?: Cannot unlock Mac OS X Install ESD boot flash drive

Hello Everyone,

I have a 2009 MBP running OS X 10.7.5

I recently, with your help, replaced the HD with a SSD and the performance difference has been excellent. Thank you!

I wanted to create another USB bootable drive and after creating it I wanted to "test" it to see if I could use it to boot up my MBP rather than using the SSD.

I created the USB bootable drive and all went well, however, when I plugged in the USB drive and powered on my MacBook Pro while holding the "option" button, I was presented with the OS X Utilities screen. I chose to re-install Lion but when I selected the "Mac OS X Install ESD, Mac OS X, 10.7.5" usb bootable drive I saw that it said that the drive was locked.

Ive tried to figure out by researching online how to "unlock" the usb flash drive, but no matter what I try I cannot do it. What I'm trying to accomplish is to have a thumb drive that I can use to boot my MBP in case of a SSD failure which would not allow me to use the Recovery Drive.

Can you tell me what you think the problem is and is there any way to "unlock" this drive? Ive got to believe there is a way, but I have no idea.

Thanks so much for helping me!

Rick

Is the drive you created as you state a USB bootable drive, i.e. a drive with Lion installed on, or is it a bootable install drive made via terminal or Diskmaker X? I get the impression it is a bootable install drive.

techiesteve said:

Is the drive you created as you state a USB bootable drive, i.e. a drive with Lion installed on, or is it a bootable install drive made via terminal or Diskmaker X? I get the impression it is a bootable install drive.

Click to expand...

Hi Steve, thank you for your input!

I guess I need a USB bootable drive with Lion installed vs. what i have now. When researching it i see the terms "bootable" and "install drive" used interchangeably so Im confused as to the difference.

If you have time, would you mind telling me the difference between the two and where I would go to create the USB bootable drive? I have tried many times using tutorials online that say "bootable installer" "bootable" "installer" etc. so I guess the first thing I need to know is what is the difference and how do I insure that I've got the correct one that will allow me to boot the Lion OS X on my MBP from the usb drive. Thats my goal that i hope to achieve.

Thanks again Steve!

best,

rick

You will need to unlock the usb stick. Below is a link to instructions.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/04/format-the-macbook-air-usb-restore-key/

rshames said:

You will need to unlock the usb stick. Below is a link to instructions.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/07/04/format-the-macbook-air-usb-restore-key/

Click to expand...

Thank you for the post!

I just have a Lexar 32 GIG usb 3.0 stick. Will this work for that as well?

thanks again,

rick

Yes. But then you don't need to unload it.

Just to explain a bit more of what i have done and where Im stuck (I apologize for being redundant):

Ok, this is what i would like to do, i just don't know the best way to accomplish it or if it can't be done. I would like to have a usb drive that will boot my 2009 MBP on demand instead of booting from the SSD that i recently installed that contains Lion 10.7.5

Thats basically all i want on the usb drive.

Right now I have the the "Mac OS X Install ESD" on my flash drive which contains the "Install Mac OS X Lion", Library, Packages, private and system folders.

When I plug that drive in and press option on a re-start I see three drives come up, SSHD, Recovery HD and Mac OS X (usb). I select the Mac OS X drive and the computer then displays "Mac OS X Utilities". I then choose "Re-install Mac OS X" and press "continue".

Continue again, agree to terms, agree and then I see the screen that allows you to select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X. My choices are SSHD or the usb. However, the usb says "This disk is locked". Thats where I'm stuck and after a number of hours I can't figure out what to do next.

My goal is to get a usb drive that will boot my MBP in lieu of the SSD in case I ever need to.

Thank you for your time and sorry I don't get this.

best to you,

Rick

greyhound rick said:

Thats basically all i want on the usb drive.

My goal is to get a usb drive that will boot my MBP in lieu of the SSD in case I ever need to.

Click to expand...

"USB Drives" come in different "flavors". Are you talking a USB thumb drive/USB stick? Or are you talking an "Average-Joe" external USB spinning HD?

- Nick

When I plug that drive in and press option on a re-start I see three drives come up, SSHD, Recovery HD and Mac OS X (usb). I select the Mac OS X drive and the computer then displays "Mac OS X Utilities". I then choose "Re-install Mac OS X" and press "continue".

Continue again, agree to terms, agree and then I see the screen that allows you to select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X. My choices are SSHD or the usb. However, the usb says "This disk is locked". Thats where I'm stuck and after a number of hours I can't figure out what to do next.

Click to expand...

You cannot install to the drive from which you are booted. From your description of coming up displaying Utilities, it looks like you are booting from the USB installer and then trying ti install to that drive, which you cannot do because it is locked by being the boot drive.

SO, is what you REALLY want a thumb drive that can boot into Lion with a graphical desktop and all your files just like on the HD? If that is what you want, you'll need a HUGE drive to hold everything. If you are ok with a "spinner" external HD as a backup to the SSD, then get any external drive of the same or larger size than your SSD and use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to clone your internal SSD to that external HD, then test by booting from it as a test after the clone is complete.

pigoo3 said:

"USB Drives" come in different "flavors". Are you talking a USB thumb drive/USB stick? Or are you talking an "Average-Joe" external USB spinning HD?

- Nick

Click to expand...

Thanks Nick, I didn't know there were different kinds, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. Im using a USB thumb drive, a Lexar 32gig 3.0

thanks for asking

MacInWin said:

You cannot install to the drive from which you are booted. From your description of coming up displaying Utilities, it looks like you are booting from the USB installer and then trying ti install to that drive, which you cannot do because it is locked by being the boot drive.

SO, is what you REALLY want a thumb drive that can boot into Lion with a graphical desktop and all your files just like on the HD? If that is what you want, you'll need a HUGE drive to hold everything. If you are ok with a "spinner" external HD as a backup to the SSD, then get any external drive of the same or larger size than your SSD and use Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper! to clone your internal SSD to that external HD, then test by booting from it as a test after the clone is complete.

Click to expand...

Thank you Jake. Now I'm starting to understand better. I appreciate your expertise!

I know my questions reveal my lack of intellect with this subject, but I don't let that discourage me because I really want to learn!

Questions:

1. OK, so the USB that i created will allow me to "boot" the operating system, or to "load" it. I cannot put the OS X on the boot drive and thats why its locked.

If my MBP were to lose its ability to boot itself with the SSD, would the USB thumb drive allow me to accomplish this? If so, when i get to the step where the MBP asks me to select the drive to be installed "to" would i select the SSD (or a different HD) to receive the OS X?

2. If a HD crashes and had to be replaced would the process then entail my creating a USB boot drive, loading the OSX on a "new" HD/SSD that i would put in and then using the usb boot drive to boot the OS X from the new SSD?

I hope I'm making sense. If not i sincerely apologize.

3. (as it relates to Question 1) Would there ever be a scenario where the HD/SSD could not boot itself and you would have to use a USB bootable drive, but you would not have to replace the HD/SSD necessarily?
IOW, can a HD/SSD lose its ability to boot itself but still be useable after the booting process is accomplished by the USB thumb drive?

thank you,

Rick

1. OK, so the USB that i created will allow me to "boot" the operating system, or to "load" it. I cannot put the OS X on the boot drive and thats why its locked.

Click to expand...

Yes, sort of. As I said, the USB already HAS OS X on it, just not the desktop interface or your files. Technically what is there IS the OS X system, plus the Utility files you need to reinstall OS X. It's locked because you booted from it. You cannot install to the drive from which you are booted because you need some of the files on the boot drive to write to those same files on the boot drive. That's a bit like trying to change a tire on your car while still driving. You need to NOT be booted to change certain of the system files on the boot drive.

If my MBP were to lose its ability to boot itself with the SSD, would the USB allow me to accomplish this? If so, when i get to the step where the MBP asks me to select the drive to be installed "to" would i select the SSD (or a different HD) to receive the OS X?

Click to expand...

Yes, if the USB boots to the Utility screen and if the "Install OS X ..." file is valid, that's how you would do that. What does "valid" mean? It means that it is recognized by Apple as a valid installer when you perform the install. Generally, that means you have downloaded it from Apple and not tampered with it since. If, when you need it, Apple says it's not valid, you should be able to download a fresh copy from Apple and put it on the thumb drive.

2. If a HD crashes and had to be replaced would the process then entail my creating a USB boot drive, loading the OSX on a "new" HD/SSD that i would put in and then using the usb boot drive to boot the OS X from the new SSD?

Click to expand...

Well, that COULD be a process, but where would you create the USB drive if your internal drive is broken? What most of us do is have backups, and at least one that is bootable (a clone, usually) so that when the internal dies we can boot from that backup clone until we get the replacement in, then once it is installed we clone back to the internal and we're off and running again. But if you have a bootable USB stick with just the installer on it, then what you can do is boot to that USB stick, reinstall OS X to the replacement drive and then use Migration Assistant at the first boot from the new drive to restore from you backup, either the clone or any other backup (like TimeMachine, for example). Using that way you cannot use your system until you get the new drive installed and then OS X installed to it and then the restore done. That's the downside to that approach. The clone approach lets you keep going while you are waiting for the new drive to arrive, then you have one step (CLONE) and you are back to how it was before the drive died.

I hope I'm making sense. If not i sincerely apologize.

3. (as it relates to Question 1) Would there ever be a scenario where the HD/SSD could not boot itself and you would have to use a USB bootable drive, but you would not have to replace the HD/SSD necessarily?
IOW, can a HD/SSD lose its ability to boot itself but still be useable after the booting process is accomplished by the USB thumb drive?

Click to expand...

Anything CAN happen, but about the only way your scenario takes place is that somehow you, or some application you install, messes with critical system files and leaves it unbootable. Or if you have a power failure and battery outage at the exact same time as a write operation to a critical file and it gets corrupted. But in normal operation, that is rare. What is more likely is a hardware failure where the internal drive fails. That failure may be cataclysmic and sudden, or it may signal in advance that it is dying.

greyhound rick said:

Thanks Nick, I didn't know there were different kinds, but now that I think about it, it makes sense. Im using a USB thumb drive, a Lexar 32gig 3.0...

Click to expand...

"USB drives" are all about the port they are plugged into (the USB port). Thus both a USB thumb drive and an external USB "spinner" HD…are both "USB drives. An external DVD drive plugged into the USB port is also a "USB Drive".

A 32gig thumb drive is large enough to have an OS installed on it (and boot the computer from). But I've always heard that thumb drives really aren't the best for doing this. Not really built for this sort of thing…and not as durable as a SSD drive.

I say just use (if you have one)…or purchase one…and external "spinner" HD for this purpose. Install a copy of the OS you want to be able to boot your computer from (just like you would for an internal drive).

- Nick

Thank you Jake. You are amazing with your knowledge!

This is semi-overwhelming to me, but I think i will be able to get thru it (thanks to you and the other great people here)!

Let me see if i can demonstrate a very basic understanding of this:

The USB thumb drive already has the OS X on it, but because I am booting from it I cannot select it as the destination for the OSX at the Mac OS X Utilities screen when I choose "Re-install Mac OS X", that is why it is "locked"

I would install the OSX to the internal drive from the utility screen and then be able to boot up at that point and run the OSX

Also, I see what you mean about trying to create a usb bootable thumb drive from a "crashed" HD (you can't). I would create the bootable thumb drive in a scenario where i am upgrading from a spinner to a SSD and the HD is still functional. If your HD crashes and you have a bootable thumb drive already created with the OSX on it then you can load the OSX to the new HD/SSD and boot from the usb thumb drive and be back in action.

Am i close so far?

thank you,

rick

Yep, that's it.

Except that last part. You would boot the USB drive or stick, reinstall to the new, then boot from the new.

Ah, got it! Many thanks Jake!!

Also, thank you Nick for the earlier comment!!