How Do I Create a Lion Boot/Install DVD from a Lion USB Stick?

[teletran3]

Hi,

I just got a new iMac and I'm sending my old late-2006 iMac to my parents. I'd like to be able to give them a Lion Install/Boot DVD just in case they might need it.

I have one of the nifty Apple Lion USB stick installers. I'd like to hold on to it in case I need it for my laptop (it can't run Mountain Lion).

How do I go about burning a DVD copy from the USB?

All the tutorials I've seen involve making a DVD off of the InstallESD.dmg from the Mac App Store; however, the Lion USB stick doesn't have the InstallESD.dmg file. I'm guessing the USB stick isthe equivalent of that .dmg, but I'm hoping someone more knowledge could help me out.

I had no luck trying to make a direct copy of the USB stick via Toast—immediate buffer underrun error. I also tried going through the "Burn" function in Disk Utility, but because there's no .dmg or disk image on the USB stick that approach doesn't seem to be available to me.

Thanks for your help!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

As you have the Have you tried creating an image of the USB flash storage thumb drive via Disk Utility or CarbonCopyCloner (version 3.4.7 is still free) yet?

 

[teletran3]

No luck with trying to create a disk image via Disk Utility. When I click on the Lion USB drive in Disk Utility the "New Image" option is grayed out/not available.

Looks like Carbon Copy Cloner has a 30-day free trial. I'll see if it'll do the trick.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[simsaladimbamba]

No luck with trying to create a disk image via Disk Utility. When I click on the Lion USB drive in Disk Utility the "New Image" option is grayed out/not available.

Looks like Carbon Copy Cloner has a 30-day free trial. I'll see if it'll do the trick.

Thanks for the advice!

The 30-day trial is fully functional, but as noted in my previous post, the 3.4.7 version is still free and still available.

 

[teletran3]

When I try the "Create a Mac OS X Installer" in Carbon Copy Cloner and select "Install Mac OS X Lion.app" from the USB stick, it says that it does not appear to be valid OS X Installer. I guess because CCC's function is designed to work with Lion installers from the App Store.

I tried making a disc straight disc image of the USB stick via Carbon Copy Cloner (3.5.2), which gets me a 4.26GB image; however, when I try to mount the image to burn—either in Toast or Disk Utility—it shows as 8.52 GB and won't burn, even on a dual-layer DVD because of insufficient disk space.

I must be getting close here. Can anyone help get me past the finish line?

 

[benwiggy]

The Lion installer is slightly too big for a DVD, I think.

In the unlikely event of your parents needing to reinstall, they can just boot up while holding Command R to use the recovery partition.

 

[superriku11]

The Lion installer is slightly too big for a DVD, I think.

In the unlikely event of your parents needing to reinstall, they can just boot up while holding Command R to use the recovery partition.

This doesn't work if you don't have an internet connection. Or if Apple won't allow recovery mode to use the type of connection you have (which is my case).

 

[Bear]

The Lion installer is slightly too big for a DVD, I think.

In the unlikely event of your parents needing to reinstall, they can just boot up while holding Command R to use the recovery partition.

This doesn't work if you don't have an internet connection. Or if Apple won't allow recovery mode to use the type of connection you have (which is my case).

Command-R also doesn't work for a 2006 Mac.

 

[benwiggy]

Command-R also doesn't work for a 2006 Mac.

OK, <alt> then, and select the RP from the list.

I had Lion on my 2006 iMac. I never used the Recovery Partition, but there was one, so it would definitely be available. I suppose that Command R might need new firmware to work.

 

[Weaselboy]

Command-R also doesn't work for a 2006 Mac.

It will if Lion is installed (assuming the HDD is not dead).

 

[Bear]

OK, <alt> then, and select the RP from the list.

I had Lion on my 2006 iMac. I never used the Recovery Partition, but there was one, so it would definitely be available. I suppose that Command R might need new firmware to work.

Exactly, new firmware was put out for some of the newer Macs when Lion and Internet Recovery were released. They did firmware updates for most systems from 2010 and 2011.

Command-R also doesn't work for a 2006 Mac.

It will if Lion is installed (assuming the HDD is not dead).

You get a recovery partition which you would have to start your system holding the Option key and then selecting the partition. I have a 2009 iMac running Lion and Command-R does not work.

Also note that if you use File Vault 2, you actually can't use the recovery partition and if your Mac doesn't support Command-R then you need to make a Recovery Drive on USB stick via OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant.