Creating Recovery Disc from Another Mac

[KDance]

Hi,

I believe I need to create a recovery disc from an old mac to save a newer one!

A quick overview

• New Mac keyboard starting mistyping
• Apple Support recommended reinstalling OSx via disc utilities
• Support then cut off support with a message about time limits on the support...
• I ran diagnostic, first one said no issues, second said possible RAM issue
• I proceeded with osx reinstall which failed
• Now it won't boot up. It gets stuck in the kernel panic loop and then shows the do not disturb sign
• I went back to support who still can't help... none of the recovery options worked

Could I create an install disc from my other mac via an external hard drive?


The external hard drive I have, had been backed up from the now broken mac...i tried using it to start from and reinstalling the OS X that way but it said it was missing the installation file.

Any ideas/help would be appreciated.

 

[MacInWin]

Welcome to the forum. We need a lot more information to be able to really help, so, what Mac, what version of macOS are you using? What "diagnostic" did you run?

And what did you actually do when you "tried using it to start from and reinstalling the OS X that way but it said it was missing the installation file?" How did you "use" the drive?

If you can boot the Mac successfully from that backup drive, then maybe you can clone it back to the internal drive. But before we can say what that might entail, we need the answers to the questions.

 

[KDance]

Welcome to the forum. We need a lot more information to be able to really help, so, what Mac, what version of macOS are you using? What "diagnostic" did you run?

And what did you actually do when you "tried using it to start from and reinstalling the OS X that way but it said it was missing the installation file?" How did you "use" the drive?

If you can boot the Mac successfully from that backup drive, then maybe you can clone it back to the internal drive. But before we can say what that might entail, we need the answers to the questions.

Thank you! They had me hold down CMD + OPTION + P + R which kept taking me to disc utilities when the issue first came up Saturday afternoon via support chat. Yesterday the support had me try a number of different key combinations, ctr D is what I used to get it to run diagnostic and then Ctrl R.

To be honest we tried so many combinations I'm not sure which one gave the option to reinstall the osx.

It has Sierra installed... or did :/

It won't boot from the backup drive it said it was missing a file, I believe the install file.

 

[MacInWin]

OK, here is what Apple says to do:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204904

Based on what you have described, you may or may not have a recovery partition, but it's worth trying that first. Read the entire document before you start, as there are options on whether or not to format the drive first (you'll lose everything that was on it if you do that). If you have a good backup, and you know that your important stuff is there, then formatting could be a good thing. But you may not HAVE to format, and if you aren't sure of the backup, I would not.

Not having an install file should not stop you from booting from the backup. It may stop you from installing from that drive, but it should boot.

If you don't have an installer, the procedures in the Apple document will lead to it being downloaded. It is large 6gb, so be prepared to wait a while for that to happen.

 

[ferrarr]

There's also this, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372.

 

[MacInWin]

True, Bob, but the first step in that process is to download the installer. If all the OP wants is to install, no need to make a bootable installer. But, on the other hand, that's a pretty good backup, just in case it all goes south again.

 

[KDance]

Hi,

Thank you for the links... I created a bootable macOS High Sierra USB Install drive. Turned on the 'broken' laptop with the flash drive in the usb and holding option down and selecting the usb drive bootable installation.


The first time, it immediately showed the kernel panic message.... the second time it showed the status line under the Apple logo for about 70% of the line then showed the do not disturb logo.

Is there anything else I could possibly try?