OS X Mountain Lion: The Mac-Forums Guide

Preamble

Welcome to OS X 10.8, the ninth iteration in Apple's OS X operating system line. Codenamed "Mountain Lion", OS X 10.8 continues the convergence of OS X and Apple's mobile operating system iOS. In this guide, we'll take a look at what this means for you, how to get started and some tips for making this a successful upgrade! More specifically, we'll cover the up-to-date program for those of you who have b... ... Return to article to continue reading.

Thanks for the detailed info, think I'll upgrade both computers tomorrow.

I remember with Lion I created a flash drive installer a few weeks after I upgraded. Something about going back into the Mac App Store and holding Ctrl+ clicking on the installed app. Something like that. Just wondering if that's still a method with ML since the article only mentions doing it as you download the initial install and I'd rather wait to do it later seeing as I don't have a 8GB flash drive on hand at the moment.

As long as you have the ML app bundle, you should be able to create a bootable piece of media. When you do it is irrelevant - we just assumed that people would do it when they first got it.

great one, like the way it is presented,
Yet waiting for the up to date program to smile on me. Waited 3 1/2 days first code came without any result saying duplicate or invalid. I have a 3 weeks or so to go, for the code.

Ok good. I didn't think ML would be any different than Lion but just had to check.

post

Thanks for a very detailed Mountain Lion guide.
After downloading I created a bootable DVD and USB Flashdrive. I saved the install.dmg to a dedicated folder as I did with the Lion install.dmg.
Out of curiosity I created another bootable USB Flashdrive from the saved installer - no problems. So as long as you save a copy somewhere you can create the bootable media at a later date.

trying to create install disk on SDHC card and usb drive with 8gb, at the end of the run, there is a message ' restore failure'. when looking at the end product there are 4 icons showing, how to test, if it is a successfully made copy ?

You could try booting from it. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it will work for there could be corrupted files that will preclude you from installing but won't stop you from booting. My advice: if it said it failed, it's probably doing so for a reason.

In making ML installer, why should I go through disk utility to burn it on DVD? Why not just right-click InstallESD.dmg file then choose burn to DVD? Is that OK?

Thanks.

will not burn DVD, will tell you not enough space, the disk maker software mentioned is the one to go with.
Go with thumb drive or sd card, if you want.

ycl1688 said:

will not burn DVD, will tell you not enough space, the disk maker software mentioned is the one to go with.
Go with thumb drive or sd card, if you want.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the quick reply. My question is, on the below instruction, what's the difference with right-click burn and disk utility burn?

My experience is DVD without zip with that software will not let you go anywhere. You could get pass not enough
space to create dvd, then go with burn thru disk utility.

It might work, although I haven't tried the right click method

I would think that the right click method may burn the file onto a disk, while Disk Utility will use the disk image to burn a DVD with the imaged files on it rather than the InstallESD.dmg itself.

If you get the message there is not enough space, then you need a double layer DVD. While the image file seems to be under the 4.7 gig limit, I have never had any luck burning to a single layer DVD

Either way, the USB method is better and 8 gig usb sticks are pretty cheap

Many many thanks for the clarifications. @ycl1688 @louishen.

You're much better off burning the image to a 8 GB flash drive as it will boot 3 times faster than from a DVD. BTW, the Mac OS X Hints Forum (MacWorld sponsored) has a hint that allows you to burn the image to single sided DVD rather than have to use a double layer one.

chscag said:

You're much better off burning the image to a 8 GB flash drive as it will boot 3 times faster than from a DVD. BTW, the Mac OS X Hints Forum (MacWorld sponsored) has a hint that allows you to burn the image to single sided DVD rather than have to use a double layer one.

Click to expand...

You just saved me a Google. I know I had seen that somewhere recently. This deprives me of the opportunity to look like a Genius but that ship sailed long ago.