2012 Macs rejecting ML installers is a bit rubbish, but if you can't get that to work, then you still have the Recovery Partition.

If it makes you feel good, then it can't be that bad, in the words of the song. But any benefit, real or imagined, can probably be achieved in other ways without having to go to all that trouble.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

Hey guys. Have a quick question. Is there any version of ML that allows me to do a clean install from a USB stick?

I usually do a fresh install of ML every now and then instead of doing therecovery partition because its ALOT quicker to install it from a stick/HD. My ML is the one bought from the app store. It works perfectly fine with my 15" retina but when i try to install it on the the 13 inch, i keep getting a "this is incompatible with your system" message.

I'm in the same boat. I have a 13" rMBP and like doing periodic clean installs to clear out back end junk that accumulates from downloading software that you end up deleting and stuff.

But, the current 10.8.2 installer in the Mac App Store is incompatible and I didn't want to do that trick to get the dmg file from Recovery Mode. I'm just waiting until Apple releases the compatible version in the App Store or I'll just spend the time to clean install from Recovery Mode, downloading the full 4GB file again.