Mountain Lion install onto external drive?

I installed Mountain Lion onto an external Hard Drive that had a bootable Snow Leopard installed by mistake while I was booted from Snow Leopard on my iMac. It seems to work and I am able to access files and applications on the external drive when booted from the Mountain Lion external drive. Mail works, Drop Box works. I thought you have to be booted from the drive to which you want to upgrade the operating system. Have I missed something here or should I start over to first boot from the external drive and then do the upgrade to Mountain Lion?

You can upgrade from either disk. The install program allows you to select where do you want to install Mountain Lion.

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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.

HT4718 Mountain lion install- no recovery hd error

I am trying to install mountain loin and keeping getting"can't install-no recovery hd" error.. I have installed mountain lion on an external drive as suggested but when I try to install afterwards back on the MacBook it still says it can't install due to no recovery hd. I have been trying for 2 days now, HELP please.

I have mountain lion installed on the ext HD. I don't know if it has a recovery HD or not, I just did the install from the downloaded app. The app was on the MacBook pro drive. Now the MacBook will not boot at all. It just shows the apple logo and a spinning loading symbol but doesn't come on. I don't know how to boot from the external drive.

Installing lion onto external drive frozen during OSX install

I was trying to install lion into a clean hardrive, using lion recovery.
it's downloaded the first part, and the imac has restarted once and loaded up the "install Mac OS X " page, it said it was going to take 25mins to install.
It's frozen, about 20% into so install, and now i have the beach ball mouse pointer. and nothing is working.
how can i fix this?

You will need to force quit the installer by shutting down the computer. When you restart look in your Applications folder to see if you still have the Lion installer application. If your do, then I suggest doing the following:
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:
a. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
b. 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.
c. 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.
d. 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.
e. 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.
f. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash
     drive size.
3. Use Lion DiskMaker 2.0 to put your installer clone onto the USB flash drive.
Note: The term Mountain/Lion used above means Lion or Mountain Lion.
To reinstall Lion on the external drive:
Partition and format the external drive properly:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard 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.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. 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.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Security button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
Boot from the flash drive you made. Select the external drive as the target, then install Lion.

After installing Mountain Lion doesn't external hard drives mount or stay mounted. Anybody else with this major problem?

After installing Mountain Lion doesn't external hard drives mount or stay mounted.
I have tried resetting my Mac's PRAM but the problem still remains.
Even USB memory sticks are unmounted efter a few seconds.
Anybody else with this major problem?

I have the same problem, although mine has not been solved by ESET update, finder settings, PRAM & SMC resets or anything else.
Don't get it, my external hard drive still works on both my housemates computers - one macbook pro (with snow leopard) and one dell, just not on mine with mountain lion.
Any ideas for me guys?

Can I dual boot windows 7 and mountain lion with an external hard drive.

I have Mac OSX mountain lion installed and running on my 2TB external hard drive. Boot camp says that I have to use the default flash storage that came with my computer.. Is there a way to put it on my external hard drive if I partition it? I also am having a problem when I tried to use the default storage the setup would not let me format it to NTFS

By default, Boot Camp formats the drive with FAT32. That's because Windows XP could be installed with FAT32 so, in order to write on that partition on Mac OS X, Boot Camp used it instead of NTFS.
If you want to install Windows 7 (it's the only version that your Mac supports), you will have to format the Boot Camp partition in NTFS manually. To do it, just start the Windows installation as usual but, on partitioning screen, choose "BOOTCAMP" volume, press "Drive options" and then, Format, so the partition will be formatted in NTFS and you will be able to install Windows

Mountain Lion fails to install saying it cannot create the recovery; I had a similar problem with Lion and the Apple Store that helped me resolve it gave me an installable version of Mountain Lion on a flash drive for my inconvenience....

Mountain Lion fails to install saying it cannot create the recovery; I had a similar problem with Lion and the Apple Store that helped me resolve it gave me an installable version of Mountain Lion on a flash drive for my inconvenience....is there some trick I am missing or do I need to make an appointment with a genius...

I have the MacIntosh volume and the Boot Camp partition only. I know that when I installed Lion, I had to go through a whole back-up and recovery of Windows and then re-format the drive.
The tech at the Apple Store had a previous life as a MSCE and was very helpful. I believe he even said that I should not have htis problem with Mountain Lion which is why they gave me the flash with it onboard. I was in the process of starting a new job when I went to Lion, so I have waited to do this next and probably last upgrade to this old MBP since I doubt Apple will support this MBP in Maverick.
I do not have another installation, so that is not an option. I will try to create an external, I have plenty of hard drives around and see if I can get it done that way. It might take me a week or two to get back to it, but I will comment back upon completion of that effort. Thanks for your help....Dave Iverson

Unable to install Mountain Lion on my hard drive

I'm trying to upgrade my early 2008 mac pro from Leopard to Mountain Lion using a bootable usb drive but I'm having trouble doing so. When I try installing mountain lion to my hard drive (Mac Drive 1) - The hard drive is greyed out and says 'you can't upgrade this version of OS X'. Yet it looks like I can install mountain lion onto my second hard drive (Mac Drive 2) for some odd reason.
Here's the details for my mac drive 1 which I'm having trouble with (I noticed the volume format is greyed out on disk utility as well).....
And here's the mac drive 2 info which I don't want to install mountain lion onto but looks like I can....
Any help would be much appreciated! Thanks a lot.

I can't answer the bad hard drive question without some guessing. Not that smart.
Do you have a bootable copy of the Mountain Lion installer?
If not download the following. The site says it will work with 10.6:
http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/
That program will allow you to make a bootable DVD or USB with Mountain Lion on it.
You can boot off of it, erase the disk, and then install Mountain Lion.
I think you should be able to reinstall from carbon copy cloner, but I haven't used that program. During the setup it will ask you if you want to import files, but I don't know if it can read carbon copy cloner. I know it can read a Time Machine backup.
A clean install is generally better anyway.
If you get Mountain Lion installed, not everything works like it did in 10.5/10.6. For an example, scrolling is reversed, but you can change it back to the way it is in 10.5/10.6 in System Preferences. After spending some time in System Preferences, my computer acts pretty much the way it always did.

Will a Mountain Lion install USB work with putting Mac OS on a brand new hard drive?

My MacBook Pro's hard drive has crapped out and I'm planning on purchasing a new hard drive for it. However, this new hard drive will be completely clean and no remnants of Mac OS will be on it when I receive it. But before my hard drains crapped out, I made a Mountain Lion install USB like the one made here: http://osxdaily.com/2012/02/17/make-bootable-os-x-10-8-mountain-lion-usb-install -drive/ . If I install this new hard drive into my MacBook Pro, turn the computer on, and hold down the Option key, will I then be able to install Mac OS with this USB drive? If not, please explain the steps that I need to take in order to successfully install Mac OS onto a brand new hard drive.
P.S. I do not have the install disc from when I bought my computer.

You can use the USB drive you created previously to install OS X in your new hard disk. Also, you can use Internet Recovery, if you want to > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
After installing the hard disk and starting from the USB drive, follow the steps to reinstall OS X. If there isn't any partition on the hard disk, close the installer and open Disk Utility.
Then, choose the hard disk at the top of the sidebar, go to Erase tab and erase the disk. After erasing the disk, close Disk Utility and reinstall OS X

How do I install Mountain Lion on a thumb drive?

How do I install Mountain Lion on a thumb drive when my computer is running Mavericks? I downloaded the Mountain Lion installer, but when I attempt to run it I get a message that says "You cannot install OS X 10.8 on this computer." I don't want to install it on the computer, I want to install it on the thumb drive—but it won't give me a choice of drives.
The reason I want to do this is I want to be able to boot my iMac into Mountain Lion in order to test a hardware/software combination I suspect might be incompatible with Mavericks.
(Note: there are plenty of instructions online for how to create a bootable thumb drive with the Mountain Lion installer, but that's not what I want. I want to install ML on the thumb drive itself.)

Sure you have a proper installer application. When I start it I get:
Clicking on Continue, then accepting the licensing stuff, gets me to:
If you click on Show All Disks, then all mounted disks will be presented including your flash drive.
Now the above is a Mavericks installer, but it's the same for Mountain Lion.

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.

I have a 15" MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion installed. I have partitioned the hard drive into two partitions. Is it possible to install Snow Leopard on the second partition? If so how do I do it?

I have a 15" MacBook Pro with Mountain Lion installed. I have partitioned the hard drive into two partitions. Is it possible to install Snow Leopard on the second partition? If so how do I do it?

If your MacBook Pro had Snow Leopard on it at one time then sure. (Early 2011 or earlier)
How to erase and install Snow Leopard 10.6
Obviously choose the second partition to install into. It has to be OS X Extended journaled formatted in Disk Utility (BootCamp software makes it a MSDOS/FAT32 formatted partition if you used that to partition with)
If it's a Early 2011 or Late 2011 that came with 10.7, it's possible, but it's not easy.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3264421?start=0&tstart=0
If you can't install Snow Leopard, there is a thread over at MacRumors how to run Snow Leopard in a virtual machine program under 10.7 or 10.8

Can I dual boot Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion on one hard drive?

I want to make a new partition and be able to boot to either OS. Is this possible, if so, how? I would think just make a new partition and install the dmg file to that new partition.

@jimmyk11: AppleCare has actually informed me that "No - this MacBooPro9,1 cannot boot Snow Leopard".
It originally came with lion 10.7.4 installed. I have since upgraded to Mountain Lion 10.8 and (today, after a week or so of ML) I reverted to Lion 10.7.4. But now I find I can no longer boot into Lion 10.7.4 from my external FW800 drive (for troubleshooting and housekeeping). So it looks as if the "boot problems" are not confined to Snow Leopard 10.6.8.
Interestingly, I can use this same external drive to boot my iMac (10.7.4) and my older MBP8,3 (10.8) into 10.7.4 - but not the newer MBP9,1.
The MBP9,1 with Lion and Mountain Lion is turning into a disaster when it comes to external booting. If I could, I'd demand a return and a refund. After bottle-feeding Lion for a year, 10.7.4 seems basically stable and can still boot into Snow Leopard and Lion from my external drives if needed. But now I see I have a worse problem: Crippled Hardware. I suspect this bug needs a firmware update - if it is fixable at all.

10.7 install to external drive results in only "user" account

There is a problem which I have had couple of times when installing OS X Lion onto an external drive while running 10.7 off of the internal drive. The problem is that the OS install on the external drive gets created with only one user account, the same user account as what's running on the internal drive during install, except on the external drive the user account does not have admin privileges. So when booted off the external drive, there's no way to act as administrator, including upping the only account's privileges you have access to!
The only way to get an admin account on the OS instance on the external drive is to delete the hidden AppleSetupDone file on the external drive and then boot and let the OS go through its first run procedure.
Obviously the design team for OS X Lion one of the install as streamlined with the user being presented with the fewest choices and questions during the install is possible. However, not being presented with choices about the number and types of user accounts that will be set up during such an install clearly has its downside.
If the install on the external drive is going to duplicate the account that's currently running during the install, then it should at least copy those privileges as well. Ending up with an OS instance with no account with admin privileges is obviously not acceptable.

takoateli wrote:
Wrong again.
Have you ever installed to an external drive while booted 10.7 from the internal? I have, multiple times, and always the same result. I end up with the same account I was booted into on the internal at the time of install, duplicated on the external drive. Same account name, same password, and it's a *user* account. Not admin.
Here's what I do:
While booted on my MBP 13" internal hard drive, I open and run the 10.7 installer contained in "InstallESD", with the installation target being my external USB drive. The install finishes, the computer reboots off the external drive. No "Bienvenue, Welcome, Aloha etc.", no catchy music, no setup steps or installation completion. Just a login screen. I put in the login info for my account on the internal hard drive, and there I am, booted into the external drive, as *user*.
Greg
Right YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!!!!!
Sorry but I am not wrong.
Boot the system from either the Recovery HD partition or if you have a Lion Install USB thumb drive boot from that. Then select Re-Install OS X and point it to the external drive. Do not start the Install from inside the OS installed on the internal drive.
I thought that would be apparent, but I guess not.
If you have not made a Lion install USB thumb drive I suggest you do that using LionDiskMaker.
Serial Serveur » Lion DiskMaker (US)

How do I switch from Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard? New used computer that I don't have anything on yet but has Mountain Lion installed.

I just puchased a used 2008 MacPro 2.8 ghz 8 core and it has Mountain Lion installed on it. I want to go back to Snow Leopard because it is a better stable OS for using Final Cut Pro 7. I just bought the Snow Leopard Discs to install. I need to erase the hard drive and install Snow Leopard. Any help on how
to do this? Thank you.

Downgrade Lion/Mountain Lion to Snow Leopard
1. Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer Disc. After the installer
      loads select your language and click on the Continue
      button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the
      Utilities menu.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Quit DU and return to the installer. Install Snow Leopard.
This will erase the whole drive so be sure to backup your files if you don't have a backup already. If you have performed a TM backup using Lion be aware that you cannot restore from that backup in Snow Leopard (see below.) I suggest you make a separate backup using Carbon Copy Cloner.
If you have Snow Leopard Time Machine backups made while on Snow Leopard, then you may do a full system restore per #14 in Time Machine - Frequently Asked Questions. If you have subsequent backups from Lion, you can restore newer items selectively, via the "Star Wars" display, per #15 there, but be careful; some Snow Leopard apps may not work with the Lion/Mountain Lion files.

Mountain Lion install onto external drive?

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