How To Install Snow Leopard From USB
Ever been without a DVD/CDROM or installation disk? Especially MacBook Air users undoubtedly come across this situation. This article will explain how to install Snow Leopard from an external device such as USB or disk drive.
You will need an appropriately sized external drive or USB Flash Drive, as the Snow Leopard install DVD’s size is about 6.2 gigabytes. An 8GB USB stick like the SanDisk Cruzer 8GB
Now let’s plug in that USB stick and get started.
Install Snow Leopard from USB drive
1. Start up Disk Utility and select your Flash Drive from the left side pane.
2. Select the Erase tab and set Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). It should be the first choice in the list. Set Name to Snow Leopard or OS X Install so you can easily keep track of it. Before you the Erase button, be sure that you copied any files or folders from the Flash Drive that you want to keep, as everything will get erased. You’ve been warned! Hit Erase.
3. After the Erase action has finished, we’re ready to move the installation files onto the stick. If you don’t already have the installation DVD inserted, do so. It should appear in the left side pane. Drag it’s image (Mac OS X Install DVD onto the source input field. Select your USB Flash Drive and drag it onto the Destination input field. Then hit Restore and wait for the process to finish. Be patient as it can take more than 20 minutes.
4. In case you try to install the OS now by clicking on the USB image, a warning may appear saying that you cannot install OS X from this volume. Ignore the message. Remove the installation DVD from the drive and restart your Mac with the USB plugged in. When your Mac boots up, press and hold the option/alt key until a menu with available drives appears. Select it and follow the prompts. At this point everything should proceed the same way as the regular DVD install.
When it comes to step ‘when your Mac boots up, press and hold the option/alt key until a menu with available drives appears’ , I cant see the USB boot drive, how come? Theres only my MacHd drive.
Is your USB drive bootable? You need to make sure to select GUID Partition Table when preparing the USB partition.