Install Lion on an external drive?

I have read the discussions on making a bootable backup of Lion on external hard drive or a USB drive. I am not clear on whether I can purchase Lion from the App Store and have it download on an external drive so that my Macbook with 10.6.8 will remain as is. I want to test drive Lion before giving up Snow Leopard. I use SuperDuper and have a bootable Snow Leopoard on an external hard drive. Addendum: It looks like I may need to upgrade from 2GB of ram to 4GB before using Lion. My question still stands though. Thanks.

It will download onto the computer from which you run the App Store. After it downloads do not install:
Make Your Own Lion Installer
1. After downloading Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Lion application. After Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button. Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the 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 Lion.
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 hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Note the SMART status of the drive in DU's status area. If it does not say "Verified" then the drive is failing or has failed and will need replacing. SMART info will not be reported on external drives. Otherwise, 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 several hours depending upon the drive size.
3. Locate the saved 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 InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:
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.

Similar Messages

HT4904 Help. I have an older 20 inch iMac and had Lion running on it but the internal hard drive died. I'm trying to install Lion on an external drive but it doesn't look like Lion Recovery is supported. I have Leopard installed but am stuck.

Hello,
My 20inch iMac's internal drive died and I'm trying to re-install Lion on an external drive. If I could get the Lion DMG file I think I'd be all set but am not sure how to do this. It doesn't look like the Lion Recovery feature is supported in my older iMac. And I have Leopard installed on the external drive but there's no AppStore to download the Lion DMG file.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
-Lee

Without a bootable backup/clone or a Time Machine backup of your previous Snow Leopard installation or a saved copy of Lion's install app, you'll have to upgrade your Leopard volume to Snow Leopard (10.6.6+) so you can waste another hour or more DLing the Lion thing again.

Cannot proceed with installing Lion on an external drive

Hi everyone,
I have a late 2008 MacBook Pro, 10.6.8 installed. I'm trying to install Lion on an external HDD connected via an ExpressCard/SATA adapter. The target HDD has GUID table with a single partition containing a couple of regular folders (no OS installed). I boot up my Snow Leopard OS, run the Lion installation, choose the external HDD and it starts the installation with no warnings.
Then when the progress bar reaches the end, I'm told to close all applications and restart. After the restart I'm suddenly booted to my old Snow Leo. I see a Mac OS Install Data folder on the external drive, but I cannot boot off it and cannot continue the installation.
I have a suspicion that the problem might be that I haven't formatted the drive and it contained some data when I started the installation, but I doubt this is the cause. I don't want to format the drive because it contains some necessary data.
If anyone encountered anything like that, please describe your cases.
Thanks a lot

Hi. Thanks a lot for the quick response. I bought Lion on the App Store but it's not downloading. It says "Waiting..." and has now for ten minutes. It's also trying to download the update to another app and it's saying "Waiting..." for that one too. Not sure what to do or what is going wrong.
Okay, just now the download started working. I would delete this reply but I don't see how to do it.

I have Tiger. Can I install Lion on an external drive?

I have an iMac Intel Core 2 Duo running Tiger. What I would like to do is install Lion on an external hard drive and have the ability to boot up using either Tiger or Lion as the occasion arises. Reason being, I have some software apps that would no longer run on anything higher than Tiger and would require $1200 worth of upgrades. While I plan to eventually make such upgrades (and perhaps buy a new Mac to put it all on), for now I'm seeking an interim solution.
In short, I want to take advantage of what Lion has to offer in the way of increased speed and flexibility (especially with internet surfing) while at the same time being able to boot up part of the time in Tiger to continue to run my older apps when needed.
So, can it be done? Install Lion on an external HD? Or do I need to install Snow Leopard first, then upgrade to Lion? Or is none of this possible without buying a new computer and just keeping my old machine to run Tiger with the older apps?

The short answer is yes, the somewhat longer answer is that you must should first install Snow Leopard. With the exception of Classic / OS 9 everything you do with Tiger should run fine in Snow Leo.
Lion System Requirements: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4949
Next you will need more memory. Consider Lion's specfied 2 GB minimum with a great degress of skepticism. That is a very small cage for this cat. 4 GB is a more realistic minimum.
If I interpret your system correctly, you have a mid-2009 iMac. It can address 8 GB memory. Lion will be very comfortable with that amount.
Message was edited by: John Galt

I think I messed up by not installing Lion on an external drive when my install didn't work

I purchased Lion but was unable to install (just read other threads on Lion installation problems!). I was unable to repair my drive so after many days of putsing around I erased hard drive so I could repair it and then I reset my pram. All is well with my Imac and everything is running smoothly. Problem is that I was never able to install Lion (didn't think about usb drive), so can I get Lion from Itunes, or was that a wasted purchase since my drive was erased?

I don't think you understand. When I was unable to install I went to disk utility and try to repair my disk, that was unsuccessful and all other measures were as well. I had already purchased Lion. I did not save it to anything or copy it. I ended up having to erase my hard drive though and now I obviously don't have the prompt to install. When I go to the app store it is saying I have to purchase Lion again. I am asking if I do have to or is there a way that I didn't just throw away $19.99

I want to install mountain Lion on an external drive without uninstalling Maverick from my computer

When I want to get mountain Lion, apple store telles me that I have Maverick installed. How can I charge the M Lion version to install on an external drive?

You would need to download a copy from the Mac App Store or already have a copy of the installer. Then you can make a bootable USB drive using DiskMaker X (http://liondiskmaker.com). Once you created the USB disk, you can boot from that and install Mt Lion on the external drive.

I downloaded and installed Lion on an external hard drive using my laptop which is running Snow Leopard I have now decided that I want to install Lion on my Laptop, but when I go to the App store and click on my purchases it will not download

I downloaded and installed Lion on an external hard drive using my laptop which is running Snow Leopard I have now decided that I want to install Lion on my Laptop, but when I go to the App store and click on my purchases it will not download again

Thanks Dirk,
Tried your suggestion various ways but it had no effect the download button was still greyed out and the install button would not activate will keep trying to find a solution. I dont want to boot from the external hard drive that has Lion on mainly because it is a usb HD and the connection to my wireless modem slows the connection rate and downloading would take about ten hours

Installing lion on to Extern usb drive.

Hi folks,
I have a issue installing lion on a Seagate Momentus XT 500gb on my macbook pro5.4 2.53ghz mid 2009.
I have no problem identifying the harddrive in the usb drive. Or for that matter formating it.
When Entering appstore and downloading and then installing it on to the the new hardrive, it runs smooth and all. After the installation is complete the computer reboots and enters the new freshly installed lion installation.
I poke around in it and it seems to function well.
What happens next is very strange! IF i reboot or shutdown the computer and remove the drive from the usb dock and install it inside the computer the Computer can not find the drive. The "apple" logo that turns on when booting turns to a folder with a "?" question mark on it and a "denied" sign (circle with a dash over it) starts flashing.
My Computer cant find the newly installed OS.
if i press the option key during boot it can se what ever i name the drive to for isntance "Machintosh HD 2" and the recovery hd partition.
But cannot boot from any of em.
I can put the old drive in the usb dock and boot from it.
How do i go from here? Any help would be very much appriciated.

2 choices:
Download Lion and elect your external drive as the destination (formatted for a Mac)
Clone your internal to your external and then install Lion on the external, this has the advantage of allowing you to test your installation without committing it to your internal drive

Hard drive died... How do I reinstall Mountain Lion onto an external drive?

I have Time Machine and two extra external drives but now I cannot boot from the Hard Drive to reinstall Mountain Lion. I have a recovery partition from TechTool but it does not include Time Machine or the App Store. My computer boots into the TechTool disk but my hard drive is not shown. Disk Utility does not see my hard drive either.
Any suggestions?
TIA

Sorry, I'm confused.
The recovery partition from Tech Tool, this is on the internal HD or on a CD/DVD?
Is this the same thing as the TechTool disk that your computer can boot into?
Where is the Disk Utility that cannot see your hard drive? Is it on the Apple recovery partition on your internal drive? Are you saying that Disk Utility on your Apple recovery partition cannot see your boot partition?
It sounds like your internal boot partition won't work, but the internal drive itself is OK (i.e., Disk Utility, on your Apple recovery partition, doesn't see the normal boot partition), or at least OK to the extent that the Apple Recovery partition can run.
If you install Mountain Lion on your external drive and use it as the boot drive for your computer, it will be very slow, and you won't be happy. I'd forget that idea.
Assuming I am thinking correctly about your situation, I would try to repair your HD. Your options would be:
a safe boot Mac OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode? and then disk utility
boot into single user mode and see if you can repair your hard drive Repair Your Hard Disk in Single User Mode | Everything Macintosh
internet recovery OS X: About OS X Recovery
recovery disk assisant, if you have made one already OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0
If none of that works, then I'd try and wipe the entire drive and start over. I'd try to do that from internet recovery. Hopefully one of your external drives has backups on it.
If that doesn't work, then I'd replace the drive.

Can I install Leopard on an external drive to run my computer?

Since it seems my hard drive has totally bit the dust, can I install Leopard on the external drive I use for Time Machine, and run my desktop from that drive? Could I run it from an external drive totally dedicated to Leopard? I am buying a new desktop soon, but I need info off of this machine. Can I plug in my Time Machine drive to my laptop and be able to use it without losing data?

Elizabeth Salcido wrote:
Thanks so much.
Youa re welcome!
I figured I would have to use a second drive. At least when I get my new desktop I will have a drive for Time Machine for both desktop and laptop.
If you really plan to keep the laptop around after you get your desktop, I would recommend replacing its internal hard drive. While running your laptop off an external is possible, it should be considered a stopgap measure. i wouldn't do it on a permanent basis. For one, as you'll find out, it's quite a bit slower than when using the internal drive.

Install Leopard on an External Drive on a Snow Leopard Mac Book Pro

Hi
I have a MBP 17/CTO 2.66GHz i7, which came installed with Snow Leopard.
I've used boot camp to install Windows 7.
I've attempted to install Leopard 10.5.4 on an external drive.
The steps I've taken:
1 - Connected my WD Passport on the Firewire Port
2 - Partitioned the drive. The first partition is 100GB, Mac OS/X Extended (journal) and I've selected the GUID Partition Scheme
3 - Inserted the Mac OS/X Leopard DVD, and followed the instructions to restart
4 - On restart I have three options. Mac OS, Windows and Install Mac OS\X
5 - I select Install Mac OS\X.
6 - The disc spins for a few moments and then the laptop freezes
Beware of the following issue:
1 - On restart more often than not, the DISC will spin and then the laptop will freeze.
2 - To overcome this, restarting pressing the ALT (option) Key.
3 - You should see your boot options. If you do not see "Install Mac OS\X", then eject and reinsert the disc.
The question maybe why would I want to have an Leopard Installation when I have Snow Leopard. The software I develop has thrown up a number of differences between Leopard and Snow Leopard, hence I need both OS's to support my software.
I mentioned this to the Apple Store before I purchased my machine. They put me through to a senior technician at Apple Care, who told me it would be possible to have the set up I am after; and to contact Apple Care if I ran into any difficulties.
After I received my laptop and ran into the problems I described above I contacted Apple Care, only to be told by a senior technician that it should be possible to install Leopard on an external drive, but Apple Care cannot provide any support or assistance.
I really do like the laptop and would much rather not return the laptop; but I really do need the setup described.
Anyway I have tried a number of different approaches:
1 - Having no partitions (so just the single partition)
2 - Trying all three Partition Schemes:
- GUILD Partition Table
- Apple Partition Map
- Master Boot Record
All resulting in the same problem.
I can confirm the external drive does appear as bootable in disc info.
My guess is one of the following is preventing the install:
1 - It is simply not possible to install an earlier version of Mac OS\X than 10.6 on the laptop I have, even if I tried to install on an external drive. This restriction is built into some hardware confirguration. So even if I wiped the internal hard drive or added a new partition to the internal hard drive, I would not be able to install 10.5.4. I say this may be a reason as the second technician told me the CPU has built into it a process which prevents installing older versions of Mac OS/X, but that it should NOT restrict installation on an external harddrive.
2 - When trying to install Mac OS/X, a search is carried out for an external drive which has the correct format. For some reason it may be that this search is not finding my external drive?
I'm a little stuck here and quite disapointed that the support promised by Apple Care for assistance in setting this up, is now not forth coming.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated, as ideally I would prefer to keep and not return the laptop, it's a beautiful piece of machinery.
Cheers
Parmy

The mystery continues...
I have an older MBP (2.33 GHz Intel Core Duo) which came installed with Tiger. I can confirm I purchased a genuine copy of Leopard (10.5.4) from the Apple Store and it’s not an OEM version. I installed 10.5.4 without a hitch on my old MBP internal drive. It is the only OS installed on my old MBP.
Using my older MBP (which through software updates is now running 10.5.7), I managed to install 10.5.4 onto my external HD (WD My Passport Studio – 640GB FireWire 800).
However; on the final restart, the screen remained grey and 10.5.4 did not boot from the external drive.
I restarted the machine holding down the ALT (option) key, and only two options appeared, Macintosh HD and the Install DVD. I selected the Macintosh HD and opened System Preferences.
In System Preferences --> Startup Disk, I discovered the partition on my external HD which contains 10.5.4. I selected this partition and selected restart.
On restart my MBP displayed a grey screen, and the blue light on my hard drive flashed slowly. I left this for an hour, however; the OS did not start and the screen remained grey.
I then plugged my external HD into my new MBP which I started holding down the ALT key.
To my surprise I found 3 boot options (Macintosh HD, Windows and Leopard). Leopard being the partition on my external drive, which now has 10.5.4 installed.
I selected Leopard, but sadly after 30 minutes, the OS failed to boot.
Although this deviates slightly from this post, I fail to understand the problem here:
1 – Why can’t I boot 10.5.4 on an external drive, from my old MBP? Surely this is not because my old MBP is now running 10.5.7?
2 – Why can I see 10.5.4 as a boot option on my new MBP but not on my old MBP when I start the MBP holding down the ALT key?
I doubt there is a problem with my external drive, as it seems to read, write, etc... in all normal cases.
Whilst it definitely appears that I won’t be able to boot 10.5.4 on an external drive from my new MBP, I should be able to at least boot it from my old MBP, which would give me the option of installing Snow Leopard and Windows on the internal drive of my old MBP.
Apologies for keeping this post going, but I hope by getting to the bottom of this, it will help other Mac users as well.
I’ve run out of ideas of things to try, so I will give Apple Care another call in the morning, and will report back.
Any suggestions of other things I can try?
Cheers

Can I install Linux on an external drive?

I'm kinda curious about something. If I boot up off an external firewire drive at boot time and I have previously partitioned it into 2 partitions (techtool or iPartition) is it possible to install a Intel Linux distro on the 2nd partitition?
When I go to boot from that external drive will the Linux installed boot loader allow me to select OSX or Linux to actually boot from?
Even better can I just install Linux on this external drive in the only partition?
I'm only looking to experiment with a Linux distro and I don't want to use Parallels anymore so I'm wondering if I can use an external drive to do so.
TIA,
Peter

I'm kinda curious about something. If I boot up off
an external firewire drive at boot time and I have
previously partitioned it into 2 partitions (techtool
or iPartition) is it possible to install a Intel
Linux distro on the 2nd partitition?
When I go to boot from that external drive will the
Linux installed boot loader allow me to select OSX or
Linux to actually boot from?
Even better can I just install Linux on this external
drive in the only partition?
I'm only looking to experiment with a Linux distro
and I don't want to use Parallels anymore so I'm
wondering if I can use an external drive to do so.
TIA,
Peter
Here is an indirect answer. I know you can using Paralles, not sure about the other way though.
http://www.parallels.com/

Can I install os9 on an external drive from mavericks

Can I install OS9 on an external drive from Mavericks? I'm running Mavericks 10.9.4 on both my MBP and 27" iMac. I have my original OS9 install disc. I'd like to install OS9 on an external drive so I can use some classic apps that I'd like to use.
I tried to install directly to an external drive, but when I click on the Mac OS Install icon, I get the message "You can't open the application "%@" because it may be damaged or incomplete." The icon for Mac OS Install is the generic page with an A. Figuring that Mavericks doesn't recognize the app. Then I restarted and held down the C key - no luck.

I understand, but was hoping I boot off an external drive in 9. Thanks for your response and I apologize for my late response.

How do I install Lion on new flash drive?

How do I install Lion on new flash drive?

For an emergency pocket size boot device?
Or something else?
Or, do you want to setup the Lion Installer for clean or reinstalls on flash memory card, which is what many use?
Create an OS X Lion Install disc
OS X Lion Install to Different Drive
How to create an OS X Lion installation disc MacFixIt
Migration Assistant Update for Mac OS X Snow Leopard
http://www.apple.com/support/lion/installrecovery/
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20080989-263/how-to-create-an-os-x-lion-ins tallation-disc
http://www.coolestguyplanettech.com/how-to-make-a-bootable-osx-10-8-mountain-lio n-disc-or-drive-from-the-downloaded-mountain-lion-app/
USB on Intel Macs has always supported booting, that is what MacBook users have had to deal with. With a Mac Pro you have four internal drive bays, Firewire, and all of those are more suited and capable.
Old thread, never die do they.

How to install lion cleaning the hard drive

I have a MacBook I am currently running Liuon but have previously installed Leopard and Snow Leopard without clearing the hard drive first.
The machine has now three operating systems installed and is running very slow.
It has been suggested that I make a copy of the hard drive, before erasing all the information and loading Lion on a clean hard drive.
How do i do this?

Install Lion to a blank drive or partition, including one created with the Disk Utility, and then either use the Migration Assistant or copy your files to the new system manually as desired.
(66830)

Install Lion on an external drive?

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