Lion USB Key - Could not restore - error -206

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Level 1

9 points

Lion USB Key - Could not restore - error -206

I've tried creating a Lion USB key for doing a clean install of the OS three times now. Everytime I attempt the restore after copying the InstallESD.dmg file tot he USB drive, I am prompted with the following error - "Could Not Restore - Error - 206"

I have been unable to find any documentation of this error anywhere thus far and I am hoping that someone here might have some suggestions as to what is happening. I am desperately in need of a clean install of the OS.

Any suggestions? Thank you.

Posted on Oct 20, 2011 10:30 AM

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Answer 1

Art

Level 1

115 points

Oct 20, 2011 9:00 PM in response to nimbleslick

Yes, I'm having the EXACT same problem. It's related to a checksum failure, which you can see if you look at your logs. My last attempt looked like this:

2011-10-20 18:38:05 -0700: Verifying

2011-10-20 18:39:55 -0700:

2011-10-20 18:39:55 -0700: Checksum failed.

Expected 17EEE74E

but got C4C4257F

2011-10-20 18:39:55 -0700: Could not restore - error -206

It should be noted that I am attempting to create a bootable USB key from a computer that came with Lion pre-installed, not one that was purchased from the Mac App Store. I used the following procedure to get a copy of InstallESD.dmg:

http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20110831105634716

Note that there are no errors whatsoever with the disk image. It verifies and checksums fine, and doing a repair with disk utility on the image shows no errors.

Also note that using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to restore the image to a USB stick or an actual external hard drive works. No errors.

And finally note that burning the image to a DVD also works with Disk Utility or Toast. No errors and it verifies fine.

So, the only issue is when using Disk Utility to restore, for some reason the checksum fails. Why?

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Answer 2

nimbleslick Author

Level 1

9 points

Oct 20, 2011 9:14 PM in response to Art

I made several more attempts, trying out two different 8GB USB drives, none of them worked and I was repeatedly getting the same issue. I ultimately decided to give the Lion Recovery / Internet restore and it worked like a charm, although having to download the installer again was a waste of time. Regardless, a clean install was achieved and I can't believe how much faster this machine is running now. I opted to manually pull off everything I wanted, and all of my software was backed up to another drive, so outside of updating all the Apple software - thimgs worked like a charm.

Thanks for your input. I've decided that I am going to try the same process on an external drive to see if that works.

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