How can I install OSX lion on my completely wiped mac mini?

Question

How can I install OSX lion on my completely wiped mac mini?

I have a 2011 mac mini server edition (Without CD drive), and tried to partition it to a RAID0 last night. I reformatted both drives (Just the inner partitions, so It shouldn't have affected the recovery partition), and now it will not boot.

When I turn the computer on, it flashes a question mark folder, and when I boot with option, it gives me a list of wireless networks on a grey screen. When I select my network, it logs into it, but doesn't do anything further. It will not let me boot into the recovery partition at all.

How can I re-install lion on this computer? I do have a firewire cable, so I could do target disc mode if that's even possible.

Thanks!

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Oct 4, 2011 9:21 AM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:25 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

Sorry to say but Lion cannot be installed on a RAID, which is what it sounds like you are trying to do.

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Answer 2

Oct 4, 2011 9:26 AM in response to Kappy

Yes, that is what I'm trying to do.

I need a raid for what I'm doing, so is there any way that I can do an inner partition on one disk for OSX lion, and then partition the rest for the RAID?

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Answer 3

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:32 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

Here's a ad nauseam explanation of my everything, surely somewhere in the mass of information you can find how to do what you want to do.

I suspect a clone of Lion partiton to the external drive, option boot from it, then reverse clone over the RAID 0 could work.

Let us know how it went, be interesting to know.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3358920

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Answer 4

Oct 4, 2011 9:40 AM in response to ds store

Thanks for the info, I'll look through it when I get a chance. I'm just wondering if this will work. What do you guys think?

HDD 1 (Upper Drive) - Recovery Partition, OSX lion partition, Rest of space partitioned for the RAID array.

HDD 2 (Lower Drive) - RAID array

Will I run into any problems?

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Answer 5

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:45 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

You can't RAID partitions, only whole drives of matching size and speed.

You need to learn a lot about RAID.

The computer will work without a Recovery Partition, just you need to make a Recovery USB, like in my link.

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Answer 6

Oct 4, 2011 9:45 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

Ah, okay, I see.

Any suggestions on where to put the OS?

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Answer 7

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:46 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

On a clone.

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Answer 8

Oct 4, 2011 9:48 AM in response to ds store

Right, but where would I keep this clone?

I only have two 500GB drives, and need 1TB or so of storage. And, if both of them are RAID'ed, the OS can't be put there, right?

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Answer 9

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:53 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

where would I keep this clone?

external drive

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Answer 10

Oct 4, 2011 9:54 AM in response to ds store

That just isn't practical for me, to be booting off an external.

Would a flash drive work, or something to that effect?

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Answer 11

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Oct 4, 2011 9:59 AM in response to ds store

Not so. You certainly can RAID partitions. It's probably not the best idea given the typical uses for RAID arrays, but it's certainly doable.

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Answer 12

Oct 4, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Kappy

Wow, that is GREAT news.

How would I go about doing that?

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Answer 13

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 10:03 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

DopeyBovineMan wrote:

That just isn't practical for me, to be booting off an external.

Would a flash drive work, or something to that effect?

nope, you need a external drive 1TB in size to hold all the data from the 2-500GB's and double as a backup when the RAID 0 fails which they are twice as likely to do.

you can only install OS X on a Mac, so once it's there you clone it to the 1TB, option boot from it, create the RAID and reverse clone.

no Lion Recovery, that's why you need another way to get Lion back, that's why you got to make the Lion Recovery USB first before doing anything.

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Answer 14

Kappy

Level 10

361,731 points

Oct 4, 2011 10:03 AM in response to DopeyBovineMan

Look, this is a simple decision. Your OS startup volume should be on a single internal drive or a single partition on an internal drive.

You cannot install Lion on a RAID array. Lion is supposed to prevent you from doing so by alerting that it cannot be installed on the chosen target if the target is a RAID.

If you need to have a RAID for your work storage, then for the Mini this is probably best done with an external system that has two similar drives that can be arrayed.

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Answer 15

ds store

Level 7

30,705 points

Oct 4, 2011 10:27 AM in response to Kappy

He was trying to combine the two 500GBs together into one for more storage, unfortunately the instability of RAID 0, especially based in software, makes it unpractical unless a constant clone is maintained.

I ran a RAID OS X boot drive for years, fast as heck, the clone saved my @ss several times, had to rebuild the array again and again, finally got tired of waiting over a hour to reverse clone and went back to a single spindle.

Apple has it's reasons for not allowing OSX to be installed on a RAID set, I beleive them.

I just wanted to know if Lion could be cloned and ran off a RAID 0, likely so, after all the cloning software is just that, cloning software, it doesn't make decisions where it goes.

Seems another $70 for a 1TB drive is out of his reach. 🙂

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