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Problems installing OSX from bootable USB drive

I'm trying to downgrade from 10.8.3 to 10.7.5, mainly because of the reduced battery life in Mountain Lion.


I have created a bootbale USB thumbdrive with 10.7.5 on it.


I restart the machine holding down the Option key, but the USB drive does not appear in the available drives. All that appears is the Macintosh HD and the 10.8.3 recovery.


Why is the USB not appearing.


I have a retina MacBook Pro 15 from mid 2012. It was shipped with Lion.


Nigel

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Apr 18, 2013 12:38 AM

Reply
16 replies

Apr 19, 2013 12:54 AM in response to clashcityrocker1

No, it isn't.


Here follows a couple of pictures of my MBP (Mid 2012, original OSX 10.7.3) running 10.8.3. I plugged in Lion's (10.7) USB thumbdrive. It was recognized as a boot drive


User uploaded file


but it won't boot, as expected, because of the lesser, and not supported, version of the OS.


User uploaded file


The following pictures testify that an OS ML thumb drive, made from the image downloaded from the Mac App Store, boots regularly


User uploaded file


User uploaded file


So, in my opinion, there is something wrong with your Lion USB thumb drive or, MBP Retina doesn't allow to boot from a generic 10.7.

Apr 20, 2013 6:28 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

@Alberto

Thanks for the reply.

The problem is that if I do an Internet Recovery I'm pretty sure it will load 10.8.3 as that's the latest that the App Store thinks I have.

I never purchased Lion seperated it can preloaded with the MacBook Pro Retina.

I guess it could be something wrong with the USB, but I did het it from a prett reliable source. I do have an iMac with 10.7.5 loaded so I suppose I could try to make a bootbale USB from there.

Maybe this way :

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

Apr 21, 2013 2:56 PM in response to clashcityrocker1

Download on the iMac OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0 and create a USB recovery disk.


Use that USB disk to boot your MBP retina.


Use the Terminal, that you find inside the recovery environment, to perform these commands


Verifiy that the main internal disk is labelled /dev/disk0

diskutil list


this command will completely erase the internal disk. Please change /dev/disk0 if your is different, (it should not).


diskutil eraseDisk jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" GPT /dev/disk0


Verify that you just have 3 partition, no more Recovery HD partition


diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.2 GB   disk0s2

Quit Terminal and proceed with Reinstall Mac OS X


User uploaded file


It'll take a lot of time, depending on the speed of your internet connection.


Please, do not hesitate to ask if you are in doubt

Apr 21, 2013 7:57 PM in response to Alberto Ravasio

@Alberto

Thanks again for your help.


Just a couple of questions:


When I do the diskutil list, this is what I get:


/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0

1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *7.7 GB disk1

1: EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s2


Should I just erase disk0 or disk1 one as well? If I should erase disk1 as well what command should I use?


So AFTER erasing the disk ( or disks ) I should insert the newly create USB and restart holding the option key, right?

Apr 22, 2013 12:36 AM in response to clashcityrocker1

I guess you got the result you posted from the iMac. If that is the case, the 500.3 GB /dev/disk0 is the iMac disk, and the 7.7 GB /dev/disk1 is the USB thumb drive that was created using the OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0


You must use the iMac, that is running Lion, only to create the USB thumb drive. If you use the MBP retina that is running Mountain Lion to create the USB thumb drive, you'll end up with a USB thumb drive that will recover Mountain Lion and not Lion.


Insert the above mentioned USB thumb drive into a USB port of the MBP retina. Turn on MBP while pressing the alt/option key, and select the Recovery HD (USB thumb drive) as the boot drive.

The Terminal you must use to perform the commands I gave you in my previous post is the one pointed out on the following picture


User uploaded file


Please note that the MBP must have access to the Internet to complete the installation. So, be sure that it is wired or Wi-Fi connected.



Should I just erase disk0 or disk1 one as well? If I should erase disk1 as well what command should I use?



You only need to erase /dev/disk0.

Apr 22, 2013 2:20 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

My mistake, I did the diskutil list while the USB was plugged into the MBP.


This is the list when the USB is not plugged it:


/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0

1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 499.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3


BUT, there is still the problem that I outline in my original post. That is, the USB is not recognised whne restared while pressing the option key.

Apr 22, 2013 7:54 AM in response to clashcityrocker1

I had a similar issue when I created a bootable Mountain Lion disk on an external hard drive. I have 2 external hard drive enclosures, one was USB 2.0 and the other a USB 3.0 enclosure. I could boot to the disk when using the USB 2.0 enclosure, but not the USB 3.0. Is your USB boot drive 3.0 or 2.0? Maybe there is a problem with USB 3.0 drivers on the retinas and they can't boot to a 3.0 device.

Problems installing OSX from bootable USB drive

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