I'm not sure if this falls into this software category or under notebooks but did the late-2011 MBP come with actual Lion install discs in the new package from Apple and the same question for 2012 MBP's and when did they stop shipping MBP's without install discs, which model year?
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Original Install Discs...
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Apple did not ever make Lion available on a DVD. The only media was a flash drive, loaded with the Lion installer.
That USB stick was available separately for a limited time, but did not ship in the box with a MBPro.
IIRC, the MBAir at that time did include the Lion USB stick, but not any other Mac.
Main reason is that Lion was the first OS X version that installed a recovery partition, so you could easily reinstall, just with an internet connection. So, Lion was mostly a download.
And, Lion is STILL available to purchase as a new download, should you want to do that...
That USB stick was available separately for a limited time, but did not ship in the box with a MBPro.
IIRC, the MBAir at that time did include the Lion USB stick, but not any other Mac.
Main reason is that Lion was the first OS X version that installed a recovery partition, so you could easily reinstall, just with an internet connection. So, Lion was mostly a download.
And, Lion is STILL available to purchase as a new download, should you want to do that...
gotcha, okay thanks, I'm getting a new-but-used late-2011 MBP next week from the original owner and he said he couldn't find any discs and wasn't sure if they came with them and I didn't know either since I have only early-2011 MBP's.
So I'm getting this late-2011 MBP in a day or so and it will come with the Lion 10.7.2 installer ready to operate when turning on the machine as if it was new from the store for its first installation.
My question is can I hook up my late-2011 MBA to the MBP and be able to download the Lion installer package into an internal partition on my MBA or activate the install on that empty MBA partition load it up there, and then disconnect the two computers and then restart the MBP and install the Lion a 2nd time straight onto the MBP I hope? I've never tried something like this before, wondering if this sequence is possible?
My question is can I hook up my late-2011 MBA to the MBP and be able to download the Lion installer package into an internal partition on my MBA or activate the install on that empty MBA partition load it up there, and then disconnect the two computers and then restart the MBP and install the Lion a 2nd time straight onto the MBP I hope? I've never tried something like this before, wondering if this sequence is possible?
I ran time machine of mountain loin on my mba to reboot tha mac mini in august 18
Let me know if you need a copy of mountain lion, i have an extra usb
You can run high sierra on this MBP, BUT understand running beloved mountain lion on the MBP.
Off topic, After i switch to windows and get a dell, im reintalling mountain loin on my macs and destoying all back ups, apple account and packing them in their boxes!
Let me know if you need a copy of mountain lion, i have an extra usb
You can run high sierra on this MBP, BUT understand running beloved mountain lion on the MBP.
Off topic, After i switch to windows and get a dell, im reintalling mountain loin on my macs and destoying all back ups, apple account and packing them in their boxes!
There's not much reason to hook the MBA to the MBPro, just to install Lion.
If you have the Lion installer app, then just copy that app to an external drive of some kind, so you can keep it safe.
Use THAT app to create a bootable installer, maybe on a USB flash drive.
When you have that external bootable installer, you can install Lion on anything that supports it.
(OS X 10.7.5 is the last version of the Lion installer, and will probably be easier to find)
If you have the Lion installer app, then just copy that app to an external drive of some kind, so you can keep it safe.
Use THAT app to create a bootable installer, maybe on a USB flash drive.
When you have that external bootable installer, you can install Lion on anything that supports it.
(OS X 10.7.5 is the last version of the Lion installer, and will probably be easier to find)
I may need that extra usb actually...
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the only Lion installer app that i will have will be the one coming with the MBP today and it will be in the form of the internal Lion install recovery method that they introduced that year. So if I can copy that to an external like you said that would be great but I'm not sure if I can?
The Lion installer does not exist on your "new" MBPro (unless the seller chose to copy that installer app to the hard drive). When you boot to the recovery partition, you would have an opportunity to download the Lion installer from Apple's server. There's nothing to copy to an external until you actually download the installer.
I'm pretty sure that download (from the recovery system) does not get saved, as the install takes place immediately after the download, and I'm NOT sure how you would save that downloaded installer (it deletes itself after the install).
Just so you know - the download would be for Lion (10.7.5) latest version, and not the installed version (10.7.2), so if that older version is important to you, you would need to save that system as it exists when you first boot to it.
I do not know if a mini DisplayPort to mini DisplayPort cable will work for a data connection. You may need to have a Thunderbolt cable to do that. Yes, they connect to the same ports, but the Thunderbolt has an extra chip in the cable connector, which a mini DisplayPort cable will not have.
dammit! 
I did not know that and already bought a few mini-display cables (3) at different lengths, now I have to look for these Thunderbolts, thanks for telling me this a week would have gone by waiting for my eBay cables then another week for Thunderbolts
I did not know that and already bought a few mini-display cables (3) at different lengths, now I have to look for these Thunderbolts, thanks for telling me this a week would have gone by waiting for my eBay cables then another week for Thunderbolts A strange thing happened when I used Target Disk Mode when I tried to copy the installer from a newly-purchased 2011 MBP to an empty partition on a 2011 MBA. The MBA partition is 30gb and the space that is needed is only 12gb to install but when trying to do this the TDM is thinking to copy all of the extra empty space on the 500gb MBP to the 30gb MBA and then gives me this “Not Enough Space” error prompt. If this is correct in what I’m saying, then why does it try to copy the whole drive space including the empty space and not just the 12gb installer on it?
Secondly, when I used TDM in the other target direction the MBP could only recognize the separate partitions that I created in Disk Utility. It did not recognize the main “parent” drive called Yosemite, nor did it recognize an external USB drive called Mini, so my question is here why does this happen?
Thirdly, I have noticed on 2 occasions that when you create a partition using a newer OSX like El Capitan or Sierras then that partition is not recognized when viewing it in an older OSX like I have been in Snow Leopard. I created 2 partitions on 2 separate MBP internals using El Cap and HS but then those partitions are grayed out in the index and unmountable when viewed using Snow Leopard. Wondering if anyone else has noticed this as well and why it happens?
Secondly, when I used TDM in the other target direction the MBP could only recognize the separate partitions that I created in Disk Utility. It did not recognize the main “parent” drive called Yosemite, nor did it recognize an external USB drive called Mini, so my question is here why does this happen?
Thirdly, I have noticed on 2 occasions that when you create a partition using a newer OSX like El Capitan or Sierras then that partition is not recognized when viewing it in an older OSX like I have been in Snow Leopard. I created 2 partitions on 2 separate MBP internals using El Cap and HS but then those partitions are grayed out in the index and unmountable when viewed using Snow Leopard. Wondering if anyone else has noticed this as well and why it happens?
What is your goal when copying the installer app?
If you want to have a bootable installer, then the "Restore" process might work, or may just run out of space, like what is happening to you. Better would be to use a working method for creating the bootable installer. The DiskmakerX app will do that, or you can just use one of the methods that you can find, telling you how to make that bootable installer. Apple has a support page that works just fine. Just follow the steps: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
If you want a valid partition to use, boot back up to your installer, and erase the Macintosh HD, using MacOS Extended format (NOT APFS. APFS format is not visible when booted to an earlier system, such as before Sierra)
If you want to have a bootable installer, then the "Restore" process might work, or may just run out of space, like what is happening to you. Better would be to use a working method for creating the bootable installer. The DiskmakerX app will do that, or you can just use one of the methods that you can find, telling you how to make that bootable installer. Apple has a support page that works just fine. Just follow the steps: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
If you want a valid partition to use, boot back up to your installer, and erase the Macintosh HD, using MacOS Extended format (NOT APFS. APFS format is not visible when booted to an earlier system, such as before Sierra)
My goal was to copy the installer app from the MBP to an empty partition on the MBA and then install the OSX from there onto that MBA but the restore process did not work because the Disk Utility thinks that it wants to copy 500gb to a 30gb partition but all there is on the 500gb is a 12gb installer so why would the 30gb run out of space? I've never used DiskmakerX but I will give it a shot.
Yes the strange thing is, is that I purposely did not use APFS because I know that won't be visible on earlier systems but just doing the regular partition separation on Disk Utility, that partition still doesn't show up on earlier systems as it happened to me twice now. Or I may just buy an installer from eBay for $10.00-$15.00 bucks and save me the ass-ache lol I'm at that stage right now infact.
Yes the strange thing is, is that I purposely did not use APFS because I know that won't be visible on earlier systems but just doing the regular partition separation on Disk Utility, that partition still doesn't show up on earlier systems as it happened to me twice now. Or I may just buy an installer from eBay for $10.00-$15.00 bucks and save me the ass-ache lol I'm at that stage right now infact.