Official OS X USB Flash Drive Installer

[iOrbit]

I have a MacBook Air USB install thumb drive from apple, it has 10.6 on it and is coded to only work on that MacBook Air..

I was wondering, is there a way to reformat this USB drive into a regular 8 gigabyte useable drive?

I'd like to use it to put newer versions of OS X on it instead of one of my other USB's – it thought it would be neat to have an apple branded usb drive for that purpose too.

it appears to be protected and I cannot erase it from Disk Utility but I thought i'd ask if any of the Mac wizards here might know a program that can work around it?

 

[Fishrrman]

My guess (and it's ONLY "a guess") is that the bootable Apple USB flashdrive is specially constructed so that it CANNOT be erased -- could be internal connections or an internal chip that prohibits this.

But... only a guess.

 

[chrfr]

I have a MacBook Air USB install thumb drive from apple, it has 10.6 on it and is coded to only work on that MacBook Air..




I was wondering, is there a way to reformat this USB drive into a regular 8 gigabyte useable drive?

The drive is read-only.

MacBook Air (Late 2010): Frequently Asked Questions about Software Reinstall Drive

Find answers to questions you might have about the MacBook Air Software Reinstall Drive.

support.apple.com

 

[iOrbit]

I'm surprised but I actually managed to do it. I did a little digging online and found a person who figured it out. It can in fact be erased and used as a regular drive. I have just completed a Bootable High Sierra image on it now. I made sure to save the ICNS file as you can see in the original post, to make the USB stick appear like so:

I'm pleased with the result. only drawback of course is that it isnt USB 3, and sooner or later I'm sure OS installers will require 16gb drives. But I use old Mac's, and its an inconvenience to have to erase one of my other USB sticks as I dont have a collection of them around.

I managed to get this apple USB stick brand new sealed off ebay a few days ago for just £6, some other seller is selling a brand new OS X Lion installer USB for £199 lol


if anyone else thought about getting one of these apple usb drives for regular use, go for it – they can be successfully repurposed for use!

 

[Fishrrman]

Good job -- I didn't think it could be done...

 

[iOrbit]

Good job -- I didn't think it could be done...

thanks, heres the guide for anyone that may be interested. the program is windows based so you'll want to have bootcamp or a windows machine on standby.

Tweaking4All.com - How to Format the Apple USB Restore stick ...

How to format a Read-Only Apple Restore USB stick that came with your Mac with little effort. This type of stick was supplied with for example a MacBook Air.

www.tweaking4all.com