Creating OS X Leopard Install on a USB Drive or iPod

Step 1:

Insert the OS X installation DVD and plugin the USB Drive.

Step 2:

Open Disk Utility, under /Applications/Utilities.

install1.jpg

Step 3:

Drag the “Mac OS X Install DVD” to the “Source” field

install2.jpg

and the formated partition on your USB drive to “Destination”.

install3.jpg

Do not drag the volumes or devices that state the size of the disk, it won’t work.

Step 4:

Click “Restore”.

install4.jpg

You’re done.

I’m not sure if this speeds up the installation but it sure should. Whether it does or does this process still helps.

Blog

October 30

Comments

 

  • duderuud
    Make sure your usb drive is bootable before you start the above explenation:

    - Go to disk utility tool
    - Select your usb drive
    - Click partition
    - Select 1 partition
    - Select the proper boot option with the Option button (Intel Mac need the GUID partition)
    - Select Apply, the stick will be automatically formatted after partitioning

    Now the stick is bootable, proceed with the above explenation.
  • wpoon
    I'm getting this error message, that says error(2) on it...can someone tell me how to fix this?
  • roll
    is that bootable? if it is not,could you tell me how can i do that?
  • dell mini9 guy
    I keep getting a read/write error during the "restore" process... Any suggestions?
  • Your USB drive is now bootable.
    Insert your newly formatted drive into any USB-bootable mainboard, reboot, and select the USB drive as the first boot device. You will be brought to a Windows 98 MS-DOS prompt. From here you can update your BIOS, make system disk fixes, etc.
  • neomac
    If I partition it into two and restore the image to the first partition, it fails.
  • Marc
    I followed this to the T, but when I boot from the Leopard partition, the only available disks to install on are other partitions on the same drive. How can I install from the usb drive to my MacBook's internal drive?
  • alex
    i'm having the same problem.
    were you able to fix this?
    I hypothesize that it has to to with USB vs. FireWire.
  • Daniel
    Any chance I can do this from windows since my Mac is out of commission?
  • An easy way to do screen captures (without having the background)

    Command + Shift + 4, then press the space bar, click on the window you want. You should have Picture #.png on your desktop. I love OS X :)
  • Peter
    Oh. But that's MUCH easier on a PC. :-p
  • Kristoffer Nolgren
    I can't get it to work, it says I have to use the orginial installation method...
  • Good idea for keeping the files somewhere safe... im about to install but im not sure if it will see my usb drive :(.... well ill soon find out
  • cab
    I tried this method and I installed it on my macbook and it worked perfectly. Then i tried on my macbook pro and everytime somewhere during installation it freezes, the bar stops moving and I cant click on any of the menu bars. Anyone ever experienced something like this?
  • Yep, this rocks--I keep a partition on my portable drive with a clone of the Mac OS X Server install DVD. The installation flies (as well it should since you're not tied to the speed limitations of DVD-ROM), and that's an advantage when you've got a crashed server and VP's standing over your shoulder asking when it's going to be back up.

    And Windows cannot read any Mac filesystems natively, although I think there are 3rd-party apps you can install to do it.
  • fuzztech
    windows can if its networked.... you can map it similar to windows file sharing... :D
  • you will need to repartition the entire partition.
  • bozo
    hi,

    do i need a specially formatted and freshly erased usb drive ? or ca i use any disk without erasing it ?

    thks
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