Will it work on other Macbooks? I need to reformat my Macbook Pro, but my DVD drive isn't working (stupid Matshita). I see one on eBay for sale right now so I'm just wondering.
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Question regarding software reinstall drive
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simsaladimbamba
Guest
Seems not possible, as it is device specific.
One thread of many: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1063367/
One thread of many: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1063367/
Do read this support document for most of your questions on the software reinstall drive: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4399
From the link provided above:
From the link provided above:
I believe all of LG external USB DVD drives work on Macs and PCs and are around $60 new. Could try that instead.
BeyondtheTech
macrumors 68020
I believe you could get a spare 8GB flash drive, make a DMG of the retail Snow Leopard DVD and restore it to the flash drive, then boot off of it.
simsaladimbamba
Guest
That is only partly true, as a .dmg file is not bootable. The easiest way to have bootable Mac OS X installation copy on a non optical media, is to use CarbonCopyCloner to clone the DVD (while inside a Mac or an ODD connected to a Mac) to another medium, like a USB thumb drive for example. I used a FW800 2.5" HDD to clone the installation to, it installs a lot faster than from a measly thumb drive.
I have a question regarding this... I bought snow leopard family pack & made a bootable copy onto a USB flash drive. I have been able to reformat my MBP & MacBook in various occasions, by just powering while holding the option key (it brings me the options to boot from the USB flash drive or the normal HD.
Now I bought a new MBA 11" and I tried using my USB flash drive to reinstall the os (delete all the extra languages, printer drivers, junk gathering space), but whenni tried booting from the flash drive, the MBA would go grey screen of death and i would have to restart the computer. As soon as I plugged in the little USB reformatting device that came with the air, it went ahead with no hiccups. I know that you can't use the MBA thumb drive on other macs, but I didn't know that you can't use other USB drives to boot the air. Has anyone gone thru the same thing?
Now I bought a new MBA 11" and I tried using my USB flash drive to reinstall the os (delete all the extra languages, printer drivers, junk gathering space), but whenni tried booting from the flash drive, the MBA would go grey screen of death and i would have to restart the computer. As soon as I plugged in the little USB reformatting device that came with the air, it went ahead with no hiccups. I know that you can't use the MBA thumb drive on other macs, but I didn't know that you can't use other USB drives to boot the air. Has anyone gone thru the same thing?
simsaladimbamba
Guest
It has to do with the two different versions of Mac OS X on the Family Pac DVD and the USB Reinstall Drive coming with the MBA.
The Family Pack most likely includes Mac OS X 10.6.3, maybe even 10.6.4, but it lacks the drivers for the MBA and is older than the version of Mac OS X that the MBA came with and you can't install (without hacking) a Mac OS X version older than the one the Mac came with, thus no Mac OS X 10.6.3 on a Mac, that came with Mac OS X 10.6.4 and so on.
alust2013
macrumors 601
The flash drive is probably 10.6.3, as I believe that was the most recent release for the retail disks. The MBA originally came with 10.6.4, and a slightly modified version at that, so they won't run on anything older.