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ABC5S

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Is your usb called Untitled? If not, then this probably is what caused the error in which case, you should erase the USB in Disk Utility and call it Untitled.

My Macbook Pro SSD is labeled as "Untitled" and you cannot have two untitled so I changed my USB drive to "Yosemite1" as shown below and the terminal went well..
 

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tywebb13

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Yes. Having 2 volumes called Untitled will confuse the issue somewhat. And you wouldn't want it to go onto the wrong volume.
 

johnnnw

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I followed the steps and when I booted it it ran for a while and I got an error that couldn't find an unpackage file.
 

tywebb13

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Did you wait till the terminal returned to a prompt? When I did it, it took about 20 min to make the bootable usb. I used it to successfully install the build 14A389 so I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the command.

If when you used it to try to install and it couldn't find something, maybe the process didn't finish properly.
 
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Azzin

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Jun 23, 2010
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Here is how to make a bootable usb of the yosemite installer after you download the full installer app from the mac app store.

Format an 8 GB USB drive which should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Yosemite.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

You can boot up from it by selecting it from the startup manager you get when starting your computer and holding down the option key.

This worked perfectly on my MBP, so BIG THANKS from me. :)
 

Primejimbo

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Did you wait till the terminal returned to a prompt? When I did it, it took about 20 min to make the bootable usb. I used it to successfully install the build 14A389 so I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the command.

If when you used it to try to install and it couldn't find something, maybe the process didn't finish properly.

I am going this route because they other link is down (where it makes the bootable usb for you) and I was going to ask how long it took. I been on "copying installer files to disk" for a little bit. So as long I haven't gotten any error codes, I should finish sometime?
 

joecool99

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Aug 20, 2008
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OSX 10.10 yosemite - USB install, recover from backup?

where is the recover from time-machine backup option in the OS X 10.10 install media?
 

tywebb13

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Update Recovery Partition via USB installer

Here is how to make a bootable usb of the yosemite installer after you download the full installer app from the mac app store.

Format an 8 GB USB drive which should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Yosemite.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

You can boot up from it by selecting it from the startup manager you get when starting your computer and holding down the option key.

This also works for the full installer for 10.10.1 build 14B25 that was released earlier today on the mac app store.

Just updating 10.10 to 10.10.1 with the delta update via apple's software update website, or the mac app store will not update the yosemite recovery partition.

But if you make a bootable usb installer for 10.10.1 you can use it to update the recovery partition too. Just run it over 10.10 or even 10.10.1 if you already have it installed, and the recovery partition will be updated to a 10.10.1 version.

Just beware that if you previously reverted a core storage logical volume created by a previous yosemite installer, this method will convert it back to core storage, so another revert will be necessary if you want to be able to edit your partitions again.

So here is the reverting method again if you deem it necessary:

Run these 2 commands in terminal.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.
 
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tywebb13

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Another minor inconvenience for developers with the safari beta is that this will downgrade safari to the public version. It is easy to reinstall the safari beta though.

Nevertheless, this is handy to know because sometimes you actually want to downgrade it!
 

knarzie

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2008
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Can anyone tell me where I am going wrong?

Last login: Tue Dec 9 21:06:20 on ttys000
Silvans-MacBook-Air:~ Silvan$ sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled -- applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss
or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your
typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:
You must specify both the volume and install application path.
Silvans-MacBook-Air:~ Silvan$ sudo/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled 1 --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction
-bash: sudo/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: No such file or directory
Silvans-MacBook-Air:~ Silvan$ sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume/Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\Yosemite.app --nointeraction
Password:
sudo: /Applications/Install OS XYosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found
Silvans-MacBook-Air:~ Silvan$
 

SlCKB0Y

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2012
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I would want a method that creates this partion properly (as is 10.9). Avoiding any extra terminal commands as you suggest.

Read their reply. It IS being created, it is just not visible because Apple has implemented some useless corestorage volumes. The terminal commands remove the corestorage.
 

simonsi

Contributor
Jan 3, 2014
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Auckland
Read their reply. It IS being created, it is just not visible because Apple has implemented some useless corestorage volumes. The terminal commands remove the corestorage.

I've given Apple feedback, the issue isn't so much the conversion to CS but that DU can't then manage those CS groups and volumes....!

No reason I can see for the CS conversion being built-in to the installer either, it doesn't allow for the installation volume target being a volume on a bigger disk with other partitions you may want to adjust later....:eek:
 

tennisproha

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Jun 24, 2011
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Pardon me for piggybacking on a thread a few months old but I figured better this than creating a new one on the same topic.

I'm new to Macs. Got a 2012 Mac mini that came preinstalled with Mavericks. I've run through Setup Assistant already and nothing else. I'd like to upgrade to Yosemite as a clean install cuz might as well... few questions:

1. Is a bootable installer the best route to go? Not only for my current scenario but also for future potential need to restore (I know nothing yet of how Mac Recovery works)

2. I know the installer can be USB or SD. However is there an advantage to using one over the other? Just preference?

3. I've read elsewhere of trouble with 8GB size installers. (Something about once .app is copied onto the installer its much bigger and/or needs space to run) Would 16GB be preferred or optimal? I think Yosemite is a 5.3GB DL from App Store.

4. Do both the installer and Mac HD volumes need to be formatted with 1 GUID partition as referenced in various online guides?

5. Do I need to worry about this whole Recovery Partition / core storage volume discussion? (new to Macs, baby steps lol...)

-

6. Bonus Q: So If I wanna have one big installer volume with Mavericks, Yosemite, etc... whats the best way to go about this?

Thanks for your responses.
 

tywebb13

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1. The bootable usb is better than recovery partition or internet recovery because it contains the full installer already. No need to redownload if you use the bootable usb, but recovery partition and internet recovery both require a redownload if you need to reinstall.

2. You can use usb or sd so long as they are formatted correctly and are of large enough size.

3. 8 GB is OK.

4. The installer should be 1 partition formatted as 1 GUID, but the drive you install onto can be partitioned with more than 1 partition if you want to dual boot.

5. It depends what you want to do with your computer. If you want the recovery partition to show up in startup manager or want to edit your partitions with disk utility, you need to revert the core storage. If you only have 1 yosemite partition, you may elect not to revert it and can startup the recovery partition with command r instead.

6. It is better to have separate bootable usbs, 1 for mavericks and another for yosemite.
 
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tennisproha

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The bootable usb is better than recovery partition or internet recovery because it contains the full installer already.…
Right on. Thanks for answering all my questions, quite concisely I might add.

So do I have the right idea, doing what I'm doing, using a bootable installer to upgrade a new Mac mini to Yosemite? Or is there a better way to go about this…
 

tywebb13

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Well yes there is another way and that is to just run the installer app after it downloads. The problem with this is that if you do it this way, after installing and restarting, the installer will delete itself - without warning.

So it is better to quit the installer after it downloads and opens. Proceed to make the bootable usb, start up from that with the option key and selecting the usb and install from that. That way you do not lose the installer.
 

tennisproha

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Well yes there is another way and that is to just run the installer app after it downloads. The problem with this is that if you do it this way, after installing and restarting, the installer will delete itself - without warning.

So it is better to quit the installer after it downloads and opens. Proceed to make the bootable usb, start up from that with the option key and selecting the usb and install from that. That way you do not lose the installer.

Got it. And I guess the bootable drive is a twofold solution because you save the installer app for future use, and you get a clean version of Yosemite whereas running it directly from Mavericks you don't.

Is this why there is that '-no interaction' input at the end of the terminal command? Is it necessary because apple doesnt have that in their bootable installer instructions? http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
 

tywebb13

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The "-- no interaction" part of the command just makes the process of making the bootable usb quicker. If you don't put it in it may ask questions like do you want to proceed (y/n)? etc. This is not necessary so you may as well include "-- no interaction" to skip such prompts. It has nothing to do with the installation - just how you interact with terminal whilst making the bootable usb.

If you want to make a clean install it would be better to use the bootable usb because you can use it to erase the drive first and then clean install yosemite onto it. You can't do that from the downloaded installer app directly since it resides on the drive you are trying to erase.
 
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