Bootable disk for iMac

Hi
I've used MSFT computers for years and finally bought an iMac. It has the Lion OS already loaded on it, but it didn't come with a disk one can use (if need be) to reload the OS. I hope the solution is not for one to buy a copy from the Apple store?
Thank you for any replies.

Glad to help!
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Similar Messages

  • How can I make a bootable disk for Mountain Lion?

    How can I make a bootable disk for Mountain Lion?

    Make Your Own Mountain/Lion Installer
    1. After downloading Mountain/Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Mountain/Lion application. After Mountain/Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the Mountain/Lion installer. Move the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes installing.
    2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:
    Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
    After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
    Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
    Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
    Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
    Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash drive size.
    3. Locate the saved Mountain/Lion installer in your Downloads folder. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the installer and select Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. Double-click on the Contents folder to open it. Double-click on the SharedSupport folder. In this folder you will see a disc image named InstallESD.dmg.
    4. Plug in your freshly prepared USB flash drive. You are going to clone the content of the InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:
    Double-click on the InstallESD.dmg file to mount it on your Desktop.
    Open Disk Utility.
    Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
    Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
    Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
    Drag the mounted disc icon from the Desktop into the Source entry field.
    Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
    When the clone is completed you have a fully bootable installer that you can use without having to re-download Mountain/Lion.
    Note: The term Mountain/Lion used above means Lion or Mountain Lion.

  • Startup disk  for imac g5

    Hi,
    i need to startup disk for imac g5
    <Edited by Host>

    Call AppleCare.    If they don't have it, then the 10.4.6 retail installer can at least give you the ability to install the lowest possible operating system:
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    And the 10.4.11 combo PowerPC update will help you bring yourself back up to where you currently are.
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    Do not buy a hard drive with manufacturer backup software installed as that may not remain compatible through updates.
    You can't get Classic installed without the restore discs.
    Some Apple usergroups may have people with the correct restore discs:
    http://www.apple.com/usergroups/
    Please remove the serial number from your profile.

  • Install disk for iMac won't install

    I have a Mid-2011 iMac which I'm prepping for resale.  It had been upgraded to Lion.  But, I believe, no further.  I cleared the drive and wanted to reinstall the OS and apps.  Installing from the DVD got me the grey screen problem.  So, I booted into Snow Leopard (the OS it shipped with) from an external drive.  Then I tried to install the OS from the DVD which came with the machine.  I got the message: 
      mac os x snow leopard cannot be installed on this computer
    How is that possible?  It was the install disk for this computer.  What can I do? 
    I tried just installing Lion.  That went fine.  But, I couldn't install the apps which came with the machine.
    Any suggestions?
    Thanks!

    The licensing issues got real murky (aka complicated) after they went to digital download only as anything obtained at the app store is not transferable and tied to the original Apple ID. So, the system throws up all sorts of ..... If Pages et al was bundled, then no, I don't think it would install as that is filed under the "non-transferable" category I believe. If you had a retail iWork/iLife disk, you should be able to install them (but must include the disks when selling). You may have the wrong disks as well: mine came with 10.6.4 (2010) and so I can't use the retail version as that is 10.6.3. I'll post a screenshot at the end of build/OS numbers.
    I did a fair amount of testing on a 2010 iMac (purchased refurb in 2012) with Lion installed and the machine specific SL disks with it. I initially wiped the drive and reinstalled Snow Leopard. I updated the firmware at some point to allow recovery and, from what I've read, that is what is preventing you from being able to reinstall with the SL disk. I know I have the right disks because they worked initially, but I can no longer use them to boot from. So, I rely on bootable clones (which I prefer anyway).
    From this:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1159#iMac

  • Getting a replacement start up disk for imac

    How to get a replacement start up disk for my imac?
    I lost the original startup disk and the mac didn't start up, only with "?" folder.

    Call Apple technical support. They can probably sell you a new set of the original disks for a reasonable fee, if your iMac did come with installation disks (Macs that shipped with OS X 10.7 or 10.8 did not come with disks).
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  • I've made my bootable disk for mountain lion but when I try to load it on my imac 2008 I get a message that I need 2g of memory. Am I trying to load it incorrectly?

    The screen is frozen and i don't know what to do.

    As shldr said, OS X Mountain Lion needs 2 GB of memory or more. If you see a message telling you that you need 2 GB or more of memory, that's because you have less memory than 2 GB on the computer.
    You have to buy more memory for your computer, and I recommend you to buy it in OWC or Crucial > http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/apple/memory/iMac

  • Mac OS 8.6 or Restore Disks for iMac G3?

    I recently was given an iMac G3 (original tray loading CD-ROM drive).
    The original owner took the original harddrive out, and didnt have the original restore disks.
    While I was cleaning it I loaded a new blank harddrive in. Now when it turns on it I get a grey screen with a folder icon in the center and a blinking question mark, I assume it's looking for the OS files.
    Anyway, what are my options here? Is there files I can download or a CD I can order?
    Further, how would I load the OS once I get it? Would it load off the disk automatically or is there a series of keys I'd have to press to start it loading?
    Sorry, this is the first Mac anything I've owned, little lone tried to restore.

    SPV999 wrote:
    I recently was given an iMac G3 (original tray loading CD-ROM drive).
    The original owner took the original harddrive out, and didnt have the original restore disks.
    What iMac do you have?
    Query by serial number
    "A serial number is a unique, identifying number or group of numbers and letters assigned to an individual piece of hardware or software. It's used for various things depending on the product / brand but what is your Mac's serial number for and more importantly... what is it hiding and what can it do for you ?"
    http://www.appleserialnumberinfo.com/Desktop/index.php
    or
    http://www.chipmunk.nl/klantenservice/applemodel.html
      ( hint by K Shaffer )
    While I was cleaning it I loaded a new blank harddrive in. Now when it turns on it I get a grey screen with a folder icon in the center and a blinking question mark, I assume it's looking for the OS files.
    Yes.
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    Mac OS 8.x to 10.3. I recommend 10.3. this will give you more of the Mac OS experience. you need 128 meg of memory.
    Make certain you can return the memory
    Mac OS X is a rather finicky when it comes to working with memory. While some memory sticks manufacturers may claim it meets the Mac OS X requirements, the memory may not work. You cannot tell until you try. From what I've have heard the memory fails immediately.
    Open Firmware, boot into Open Firmware.
    Power on your iMac while holding down commandoption+of
    The first output line contains the firmware level. Mine reads:
    Apple PowerMac4,1 4.1.9f1 BootRom built on 09/14/01 at 13.18.04
    Copyright 1994-2001 Apple Computer Inc.
    What firmware do you need?
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117
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    Further, how would I load the OS once I get it? Would it load off the disk automatically or is there a series of keys I'd have to press to start it loading?
    Hold down the c key then power on the machine.
    The tray loading iMac requires the boot partition to be within 8gig. Since there are hidden partition before the first visible partition, people recommend that you make the first visible partition 7.5 gig to 7.9gig. The machines support upto a 128gig Parallel ATA drive.
    Did you set the harddrive to master? Master is a must. Cable select doesn't work. You need to set the hard drive to master mode. There is usually a label on the hard drive that tells you what jumpers you need to set. If you are not sure, give us the name and model number of the hard drive and usually someone will be able to tell you how to set that drive.
    Robert

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  • Best External Scratch Disk for iMac?

    I'm a new Mac user and i'm now using my iMac as my primary computer. I've been looking online to find out which approach is best when using adobe products that require scratch disks. Should i use external USB or Firewire interface? What I've done for my windows system in the past is I purchased a 10,000rpm hard drive and dedicated it as a scratch disk and installed it internally. If I do this with either USB or firewire, my big plan is I would go and get a 10krpm hard drive and by an enclosure with usb and firewire. Anyone know how I should approach this on an iMac and will my plan work?
    Thanks!

    You could go with an external Firewire 800 disk and a 7200 or faster drive. But that won’t be as fast as your iMac’s internal drive which is SATA II 3Gbps. You could partition the internal drive so that you have one ‘work’ drive to be used for video/graphics scratch files. At least I did that. Bit of work ahead of you though since your internal drive currently is likely just one big partition. Post back your conclusions.

  • Where can i purchase original restore and install disk for imac early 2009

    purchased a used IMac Early 2009 wanted ot replace the hard drive and need to acquire restore and install disk, where can I purchase

    Call 1-800-676-2775.  Give them the serial number and pay (I think) $16 per disk to get replacement gray disks.

  • OS X install disk for iMac Intel

    My imac intel HD needs repair. I booted with the Install disk. Started Disk Untilies app. I can not use the mouse to select, verify/repair permission or verify/repair disk. I can not quit the app via the mouse, only with the keyboard. Dose anyone have an idea what is going on? And how can I repair the HD.

    To answer your questions.
    1 Yes, it is the wired mosuse that shipped with the iMac.
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    3. I ahve considered the mouse as a source of the problem. But when I ran the "Verify Disk" from the Disk Utilities on the HD, I get several "Illegal Name" response.
    4. Also, from the OSX installer disk, I can not go beyond the 1st Installer page. The mouse, point & click, will not work. But no problem with the mouse when booting from the HD.
    This is verey odd. Is it a faulty DVD installer disk?? Have been a Apple user from 1982 and Mac user since 84, I guess I expected a better product.

  • How do I make a bootable disk for mavericks

    Do I have to do it manually or is there an App which will do it for you?

    Try here: It works, as I have just done it.
    http://osxdaily.com/2013/06/12/make-boot-os-x-mavericks-usb-install-drive/

  • I have lost my imac bootable disks and have erased my hard drive.

    I wanted to format my hard drive and put a clean install of Tiger on my iMac so that I could sell it, so I went in to disc utility and erased my hard drive. What I thought were my bootable discs were for my macbook pro with Snow Leopard on, and they wont work on my iMac. I have since gone in to disc utilities from the bootable discs (just after it tells me these discs wont work) and have replaced my hard drive with the DVD (thinking I would be able to boot to that point and mount an image from another DVD to run tiger from there) and now I am totally lost! I know I shouldnt meddle with things I dont know, but I've never managed to break a windows PC by doing this!
    Could someone help please as I have no idea what I can do now!
    Super thanks
    Helen

    Replacement disks run about 16.00 per disk.  You can buy Mac OS X Tiger from Amazon for anywhere from 79.00-200.00.
    If you buy a full retail copy of an OS like Snow Leopard you can install that on any compatible computer.  The license for a standard retail copy of the Mac OS entitles you to install it on 1 system.  However the retail copy of the Mac OS does not include the iLife Applications which come with the original install disks that came with your computer.
    The individual install disks that come with each computer are made just for that computer and include drivers required for that system.  As a former Dell owner I can tell you that Dell also uses specialized install disks for the OS.  They don't hand you a copy of windows, rather a set of disks that are specific to that model of computer.
    Cheers!

  • I'm not crying. Is there a way to install Mountain Lion on a bootable disk on latest iMac cuz mine shipped without an OS?

    I could cry right now. After decades of being an Apple fan, something is happening for the worse and issues with every Apple product I own 2 iphones, 2 iMacs, 15" Macbook Pro, and iPad Mini (no issues here, just slow connecting to App Store and can never seem to download updates)  has left me disenchanted. I do have a question about Mountain Lion but just airing out grievances.
    Ok, to the point. I have the new 27" iMac that was just released. Was delivered and opened the box, turned it on, and there was a flashing folder icon. No OS, wonderful. I live in Brooklyn and not trying to lug a 27" computer onto the train nor should I have to pay for a cab to resolve this. Anyway, I tried to go into Recovery but it started doing an Internet Recovery with a download time of 9 hours. Um, no thanks. So I downloaded the latest version of Mountain Lion from the App store on my old iMac and made a boot disk onto an external via Apples instructions. Plugged it into new iMac lemon, go into recovery mode, see the bootable drive, click on it to reinstall and it gives me a crossed out circle icon and shuts down.
    What am I doing wrong? I have pretty decent broadband and did start the internet recovery process now until I find a better solution online. After 5 hours, Internet recovery finished and clicked on Reinstall Mountain Lion to which it's asking me to download the OS again and with a 13 hour download time!!!! What's going on here? What was the purpose of internet recovery taking 5 hours only to download it again at another 13 hours???
    Question is, is there something I should be doing differently? Is there a way to install Mountain Lion from a bootable disk? This is mind blowingly the dumbest thing I've encountered with Apple. Got a problem with your OS? No problem, just download a 4.4GB file every incident.
    Thank you.

    You can't grab a installer from another Mac and expect it to run. The newer Macs have newer hardware which requires special drivers. If the version that boots the iMac is a special build, it won't work any other way than Internet Recovery.
    If it was me, I'd take it right back. You have no idea if the OS is just corrupted, the hard drive is dead, or what. I wouldn't take my chances with it.

  • Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on an iMac 27in

    My Install Disk for Snow Leopard will not boot on my iMac 27in. The Apple Logo is the only thing the user will see. The current OS on the system is 10.6.6. Upon placing the Snow Leopard DVD in the system, the DVD players spins for a few seconds and displays the Apple Logo. Nothing happens after 20 minutes.

    Yes, it is ridiculous how it is impossible to install Snow Leopard. I have two Snow Leopard DVDs: one that I purchased for a Macbook soon after it's release (10.6.0), and one that came with my iMac (10.6.4). Both of these boot up my Macbook (running 10.6.7) just fine. My SL 10.6.0 DVD mounts onto my iMac (Lion 10.7.0), but you cannot run the install. I attempted to boot from this DVD and got the infinite white screen and Apple logo, as some have reported above. The other SL 10.6.4 DVD will not even mount in Lion, and will not even show up as a bootable drive when I attempt to select it after holding alt/option on reboot.
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    I took my iMac to the genius bar. They inserted SL 10.6.0, which would not boot. Then they determined that my computer had to run 10.6.4 and later. So, they restored an image of SL 10.6.4 onto my partition (not an install from an image, but an image of SL already installed). Hurray! Snow Leopard was successfully shoved onto my iMac!
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    I like Apple, but sheesh do I hate Lion right now.

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