Creating a bootable SD card for a iMac 27?

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Creating a bootable SD card for a iMac 27?

I recently read and tried creating a bootable SD card via this tutorial from MacLife

http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/howbuild_bootable_sd_card_rescue_ranger_your_mac_sd_cardslot

Reformat card using Disk Utility
Single GUID partition
Install from Snow Leopard DVD, unchecking printers, extra languages, etc.

When build is complete, iMac 27 restarts but just hangs on a gray screen with the dark gray Apple Logo.

I have now tried to create the SD card twice, but so far no luck. I understand and followed the instructions very specifically and the result is a card that does not show up as a bootable device.

Any suggestions on how to trouble shoot this would be appreciated.

Thanks

Henry

27" iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.2), MacBook

Posted on Feb 4, 2010 1:08 PM

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Answer 1

baltwo

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Feb 4, 2010 1:28 PM in response to Henry Cline1

Post to MacLife's forums. It's their process.

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Answer 2

Henry Cline1 Author

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Feb 4, 2010 1:30 PM in response to baltwo

I posted to their forum as well, I was hoping for some guidance here.

I have had issues booting from external sources before and have found that the best source of support for issues such as these are the Apple Discussion forums.

Thanks very much,

Henry

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Answer 3

baltwo

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Feb 4, 2010 1:49 PM in response to Henry Cline1

You should have included those tidbits in your original post. I can't help, since I don't have any SD cards, but do know that I had no problem restoring the install disc to any internal or external HD partition.

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Answer 4

varjak paw

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Feb 4, 2010 2:22 PM in response to Henry Cline1

What brand and type of SD card are you using? Do you have another card you can try?

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Answer 5

Henry Cline1 Author

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Feb 4, 2010 3:00 PM in response to varjak paw

I am using a SanDisk Extreme III SDHC which was specifically recommended for this particular process?

I know this sounds odd, but somehow I think it is on my system end? I was unable to create a bootable EXT HDD even after multiple attempts

My system runs great, I have not had a single system crash or kernal panic since getting my iMac 27.

Henry

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Answer 6

Feb 4, 2010 3:08 PM in response to Henry Cline1

I looked at the article you mentioned, and it is missing one eky step that needs to be done before you start the install process.

Take a look at 'Create an Emergency OS X Boot Device Using a USB Flash Drive' at:
http://macs.about.com/od/diyguidesprojects/ss/usbflash.htm

Although the article is about using a USB Flash drive, it would be the same for an SD card.

Look at page three and the step for enabling ownership permissions. Without the ownership permission turned on, you won't be able to boot from the drive at start up.

Tom

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Answer 7

Henry Cline1 Author

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Feb 4, 2010 3:11 PM in response to Tom Nelson1

I will give it a whirl and thanks so much for the support.

Henry

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Answer 8

Henry Cline1 Author

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Feb 5, 2010 10:34 AM in response to Henry Cline1

I certainly thought that the "ownership" issue would resolve whatever reason this is not working for me, but it did not. But now I believe this is not about the SD card.

I just had a 45 support call with Apple. The tech had never seen this behavior before, in a nutshell my iMac 27 is incapable of rebooting from any source other than the internel HD and the install discs that it shipped with, not even the Snow Leopard factory disc I have, just the "grey" one that shipped with my unit. Here are the notes from our conversation. I am going to start a new thread on this as it is definitely not about the SD card at all.

Will not boot from:

Apple Factory Install DVD (from Amazon)
TechTool Pro 5.06
SD Card Bootlable installation
EXT HDD with previous bootable system on it
eDrive on an EXT HDD

I am in conversation with Applecare and the tech has never heard or seen a situation like this one.

Every source shows up if I hold the "option" key down upon power up.

Every source shows up in the System Prefs Startup window (though there was one oddity that he had not seen before. I have to authenticate each and every time I try to change my startup disk in the Startup Disk Prefs)

Every source the than the internal has the same result, gray screen with dark gray Apple logo, no gears runnig, no optical accessing, just the gray screen

We reset my PRAM

Then the Applecare tech had to get off the phone in order to do some further research.

He came back and we tried to startup from the DVD that shipped with my iMac, not the factory Snow Leopard I got from Amazon, but the gray install DVD from Apple.

This one booted

We repaired permissions and checked the internal disk from the Apple Gray Install DVD.

That is as far as the tech could go. He is sending me out a new copy of Snow Leopard, but is unable to support me in my quest to boot from an external source.

I am going to try and create a bootable external source using the gray install dvd instead of the commercial Now Leopard one and see what happens.

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Answer 9

varjak paw

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Feb 5, 2010 10:43 AM in response to Henry Cline1

we tried to startup from the DVD that shipped with my iMac, not the factory Snow Leopard I got from Amazon, but the gray install DVD from Apple. This one booted.

Just FYI, a retail version of Snow Leopard almost certainly will not boot a 27" iMac. The 27" iMacs require Mac OS X 10.6.2 build 10C2234 and I haven't seen any retail copy be that new.

As to TechTool Pro 5.06, Micromat has not yet released a version of their CD that will boot the i5 and i7 iMacs. I'm not sure whether that applies to an eDrive, but I suspect it does.

That doesn't solve your boot problem with the SD card or the external drive, but it at least may narrow down the problem.

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