Grab copy of install file during Internet recovery?

[Ransom001]

Hi All,

This isn't notebook specific, but I'm on a MBP, so I picked this forum. Anyway, what I need to know is if there is an opportunity to grab a copy of the 4GB download from apple during Internet recovery. For example, once the download completes, can I cancel / pause the installation and access the file, copying it to another drive?

I'm downloading to an external drive to get the Mac OS running so that I can attempt to retrieve some valuable data off the internal MBP drive which has become corrupted (invalid node structure). Once I retrieve the data, I'll need to either replace or repair the internal drive and I don't want to have to spend another 3 hours downloading the mountain lion installer. Plus, I'm on limited data, so the initial 4GB is enough as is.

Any thoughts/insights?

 

[niteflyr]

This article could help:


http://www.macworld.com/article/1165337/create_a_bootable_lion_install_drive_for_newer_macs.html

 

[Ransom001]

Thanks, I had read that. Seems tricky to get the timing right. Anyway, I missed my window of opportunity on - installer said it had about an hour to go, so I went and ate, came back 20 minutes later and it was already installing.

Good news is it looks like most, if not all of my data on the internal drive is going to be recovered. Using Data Rescue for that. The quick scan didn't find much, but the 2 passes of deep scan look very promising.

I'm wondering, in leu of re-downloading the mountain lion installer, can I make a time machine backup on my external drive (which I'm now running the OS off of), and then restore my internal drive from that?

 

[niteflyr]

I'm wondering, in leu of re-downloading the mountain lion installer, can I make a time machine backup on my external drive (which I'm now running the OS off of), and then restore my internal drive from that?

I haven't tried that, but it should work. Found this article about it:

http://pondini.org/TM/14.html

After re-reading OP, you should be able to install new drive and make a clone of the ext. to the new drive.