Lion on external drive

I own Lion, but, it's on my external drive. I would like to move it to my iMac's hard drive, like a migration. I would also like to keep my network information.

I really have no idea why there is a problem. You can move your TM backup to another drive. Just clone the TM backup drive to another drive:
Clone using Restore Option of Disk Utility
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.
Select the destination volume from the left side list.
Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
Check the box labeled Erase destination.
Select the destination volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
Select the source volume from the left side list and drag it to the Source entry field.
Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.
Destination means the other drive. Source means the TM backup volume.
However, if you have an extra drive then why not try installing Lion on that other drive.
I guess the Lion installer must be balking at the fact that TM is using the drive for backup. Nevertheless, I tracked this down: OS X Lion: Installer reports "This disk cannot be used to start up your computer" The suggested problem is the inability of the installer to make the Recovery HD image. Try the suggested solution to see if that works before you go to any further extremes.

Similar Messages

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    http://pondini.org/TM/C6.html

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    I have latest iMac running Snow Leopard and have downloaded and installed Lion on an external USB drive. The mic, speakers and camera do not work.
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    The symptoms you describe correspond to the situation where you have your media on the external drive but the iTunes database (where playlists, ratings, etc. are stored) on the C: drive.  If you can access the old drive, look for the C:\Users\username\Music\iTunes folder, and in particular for the iTunes Library.itl file.  Then see turingtest2's user tip on Make a split library portable for steps necessary to bring your library into a standardized layout - I'd suggest that you aim to have the complete library on the external drive, in this structure:
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  • Clean install of Mountain Lion on external drive

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    2. When I do the clean install, I know that I will eventually be asked for a admin user name, full name, etc. Is it critical that these exactly match those of my wife's current computer, so that the permissions of all the files that I will eventually move over (by hand, not setup assistant or whatever it's called) will still work correctly?
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    Thanks for the reply. This was indeed the key to my problem.
    Thank you for taking time to help me out on this.
    Best wishes,
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  • New (Oct. 2013) retina MBP. Can I boot to Mountain Lion on external drive?

    Hi there,
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    You might be able to depending on the exact version of Mt Lion you have on that external. The newest iMacs originally got shipped with a special version of Mt Lion 10.8.4 (right not even the newest release of Mt Lion) that included the proper driver package for the new hardware. If you had a copy of that your new 2013 MBP might boot from it. But since you have a copy from a 2010 model I doubt it would. The only way to tell is TRY IT. No harm will come to your new MBP if it doesn't.

  • Windows on external drive

    recently I have stumbled upon installing 10.7 lion on external drive:
    +Playing with partitions is not for the faint of heart. Installing OS X Lion to a USB drive or external hard drive is a safer but likely slower option.+
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    I would like to install windows on external drive and use it only when needed (hardly ever, but sometimes I have to)
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    Hi,
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    Sadly, Microsoft choosed to not allow Windows to be installed and run from external harddisk.
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    A good USB-hub (preferably one that is self-powered and not USB-powered) will let you use both the Superdrive and an external harddisk at the same time.
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    Stefan

  • Lion and external disk freeze/erase

    Using a 2008 MacPro 32 GB RAM LION 10,7,2
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    It was the that with EVERY Fat32 e-sata 1Tb drives I tryed ... Frightening ! hopefully it was some extra backup disks !!!
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    really ennoying

    Got the exact same problem, and I also did this operation many times before, from 500Gb to 750Gb, and then from 750Gb to 1 Gb. Not My HD got a little such complaining about bad sectors when in windows bootcamp, but still runs fine though.
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  • Time Machine external drive not displayed in Migration Assistant

    I have been suffering repeated lockups with my iMac, so I decided to bite the bullet and reformat the drive and restore from a Time Machine backup. I have been backing up to an external USB drive, not a Time Capsule. It seemed to be working fine and I have successfully restored the occasional file. However, having reinstalled Lion, the external drive was not offered as a possible source for restoration. Similarly, having chosen not to restore during reinstallation, I attempted to use the Migration Assistant: once again the external drive was not offered as a source. Luckily, I also had an up-to-date cloned drive that was offered and I managed a successful restore.
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    It seems that
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  • How do I install Lion on external hard drive? I have purchased and downloaded through App Store but do not know where the download is located so I can install.

    I want to install Lion on an external hard drive. The OS was purchased and downloaded through the App Store but I do not know where the file is.

    If you downloaded the installer it will be in your applications folder. Failing that use spotlight start typing Install and it should show up.
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    OS X: Installing OS X on an external volume - Apple Support
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    PJRS

  • How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

    How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

    Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
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  • How do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved from old computer and system

    how do I access my iphoto library on time machine backup external drive using Lion, originally saved off old computer and system.  It's not letting me open the folder???

    Once again here's how to restore an iPhoto Library from Time Machine:

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    I have a Macbook running Snow Leopard which I back up to an external drive using time machine.  If I purchase a new MacBook pro and transfer backup from time maching to MacBook Pro will it also transfer Snow Leopard as its is my preferred O.S.

    Welcome to Apple Support Communities.
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  • How do I correctly share an external drive under Lion?

    Hello,
    I've bought myself a new Mac Mini running Mac OS X Lion and i'm having difficulties with sharing files from an external USB hard drive with Windows users.
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    Well, what do you know.  I plugged in another external drive and formatted it to HFS+ and it shared fine.
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