Macbook Air Software Reinstall Drive

[macbedhead]

Does anyone know the size of the Macbook Air Software Reinstall Drive ?
Can it be used to drop data on with the dmg sitting on it or is it just the dmg and no more space ?

 

[DannyBres]

8gb!

you can copy the data off to some over external device and then use it!

 

[bcaslis]

8gb!

you can copy the data off to some over external device and then use it!

Have you done this? I've been trying to create a bootable copy and neither Disk Utility, SuperDuper, or Carbon Copy Cloner work. They can make copies but none are bootable.

 

[mmcxiiad]

I had the same results. Could copy the drive but it isn't bootable. I am hoping to find a way around this so I can carry a bootable drive when I travel without having to carry the real one. There has to be a way, inquiring minds want to know.

 

[kdoug]

I had the same results. Could copy the drive but it isn't bootable. I am hoping to find a way around this so I can carry a bootable drive when I travel without having to carry the real one. There has to be a way, inquiring minds want to know.

I had posted in another thread how to make a "bootable" copy of the drive. I've done it, I've used it and it works. You need to follow these instructions though. This is the only way to make an exact "bootable" copy. I have about 20 hours of trial, error and now success. Here you go:

Here's another way. I made a bootable copy also, took a little time though. Used Carbon Copy Cloner.

I first had to make the invisible files visible with Onyx (Parameters tab/Finder/Misc. Options/Show hidden files).
I mounted the invisible 10.6 OS X.dmg file located in the USB Apple OS X Install drive on the desktop. I cloned it to my 8GB (formatted journaled) flash drive. You can than use the flash drive to boot and/or install the system but it won't have iLife 11 on it.

If you want iLife 11, start Carbon Copy Cloner again. This time make the original Apple USB drive your Source and your 8GB flash drive your destination. Carbon Copy Cloner should than give you a little green light on the right panel that say's the disk will be bootable. Check the box where it say's "Delete items that don't exist on the source". After it completely finishes, you'll have an exact copy of the original Apple drive with the same desktop icon that's fully bootable and has iLife installed.
Your welcome!

 

[mmcxiiad]

kdoug - thanks for the instructions. I am going to check this out. I'll post my result.

Thanks again!

 

[kdoug]

I had posted in another thread how to make a "bootable" copy of the drive. I've done it, I've used it and it works. You need to follow these instructions though. This is the only way to make an exact "bootable" copy. I have about 20 hours of trial, error and now success. Here you go:

Here's another way. I made a bootable copy also, took a little time though. Used Carbon Copy Cloner.

I first had to make the invisible files visible with Onyx (Parameters tab/Finder/Misc. Options/Show hidden files).
I mounted the invisible 10.6 OS X.dmg file located in the USB Apple OS X Install drive on the desktop. I cloned it to my 8GB (formatted journaled) flash drive. You can than use the flash drive to boot and/or install the system but it won't have iLife 11 on it.

If you want iLife 11, start Carbon Copy Cloner again. This time make the original Apple USB drive your Source and your 8GB flash drive your destination. Carbon Copy Cloner should than give you a little green light on the right panel that say's the disk will be bootable. Check the box where it say's "Delete items that don't exist on the source". After it completely finishes, you'll have an exact copy of the original Apple drive with the same desktop icon that's fully bootable and has iLife installed.
Your welcome!

I'm going to try and explain this step by step:
1. Download and install Onyx, this is so you can see hidden files on the Apple drive.

2. Make the invisible files visible with Onyx (Parameters tab/Finder/Misc. Options/Show hidden files).

3.Double click the Mac OS X installer .dmg file that was hidden so it'll mount to your desktop.

4. Download and install Carbon Copy Cloner.

5. Open CCC and for the source, pick the the Mac OS X installer image on your desktop.

6. For the destination, you should choose your formatted 8GB flash drive.

7. Click the clone button and it will make a bootable, system installable copy on your new flash drive. It will not copy iLife though, that step is next.

8. The reason you have to do step 7 is we need the hidden system files to make bootable for the next step.

9. Once your new drive is cloned with the installer, boot from it to make sure everything's OK.

10. Once booted back to your desktop, with both the Apple drive and your new USB drive plugged in, start CCC again.

11. Make the Apple USB flash drive your source and your USB drive your destination.

12. This is important! There's a check box on the right side under the source, click it. It say's "Delete items that don't exist on the source".

13. Before you start there should be a tiny little green light that say's the drive will be bootable. If it's red, you screwed up, start over.

14. This the final step. Hit the clone button, it will copy all the files from the Apple USB disk but leave the bootable files on your USB disk alone. It will copy and than it will verify. If everything went OK, you'll get a message that it was successful.

You now should have a working bootable copy with iLife installed on it. I've done it twice and booted several times from it, it works perfectly.

Good luck!

 

[TPadden]

..... I've done it twice and booted several times from it, it works perfectly.

Good luck!

Thanks a million; worked like a charm !

 

[MacUser09]

Worked for me too. Thanks kdoug.

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

Thanks for the post, kdoug.

13. Before you start there should be a tiny little green light that say's the drive will be bootable. If it's red, you screwed up, start over.

The steps all worked fine for me, except at #13 I got a red light and CCC stated something about the library folder missing at the root level of my target drive. I opened the flash drive in the Finder and the library folder was present. So I went ahead and did the clone anyway, and during the process it said it was a block level clone. The flash clone booted my MBA just fine and is installing the software right now. No problems so far; I'll post back if I run into any issues.