Create a startup disk on a thumb drive

Trying to create a startup disk on a thumb drive to diagnose my wife's hard drive which I think is failing (another problem I won't go into here). We are on the road and the only thumb drive I have is 4 gb. But when I try to create a startup disk for it using the Mac OS X operating CD, it says it's not big enough. But I'm guessing it wants to install all of OS X and I just want to install the essential files necessary for a startup disk which I'm assuming would easily fit on my thumb drive.
Is this doable? If so how? Or is there a way to do this using Disk Utility? I tried that, but couldn't figure out how. Also, we have an iPod that has plenty of space, but from what I can tell, I would have to erase it and we can't do that.
Bottom line: is there any way we can create a startup drive from an iPod that we don't want to erase or a 4gb thumb drive? thanks.

Jolly Giant -
Thanks for the links. Unfortunately, neither seem to solve my issue assuming I'm looking at it right.
I ran across the first link previously and gave it a try. In step 9 it says to select the volume (the USB Drive) and continue the OS X installation. Unfortunately, when I select the USB thumb drive volume, it says it can't install because the volume (USB thumb drive) is not big enough. Mine is 4gb. That's my real issue. I need to install just the OS X files that are necessary to boot a Mac from a USB drive, but all the instructions I've run across apparently are designed to only install a full version of OS X and my 4 gb drive is too small for that.
Your second link, which is also a link from the first link, apparently explains how to do this installation on a smaller thumb drive like mine. But when I click on the link, it comes up as a dead link for me.

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I quickly scanned your profile before posting the link to that KB article, and could have sworn that I saw an Intel-based Mac there... In any case, many people have successfully booted OS X from USB drives on PPC Macs. It's certainly not as good or reliable as using a FireWire drive, but you can read various reports about it here and by Googling something like +PPC Mac boot USB+. You'll come up with a lot of information, so I don't understand other posters denying it can be done...
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FCE Express is writing render files to startup disk not external hard drive

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Create backup copy of lion on thumb drive

How do you create backup copy of Lion on a thumb drive?

See this article and this article.

Create a startup disk

I have a MacBook Pro 13 inch purchased in 2010. Currently I am running Yosemite on it. I want to sell it so I need to wipe and reformat the drive. I have backed my data already. I moved 3 times since the original purchase and I have no idea where the original disks are. Do I have to reformat with the original OS (and I have no idea what it was) or is there some way that I can make a start-up disk with Yosemite and use that to reformat?
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You need to use the computer’s original disks or a retail disk newer than that Mac. Anything which you might make from the Yosemite system is tied to your Apple ID.
(118627)

HT4848 Recovery HD (Mac) vs Recovery Disk (thumb drive)?

What is the difference between the Recovery Disk on the thumb drive and the Recovery HD on the Mac? In what situations would you use each one?

On the computer itself:
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Using the USB flash drive:
Insert USB drive into a USB port.
Restart the computer.
Immediately after the chime press and hold down the "OPTION" key.
Release the key when the boot manager appears.
Select the Recovery HD icon on the USB device.
Click on the arrow button below the icon.
EDIT:
As Baltwo has suggested you can make a fully bootable Lion installer:
Make Your Own Lion Installer
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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.
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Open Disk Utility.
Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Drag the InstallESD.dmg disc image file 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 Lion installer that you can use without having to re-download Lion.
The catch here is you must have a copy of the Lion installer application. If you downloaded Lion from the App Store and installed it, then it was automatically deleted after the installation. That means you need to sign into the App Store while running Snow Leopard to redownload Lion for free.
If your computer came with Lion pre-installed then there is no obvious way to get the installer application needed. This will necessitate using the methods outlined in Downloading Hardware Specific Lion Installers to obtain the installer.

"Startup Disk Full" though i have 382GB available on my hard drive?

I regularly get a pop up requesting that I force quit applications due to my startup disk being full, with no more room for application memory (or something similar).
It has been popping up more and more frequently in the last couple of days, and it has got to the point where I can't use Chrome for more than a few minutes without having to quit out of it.
I have a MacBook Pro from late 2011, and I have 382.83GB free out of a total of 499.25GB on my hard drive.
I have been told that the 'startup disk' and the hard drive are essentially the same thing so why am I being notified that it is full, and what can I do about it?
I only use my laptop for browsing the internet and uni work, and I have a few photos and some music on it but nothing I can think of that would be eating up so much memory.
If anyone can help me out or point me in the direction of a solution that would be so helpful!!!

The message has nothing to do with low disk space. There is excessive swapping of data between physical memory and virtual memory. That can happen for two reasons:
You have a long-running process with a memory leak (i.e., a bug), or
You don't have enough memory installed for your usage pattern.
Tracking down a memory leak can be difficult, and it may come down to a process of elimination.
When you notice the swap activity, open the Activity Monitor application and select All Processes from the menu in the toolbar, if not already selected. Click the heading of the Real Mem column in the process table twice to sort the table with the highest value at the top. If you don't see that column, select
View ▹ Columns ▹ Real Memory
from the menu bar.
If one process (excluding "kernel_task") is using much more memory than all the others, that could be an indication of a leak. A better indication would be a process that continually grabs more and more real memory over time without ever releasing it. Here is an example of how it's done.
The process named "Safari Web Content" renders web pages for Safari and other applications. It uses a lot of memory and may leak if certain Safari extensions or third-party web plugins are installed. Consider it a prime suspect.
Another process often implicated in memory leaks is "inkjet8," which is a component of the HP printing softwre. If it's present, force-quit the process in Activity Monitor to solve the problem temporarily. If you don't use an HP printer, remove the software. Otherwise, if the problem is recurrent, update the software (which may not help) or contact HP support.
If you don't have an obvious memory leak, your options are to install more memory (if possible) or to run fewer programs simultaneously.
The next suggestion is only for users familiar with the shell. For a more precise, but potentially misleading, test, run the following command:
sudo leaks -nocontext -nostacks process | grep total
where process is the name of a process you suspect of leaking memory. Almost every process will leak some memory; the question is how much, and especially how much the leak increases with time. I can’t be more specific. See the leaks(1) man page and the Apple developer documentation for details.

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then partitioned it into 200 GB and 730 GB partitions, both Mac Extended (Journaled),
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System Preferences -> Startup Disk shows the new drive, and I can select it,
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Restart with Option shows only the old (10.4, Tiger) disk.
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Is there any way to ensure that the next disk I buy is bootable in a G5?
--Gil

What type of partition scheme did you choose?
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I worry that the install disk will go bad over time if I continue to boot from it.
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Thanks

My Leopard install DVD was very flaky so I used a small partition on my external to clone it in case I had to fix something before the replacement DVD arrived. The directions are here. You can also make a DVD copy of the Leopard install disk if your drive will burn dual layer DVDs.
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I have created a DOS startup disk, in order to 'ghost' my the OS and application on the c drive (my data is on d) using the my "computer->format->create msdos startup disk" option. However, after booted it up from a, I found that it cannot detect my c or d sata drives. Did anyone over come this problem or did I do something wrong?
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Native
S-ATA: only
P-ATA: yes
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875P NEO FISR2
P4C with Intel stock fan (55C - 59C)
Corsair ValueSelect PC3200 CL 2.5 512K x 2
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Haupauge PVR
Sony DVD RW DRU-500A
Antec True Power 480
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Thanks for the quick responce
I did set the boot order to:
1st) Floppy 1.44
2nd) SATA 1
and SATA raid to no but without success. In fact, I even tried the 'legacy' mode but it is still the same. :angryfire:I could boot from drive c if I remove the floppy, but the problem is that there will be no harddrive c and d to work with. Removing the floppy disk will result in normal Winxp boot - which is ok. My c drive is like a sitting duck if there is a crash on OS without a backup image

Startup disk for USB

Hi,
I want to create a startup disk for lion before I upgrade to Mountain Lion. What size USB drive should I buy, 4gb, 8gb etc? Any help is appreciated.

You can re-install the OS without affecting your other data. Since oops do happen, do a backup, preferably 2 on 2 separate drives.
Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart and select Recovery Volume). Run Disk Utility Verify/Repair and Repair Permissions until you get no errors. Then re-install the OS.
OS X Recovery
OS X Recovery (2)

Copy from thumb drive to external hard drive fails - "file is in use"

I have photos on a thumb drive formatted MS-DOS FAT16 from a windows machine, all are .jpg files and I'm trying to copy them to one of two partitions on an external LaCie hard drive, formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The other partition is used only for Time Machine.
With absolutely nothing else running except The Finder, when I try to directly copy them by dragging a folder of them from the thumb drive window onto the external drive window, it starts up a copy, then returns the error "Cannot complete the copy because the file "<<imagename>>.jpg" is in use. <<imagename>> is always the first item in the folder being copied.
Sharing & Permissions for the folders and all images inside are "Read & Write" privileges for (Me) (unknown) and everyone.
I can successfully drag a folder of images from the thumbdrive to my MacBook Pro (10.5.8) desktop and they copy fine. When I then try to drag the folder from the desktop to the external drive, I get the same "in use" error message.
I've used Disk Utility to repair disk permissions and repair disk on my MacBook Pro, repair disk on the thumb drive and repair disk on the external hard drive. All are fine - same error occurs.
I've ejected, turned off and disconnected all external drives and thumb drives, restarted my MBP and re-connected the drive and turned it on, and then inserted the thumb drive - same error occurs.
Help please! Am I missing something basic here? Any troubleshooting wizards out there with some other thoughts or ideas?
Thanks!

This article describes moving your music to another drive, it may be of some help: iTunes for Windows - Moving your iTunes Music Folder

Error running maverick upgrade: You need 4.93 GB of available space to download OS X Mavericks. Remove items from your startup disk to increase available space. where do i find the startup disc?

MAC Pro, error:You need 4.93 GB of available space to download OS X Mavericks. Remove items from your startup disk to increase available space.
Where do I locate the startup disc?

The startup disk is your hard drive, where you store all your programs and data. Probably named Mac HD in Finder. Read this:
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24370185#24370185

Startup Disk Failure. Can Anything be Saved?

I'm bought a used PowerMac G4 which I've been very happy with. However, I received a warning that my startup disk was failing. Before I could get a new one, it appears to have died. This computer has two hard drives (the smaller of the two was the startup disk). The 160g drive should still be working. Is there any way I can move the startup disk to the second drive? I should also mention that I get absolutely nothing on the screen when I boot up. It stays black so I can't see anything. The power light does come on and dim when I let go.
Thanks!

Hi, Beth!
If the SMART status of the errant drive indicated that the disk was failing, it's a very good indicator that the drive needs immediate replacement. It may be dead now, but you won't be certain until you get the Mac to successfully boot.
The power light lighting while you're depressing it and then going out when you release it is a sign that the PMU needs to be reset. I would reset the PMU, load the Tiger install disc into the optical drive, and boot to the install disc. From the installer screen, choose Disk Utility from the menubar, select your errant startup volume, and run Repair Disk & Repair Permissions. Check the SMART status of this drive at the bottom of the Disk Utility window. Please advise us if the above is successful and what the SMART staus reads.
If the errant startup drive is indeed accessible, but the SMART status indicates an impending failure, you'll need to backup the startup volume to another drive. In the interim, I'd advise you not to use the Mac until you decide how you want to proceed.
You may certainly use your 160GB drive as the startup drive. If you have an empty volume on the 160 GB drive which is large enough to hold your startup volume, you can clone the entire startup volume to it. I'd recommend using SuperDuper , but you can use Disk Utility's Restore option to do this. If you don't have a spare, empty volume on the 160GB drive, then you'll either need to backup the data which is on it now, erase the drive, and then clone/restore. (Cloning the startup volume involves erasing whatever data that is currently on the destination volume it's being cloned to.) If you don't have an empty volume available, it may be easiest and safest to instead purchase another drive for this task. If you provide info on your specific Mac model, we can better advise you on different methods/options you might consider.
Gary

Cloned startup disk question

This past June I cloned my startup hard drive, the original 320GB HDD that came with my Mac Pro new in March 2008. I used Disk Utility's Restore and erased the new drive first, selecting Mac OS Extended, Journaled. This drive, a WD 1TB Caviar Black, is recognized when I boot from another drive because it shows up as a choice using System Preferences > Startup Disk.
The question I have is that a second, more recent 1TB drive, a Hitachi 1TB drive, was sent through the same process. My Mac Pro will start up fine using this drive, but when I look at System Preferences > Startup Disk, this newly-cloned drive is not an option. The first cloned drive that I mentioned above is showing, and a second option shows, Network Startup. Why does the Hitachi drive I cloned a couple of days ago not show up in System Preferences > Startup Disk even though my system is booted from this drive?
The drives were cloned using an eSata dock, and no errors were reported during the 2 to 3 hour process.

Since I see no way to edit this question, I am adding some more info.
When I restart my Mac and hold down the option key, both cloned drives (mentioned above) are shown as options for startup - the Hitachi and the WD drives, both clones of the original 320GB drive. Also, a third option is Windows. Since I chose the Hitachi drive as my startup drive, the Mount Point shows it is the primary drive.
When I select System Preferences > Startup Disk, the Hitachi drive still does not show up as an option.
One more observation is that when I used About This Mac > More Info, this Hitachi drive has
Partition Map Type: MBR (Master Boot Record)
even though I selected Mac OS Extended (Journaled) when I erased the new drive.
All the other drives (four of them) show
Partition Map Type: GPT (GUID Partition Table)
Do I need to re-format the drive to ensure it is partitioned as GPT?
Message was edited by: Leon Smith

Create a startup disk on a thumb drive

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