Trying to install Mountain Lion on external USB drive. Will not boot!

Running mid-2010 MBP 15", OS X 10.8.5 (upgraded from orig. 10.6 Snow Leopard). I'm trying to create an external boot disk from scratch -- 500gb USB drive.
Working from instructions on this page:http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5911
1. Re-partitioned the hard drive with GUID partition table, 1 partition, formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled)
2. Downloaded the installer from the App Store. Ran the install. Installer runs without incident. So far so good...
When the installer is finished running, and the system tries to re-boot, it just hangs at the grey screen.
The drive mounts normally if I set the start disk to the original internal disk. I ran 'verify disk' from disk utilities and all appears to be okay.
Tried a different USB cable, I'm about to swap the drive into another USB enclosure to see if that's the issue.
Any suggestions on how to further troubleshoot?

Just swapped the drive out to another USB enclosure. It's booting. Who knew the enclosures could be so sensitive? Wondering if it's a power supply issue on the other enclosure?

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External USB drives will not mount under Mountain Lion

Since upgrading to Mountain Lion, two external USB2 drives that I have will not mount and cannot be viewed in the Finder. The same occurs on a 2012 MacBook Air, a 2009 iMac 27 and a 2010 MacMini, all running OS X Mountain Lion version 10.8.2.
Both drives are Samsung Story external USB drives (one is 1.5 GB and the other is 2 GB) and both have been formatted using Mac Disk Utility with a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition, one using Snow Leopard and the other with Lion.
Both still mount correctly on a friends MacBook Pro that is still running Snow Leopard, and I had no problem with the same drives under Lion. Interestingly both can also be connected to Time Capsule USB port and show up correctly.
Both drives mount correctly under Windows 7 on BootCamp partitions that I have on both the 2012 MacBook Air, a 2009 iMac 27. These BootCamp partitions have Paragon HFS+ installed so I can read Mac formated drives.
Both drives show up in Disk Utility, but when attempt to mount the drives I get the message "The disk could not be mounted. Try running First Aid on the disk and retry mounting." I can run Repair in First Aid on the disk and get the message that the volume appears OK, but again have the same problem when I attempt to mount the disk.
I have also tried using Disk Utility 3,2, but still cannot mount the drives, though the program indicates there is no problem with the drives.
I have other portable USB including a Samsung portable USB2 drive, and two external USB3 drives, and I don't have problems with them.
There is clearly a problem with Mountain Lion with accessing (mounting) these Samsung Story USB drives, and the problem appears to be with Mountain Lion itself as the problem did not occur on the same Macs with Lion and does not occur with Bootcamp partitions on the machines.
I have a lot of time searching forums, but I have not found anyone with an identical problem.
I sure hope someone can help or that Apple come up with a fix for this issue which has only developed since the update to Mountain Lion.

bj10au wrote:
Since upgrading to Mountain Lion, two external USB2 drives that I have will not mount and cannot be viewed in the Finder. The same occurs on a 2012 MacBook Air, a 2009 iMac 27 and a 2010 MacMini, all running OS X Mountain Lion version 10.8.2.
Both drives are Samsung Story external USB drives (one is 1.5 GB and the other is 2 GB) and both have been formatted using Mac Disk Utility with a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) partition, one using Snow Leopard and the other with Lion.
Both still mount correctly on a friends MacBook Pro that is still running Snow Leopard, and I had no problem with the same drives under Lion. Interestingly both can also be connected to Time Capsule USB port and show up correctly.
Both drives mount correctly under Windows 7 on BootCamp partitions that I have on both the 2012 MacBook Air, a 2009 iMac 27. These BootCamp partitions have Paragon HFS+ installed so I can read Mac formated drives.
Both drives show up in Disk Utility, but when attempt to mount the drives I get the message "The disk could not be mounted. Try running First Aid on the disk and retry mounting." I can run Repair in First Aid on the disk and get the message that the volume appears OK, but again have the same problem when I attempt to mount the disk.
I have also tried using Disk Utility 3,2, but still cannot mount the drives, though the program indicates there is no problem with the drives.
I have other portable USB including a Samsung portable USB2 drive, and two external USB3 drives, and I don't have problems with them.
There is clearly a problem with Mountain Lion with accessing (mounting) these Samsung Story USB drives, and the problem appears to be with Mountain Lion itself as the problem did not occur on the same Macs with Lion and does not occur with Bootcamp partitions on the machines.
I have a lot of time searching forums, but I have not found anyone with an identical problem.
I sure hope someone can help or that Apple come up with a fix for this issue which has only developed since the update to Mountain Lion.
You can start here
http://support.seagate.com/kbimg/flash/213059/213059_EN.HTML
Pete

EXTERNAL USB Drive will not open with Snow Leopard

External USB drive will open with SL. The drive icon appears on the desktop. When I click on it, Error message, "The alias USB Drive can't be opened because the original item can't be found." When I click on "Fix Alias", a window pops up and shows the usb drive in a list but does not respond when I click on it. I then tried disk utility and tested the disk and it tested OK. The drive still will not open. This problem started after I installed Snow Leopard. Need Help.
Message was edited by: PHAT ROB

The same error is produced when I try to mount a smb share.
I select the "connect to server" (cmd-K). Input the share info "smb://<user>@<server>/<share_path>
At the auth prompt, I input my credentials.
The error pops up, same as original poster.

External Firewire Drive Will Not Boot with 10.5.1

I have a Intel Mac Mini and I tried to install Leopard onto a external Firewire Drive. I have done this with 10.4.11 and all works well. The Mac Mini is running 10.5.1 on it's internal drive. I attached the Ext FW drive 320 GB and formatted it using 'Disk Utility' GUID format. I next installed 10.5.0 on the Ext FW Drive. I can shutdown and reboot with 10.5.0 using the firewire drive as the booting drive. I next installed the 10.5.1 update and when it completes it requests a restart, I restart it and it never boots back up just the Grey-Apple screen.
I have left it sit for a long time in this 'trying-to-boot' mode for a longtime because I know 10.5.1 may restart more than once on initial install. but nothing. I have also tried partitioning the drive into 3 40-80-180GB drives, but still the same behavior.
Any suggestions?

Went through the motions on that. No positive results. I'm starting to suspect either the enclosure or one of the latest updates.
This what I have found to date.
The Enclosure " Vantec NexStar 3" extrenal USB 2.0 and Firewire. Model NST-360UF-BK
The Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB IDE Drive
I tried 10.5.0 on an Intel Mac Mini. (GUID format) It boots ok. Install 10.5.1 manually downloaded or automatic it will install the update but will no reboot.
(this part I have to verify a second time) tried the same enclosure on a G4 . I attached the drive formatted it for a PowerPC install and boot. Installed 10.4.10 but not the latest security updates, JAVA, and QT. It will boot ok from the external FW drive. I next install the latest Updates via the update app in the Systems Preference window. After doing the updates for 10.4.10 it will not boot.
So I'm suspecting either the enclosure or the latest updates

Installed X.5 on external HD FW - Will not boot - I'm confused

Hi
Bought an external HD FW (500Gb)
Formatted it as Mac OS Extended (journaled)
Installed Mac OS X.5 Leopard
Selected Start-up disk - New ext HD
Doesn't work.
This I've done sinc system 7 I guess. Can't figure out why it doesn't work now.
Yours most confused Bengt W

You can check the partition scheme in Disk Utility by clicking on the topmost (drive) icon and looking at the bottom right of the screen, but even if it is Apple Partition Map, correct for your PPC macs, they probably still won't boot.
From this Western Digital support web page http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/stdadp.php?pfaqid=1715
====
Power PC based Macintosh computers are unable to boot to a My Book external hard drive.
Question
Why am I unable to boot to a WD My Book external hard drive using a Power PC (PPC) Based Macintosh computer?
Answer
Problem:
Power PC based Macintosh computer systems are unable to boot to the following My Book external hard drive:
* My Book Pro II Edition
* My Book Premium II Edition
* My Book Home Edition
* My Book Studio Edition
Intel Macintosh computers are not affected by this issue and are able to be booted from My Book external hard drives if the partition on the drive has been setup as a GUID partition scheme.
Cause:
This issue is a Macintosh bug cause by the Mac ROM code of the computer and how it attempts to boot from the first SCSI LUN it detects (LUN 0). In the case of the aforementioned hard drives, the LUN 0 device is dedicated to the button board and safe removal tools of the hard drive case and not the internal hard drive, thus causing booting to be impossible.
Resolution:
There is currently no resolution to this issue. If a resolution is found by Apple, this answer will be updated with this information.
=====
Hopefully you can exchange your drive for a different brand.

Trying to install Mountain Lion, getting Disk not formatted properly

I am currently running osx 10.6.8, trying to install Mountain Lion and when I am selecting the drive to install too I get:
"This disk is not formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)..."
This is my master HD so i cant really just reformat it? Im not great with macs so step-by-step would help.
Model Name:          MacBook Pro
Model Identifier:          MacBookPro8,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core i7
System Version:          Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Kernel Version:          Darwin 10.8.0

Open Disk Utility, select your Macintosh HD volume. In the status area at the bottom check that it is partitioned using GUID. Now click on the Journal icon in the toolbar above. This should fix it for you without having to reformat the drive.
Since you have the downloaded Mountain Lion installer I suggest you make a copy of it in your Downloads folder. Then do the following:
Make Your Own Mountain/Lion Installer
1. After downloading Mountain/Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Mountain/
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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
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c. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one.
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      partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until
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d. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side
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e. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the
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f. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash
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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:
a. Double-click on the InstallESD.dmg file to mount it on your Desktop.
b. Open Disk Utility.
c. Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
d. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
e. Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
f. Drag the mounted disc icon from the Desktop into the Source entry field.
g. 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.

I have installed the most recent version of Snow Leopard on my MAC, and I am trying to install Mountain Lion from the Apple Store. It will not install, because it says I do not have 2GB of memory, even though I have over 200GB available. Please help.

I have installed the most recent version of Snow Leopard on my MAC, and I am trying to install Mountain Lion from the Apple Store. It will not install, because it says I do not have 2GB of memory, even though I have over 200GB available. Please help.

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
One thing is the memory, and another thing is the hard disk space. You are telling me that you have 200 GB of free space on the hard disk, but the App Store is telling you that you have to install 2 GB of memory or more on your Mac if you want to upgrade to OS X Mountain Lion.
First of all, open  > About this Mac > More Info, and copy "Model Identifier" here, so we can know what Mac you have got and how much memory you can install.
We recommend to buy the memory in OWC or Crucial (Crucial is cheaper and offers the same compatibility warranty as OWC) because you won't probably have any problem with the memory you buy there

Getting S.M.A.R.T. when trying to install Mountain lion. Hard drive works pretty well. I understand that many users have been facing the same issue. Has apple patched it yet?

I'm getting S.M.A.R.T. error when trying to install Mountain lion. Hard drive works pretty well despite the Failing status. I understand that many users have been facing the same issue. My hard drive was/is working perfectly. Has Apple patched it yet?
Has someone found a solution which is not replacing the hard drive which works just fine? Or Is anyone aware of a procedure that can force the installation despite the S.M.A.R.T error? Below details of my hard drive
Thanks
ST31******ASQ:
Capacity:          1 TB (1,000,204,886,016 bytes)
Model:          ST31000528ASQ
Revision:          AP24
Serial Number:                      6V***5JR
Native Command Queuing:          Yes
Queue Depth:          32
Removable Media:          No
Detachable Drive:          No
BSD Name:          disk0
Rotational Rate:          7200
Medium Type:          Rotational
Partition Map Type:          GPT (GUID Partition Table)
S.M.A.R.T. status:          Failing
<Edited By Host>

If you haven't done so, run Disk Utility /Applications/Utilities
to run a live verification.
The drive may be ok at the moment, but that's not to say the drive may fail at anytime.
Hopefully you have all your important data backed up just in case.

While trying to instal Mountain Lion OS on my macbook pro, I got the error message that my HD was damaged and it reverted to my Lion OS. Why does this happen? I bought the OS online through the app store

While trying to instal Mountain Lion OS on my macbook pro, I got the error message that my HD was damaged and it reverted to my Lion OS. Why does this happen? I bought the OS online through the app store.

The Mountain Lion installer looks at your internal drive to make certain that it's error-free before continuing installation. You should have an application named "Install OS X Mountain Lion.app" in your Applications folder now so you shouldn't have to download it again. Do this...
Boot to your Lion recovery partition by holding down both the Command and the R keys while booting. Open Disk Utility from the Recovery partition and select your hard drive (usually named "Macintosh HD" unless you've renamed it) and click on Verify Disk. If you come up with any errors, click on Repair Disk. At the end of the cycle you will get a message that the disk was successfully repaired or a message that the hard drive could not be repaired.
If you're able to repair the disk, just reboot as normal and open the "Install OS X Mountain Lion.app" and the installation will proceed. If Disk Utility was unable to repair the disk, you need to get to your local Apple Store as soon as possible so that they can see if the disk is salvageable or beyond repair.
Good luck,
Clinton

Tried to install Mountain Lion and it comes up with the following message Mac OS X Update Combined can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update. My laptop is using 10.7.3

Tried to install Mountain Lion and it comes up with the following message Mac OS X Update Combined can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update. My laptop is using 10.7.3

Go to  > Software Update and install updates. Finally, go to App Store, buy Mountain Lion and install. Open > http://www.apple.com/osx/specs/

When trying to install Mountain Lion I get an error message, Failed, recovery can't be created

When trying to install Mountain Lion I get an error message, Failed, recovery can't be created

My Mountain Lion install failed for the following reason:
OS X can't be installed on the disk Macintosh HD, because a recovery system can't be created.
The message went on:
Visit www.apple.com/support/no-recovery to learn more.
The page is about a different failure, but I'm assuming the reason for my failure is this one:
The disk has a non-standard Boot Camp partition setup, in which further partitioning was performed after running Boot Camp Assistant, or the configuration that Boot Camp Assistant created was manually modified.
The cure involves erasing the entire HD and starting from scratch, which in my case would involve backing up both the Mac and Windows sides, setting up Boot Camp again, reinstalling Windows XP and recovering everything from backups on both sides. I would rather not have Mountain Lion than go through all that, and I think it's unfair for Apple to expect me to.
Because I don't recall doing anything off-piste when I set up Boot Camp in the first place (for a start, I'm not clever enough), I consider this episode an inadequacy in the Mountain Lion installer. As I won't be using the download, is it possible to get my money back?

I have tried to install Mountain Lion but it has failed to install properly

I have tried to install mountain lion but it has failed to install

If you open Finder and open your Applications folder list, under the alphabetically listed "I"'s you should see an application called "Install OS X Mountain Lion.app", if it downloaded OK. This is the package that you double click on to begin installation of Mountain Lion. Have you already done this?
Hope this helps

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.

Install Windows XP on external USB drive - MSI 915P

I have a MSI 915P motherboard and i am trying to install Windows XP on my external USB hard drive. Everything is fine installing Windows XP but when it says to reboot the USB drive does not boot. Any help please?

BIOS is set to boot from USB device. It shows Windows XP Home Edition on my internal drive and XP Professional on my USB drive. Internal boots but USB hangs with a dark screen... ??? ??? ???

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.

Trying to install Mountain Lion on external USB drive. Will not boot!

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