Like Lion ( OS X 10.7 ) before it , Mountain Lion ( OS X 10.8 ) does n’t ship on a disc — it ’s available only as an installer app downloadable from the Mac App Store , and that installer does n’t require a bootable installation disc . But there are a good act of cause you mightwanta bootable Mountain Lion installer on an external voiceless driving or a quarter round effort ( USB peg ) .
For example , if you desire toinstall Mountain Lionon multiple Macs , a bootable install drive can be more convenient than downloading or copy the entire Mountain Lion installer to each computing machine . Also , if your Mac is see problems , a bootable install drive makes a ready to hand emergency disc . ( Mountain Lion’sOS X Recoveryfeature , known as Lion Recovery prior to Mountain Lion ’s exit , is a openhanded help here , but not all Macs get it — and if your Mac ’s driving force is itself having bother , recovery mode may not even be usable . Also , if you want to reinstall Mountain Lion , recovery mode requires you to download the entire 4GB+ installer again . ) Finally , if you necessitate to instal Mountain Lion over Leopard — strike you have the license to do so — a bootable install drive make it easier to do so .
Thankfully , it ’s easy to create a bootable install drive from the Mountain Lion installer that you download from the Mac App Store . I show you how , below .
You may have notice that I did n’t mention making a bootable install DVD . Though it ’s possible to make one , I do n’t recommend it these days . More and more Macs ship without a progress - in optical drive ; booting and installing from a DVD isveryslow ; and 8 GB flash driving can be come up for $ 10 or less — there ’s petty reason to prefer for a videodisc anymore . In addition , you could easily update a USB stick or external hard drive each time an update to Mac OS X is resign , as explain below ; with a videodisc , you have to toss the disc in the trash and start over , which is both a dogfight and bad for the environment . That said , if , for whatever reason , you dead need to create a bootable install videodisk , succeed steps 1 through 5 under “ Using Disk Utility , ” below , but from Step 6 on , take after the instructions under “ To produce a bootable DVD ” inour clause on pee a bootable Lion - install private road .
( Note : As explained inour master Mountain Lion - installation clause , if you leave the Mountain Lion installer in its default location in the Applications folder when you set up OS X 10.8 , the installer will be deleted automatically after the installation wind up . So if you plan to employ that installer on other Macs , or — in this type — to make a bootable drive , be sure to copy the installer to another movement , or at least move it out of the Applications booklet , beforeyou establish . If you do n’t , you ’ll have to re - download the installer from the Mac App Store before you may make a bootable install drive . )
Get the latest version of the Mountain Lion installer
Before you make a bootable install campaign , you should make certain you have the late version of the Mountain Lion installer . What ? You did n’t even realize therearedifferent versions of the installer ? It turns out that when you download the Mountain Lion installer from the Mac App Store , that written matter of the installer instal whatever version of OS X was available at the clip of download . For example , if you download OS X 10.8 the day Mountain Lion is released , you download the 10.8.0installer . Which means that a bootable install effort you create from that installer will set up OS X 10.8.0 .
However , unlike with the CD- and DVD - based Mac OS X installers of honest-to-goodness , which can never be update once they ’re created , Apple regularly update the Mountain Lion installer on the Mac App Store so that it installs the latest version of OS X 10.8 . For example , when the inevitable 10.8.1 update is released , a few day later the Mac App Store will begin providing an updated Mountain Lion installer that installs 10.8.1 aright off the bat . Using an updated installer is convenient , because it means that if you ever need to re - instal Mountain Lion , you wo n’t have to install 10.8.0 and then immediately instal the previous openhanded update .
Obviously , then , you want to create your bootable install drive using the latest variant of the Mountain Lion installer . However , unlike with other Mac App Store - purchase software , the Mac App Store does not update the copy of the Mountain Lion installer app on your heavy effort . If you ’ve pay back an older version of the installer and you need the modish version , you mustre - downloadMountain Lion from the Mac App Store . ( If the Mac App Store wo n’t get you re - download the installer , quit the Mac App Store app , relaunch it , and then Option+click the Purchases tab in the toolbar ; that should show the Download release next to Mountain Lion in the Purchases listing . )
Similarly , any bootable Mountain Lion install labour you create willnotautomatically be updated to the latest installer version . If you create an install private road and later download an updated adaptation of the Mountain Lion installer , updating your install drive means erasing it and retell the procedure below .
How do you know if you have the newest edition of the Mountain Lion installer ? There ’s a file inside the installer that indicates which variant of OS X it will set up , but incur to that file and view it is mussy . The easiest approach path is to simply look at the Information loge on theMountain Lion pageon the Mac App Store — specifically , check the escort next to Updated . Then site your downloaded copy of the Mountain Lion installer in the Finder , pick out File - > Get Info , and look at the date next to Modified . If the Mac App Store date is new than the Modified appointment on your copy of the installer , you necessitate to re - download the installer to get the latest version . ( The adaptation listed in the Mac App Store ’s Information box is the edition of OS X you ’ll get if you download the installer . )
A note on installer compatibility
The initial Mac App Store version of Mountain Lion will boot only those Macs issue prior to Mountain Lion ’s debut — Macs released after Mountain Lion ’s debut will ship with a new version of Mountain Lion preinstalled . This intend that if you make a bootable install drive right when Mountain Lion debut , and then later purchase a Modern Mac , your install drive wo n’t bring up that Mac . However , as explain above , Apple on a regular basis updates the Mountain Lion installer on the Mac App Store so that it set up the late version of OS X 10.8 . If you create a new bootable installer using the first major update to Mountain Lionafteryour Mac was released , it should be able to boot all your Macs .
There ’s a apprehension here , however : Recent Macs are designed to let you re - set up the operating system usingInternet convalescence . So if you buy a new Mac post - Mountain Lion , and you have n’t purchase Mountain Lion for another Mac , you ca n’t download the Mountain Lion installer from the Mac App Store . For Lion , I explain how tocreate a bootable install cause for new Macs . Once Apple starts shipping Macs with a Mountain Lion version ofInternet Recovery , I ’ll update that clause to shroud Mountain Lion .
Create the Mountain Lion install drive
There are a couple way you’re able to create a bootable install drive : using OS X ’s own Disk Utility or using the third - party service program Carbon Copy Cloner . The latter is easier , but the former does n’t ask you to download third - political party computer software . ( The developer ofLion DiskMakerwill be free , soon after Mountain Lion ’s debut , an update to that utility that supports Mountain Lion , giving you yet another alternative . )
Using Disk UtilityYou’ll find this utility in your Utilities folder ( in / Applications / Utilities ) . Here are the steps for using it to make your installer drive :
The restore process will take approximately five to ten minutes , depending on your Mac and the speed of your drive(s ) .
( If you ever created a bootable Lion - install effort , you may have do the above procedurewithoutmounting the InstallESD record paradigm . As of adaptation 10.7.4 of the Lion installer , and uphold with the Mountain Lion installer , you must use the mounted Mac OS X instal ESD bulk or you ’ll get an error at the oddment of the restore operation , and the freshly created bootable crusade may not function right . )
Using Carbon Copy ClonerVersion 3.5 or later of this excellent clone - backup public utility company include a special feature for create a bootable install crusade . ( Carbon Copy Cloner is free to try ; you’re able to purchase a license for $ 40 . ) Once you’vedownloaded it from the developer ’s website — or , if you already had it , once you ’ve check to check that you ’ve got the latest interlingual rendition — come after these pace :
As with using Disk Utility , the process accept just about five to ten minutes . One deviation here : Whereas using Disk Utility names your bootable driveMac OS ex Install ESD , using Carbon Copy Cloner keeps the parkway ’s original name .
Booting from the installer drive
you could now bring up any Mountain Lion - compatible Mac from this driving : Just connect the drive to your Mac and either ( if your Mac is already bring up into OS X ) choose your install driveway in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences or ( if your Mac is currently close down ) defy down the Option tonality at inauguration and select the install drive when OS X ’s Startup Manager appear .
When your Mac is bring up from your install driving , you’re able to , of course , set up the OS , but you’re able to also habituate any of the Mountain Lion installer ’s specialrecovery and touch on feature of speech — in fact , when you boot from this drive , you ’ll see the same oculus sinister X Utilities screen you get when you boot into OS X Recovery ( convalescence mode ) . However , unlike recovery mode , your bootable installer includes theentireinstaller .
