Hi Neil, Thank you for your assistance.
I’m beginning to think the reason I’m having trouble getting a USB drive bootable could be the way I’m going about it using the Restore option from the MacBook Air. What if the MacBook Air (2011) to old to handle the Restore system. What I should do is get a copy El Capitan from where ever and install it on the USB drive without using the Restore option. Trouble is I don’t know how to get hold of El Capitan in a form where I can install it on the external drive. Would I have to go to an Apple shop and buy it? I’ve thought of my old Clone for the MacBook Air with Lion on it - put that back on the MacBook Air and update to El Capitan again. Trouble is I’m not sure how to go about doing that. I can’t remember if it’s a clone made using SuperDuper or the old Disk Utility that was capable of doing clones. But I guess if the clone boots it will prove it’s viable but getting it onto the MacBook Air, I I’m not sure how to do that would SuperDuper do it for me if Disk Utility made it? That would at least clean out any messed up Library or what ever is stopping this Huawei stick from working on it. It is as you guessed a Huawei E8372. I’ll take a look at the pdf for it when I’ve done a bit of shopping and some other stuff, dealing with these computer problems does come with a certain stress factor. Thanks again Brian > On 30 Jun 2019, at 3:21 pm, Neil Houghton <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Brian, > > First off a clone of your Mac mini is not the way to go - the hardware of the > Mac Mini and the MacBook Air are different. The OSX installation process > installs what is needed for the specific computer it is installed on. > Personally, I would not dive into re-installing El Capitan on the MacBook Air > when: > You do not know what the existing problem is and whether a system re-install > ill fix-it > You seem to be having problems just installing a bootable system on an > external drive. > Maybe we need to work out why you can’t create your USB boot drive – 4TB is > definitely not too small to put a bare OSX operating system on – 32GB is > plenty!! > > I’ll come back with more on the bootable USB > > > Cheers > > Neil > -- > Neil R. Houghton > Albany, Western Australia > Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 > Email: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > > -----Original Message----- > From: <[email protected]> on behalf of Brian W > Scott <[email protected]> > Reply-To: WAMUG <[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, 30 June 2019 at 14:48 > To: WAMUG <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive? > > Well after re-formating the USB disk to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) I had > another go but it didn’t work. > > Once again after several minutes downloading etc it reckoned it had > hundreds of years remaining but after a couple of minutes > went to 0 seconds and eventually rebooted and then said the target disk > (4 TB) is too small. > > It left a folder on the USB drive called OS X install Data within which > is file called installESD.dmg double clicking that > brought up a window with another folder called Packages within which were > these files.. > > BaseSystemResources.pkg > EFIPayloads > Essentials.pkg (5.6 GB) > InstallableMachines.plist > OSInstall.mpkg > OSInstall.pkg > OSUpgrade.pkg > SMCPayloads > X11redirect.pkg > > all quite small except for Essentials.pkg which I double clicked and was > presented with the option of installing so I went ahead > with installing to the USB drive. > > After a couple of hours or so the USB disk ended up with 23.2 BG used and > with these directories on it ... > > Applications > bin > cores > dev > etc > Library > Network > OS X Install Data > OS X Install Data copy > private > sbin > System > tmp > Users > usr > var > Volumes > > But still not a bootable drive. > > I thought it prudent to make copy of OS X install Data incase it got > removed by the installation process and because I was > warned at the start I would not have the Recovery option when installing > to the USB disk. > > So do I go for broke and try to re-install the OS on the MacBook Air? > > I’ll have a think about it but after how that went I’m not too keen. > > I still want to make the external USB drive bootable. > Perhaps if I use it to make a clone of my Macmini which has El Capitan on > it. > > Regards > > Brian > > > On 30 Jun 2019, at 11:34 am, Brian W Scott <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > Hi Neil, > > > > Thank you for your reply. > > > > The short WHY is I have a Huawei USB stick fitted with a SIM for mobile > internet that works with my iMac (High Sierra) and my > > Mac Mini (El Capitan) but there is something stopping it from working > on the MacBook Air (El Capitan) so I want to clean out what > > ever is stopping it from working. > > > > To make the WHY even longer; > > Web pages I use were not loading any more while the OS on the MacBook > Air was Lion so I updated to El Capitan. > > > > The web pages work fine now using my home modem, but when I tried to > access the web using my old USB stick (from Optus, > > mobile account with Exetel) that had been working fine since 2011 > under Lion it came up with a warning to install legacy Java SE 6 which I did, > > > > I in fact updated to the latest, and the warning went away. > > But the stick still was not logging onto the web. > > So I figured the stick is simply old technology that won’t work anymore > and got this latest one from Exetel with a new SIM and new > > account. Except it’s not working on my MacBook Air but works fine on my > other computers. > > > > When the stick is first inserted a window pops up with an Install icon > which I double clicked and something was installed, what and > > where I don’t know. The stick doesn’t appear as device on the system so > there is no way finding an un-install which probably doesn’t > > exist any way. > > > > I feel that there may something from the old stick in the MacBook Air’s > system preventing it from working, (maybe the Java update?) > > I can’t find anything in my Library and don’t know what to look for > anyway hence the desire for another clean install. > > > > I thought if I boot from an external drive with the stick in the > MacBook Air and it works I can be more confident in re-installing the OS on > it. > > > > Of course I could just re-install the OS on the MacBook Air without > doing and external boot drive but I thought there would some benefit in > > having one and I don’t want to risk disabling my MacBook Air by risking > what may be a faulty re-instal. > > > > I have a clone of my MacBook Air when it had Lion on it, but I only use > the machine when I’m out, it mainly gets used to access the web and nothing > else. > > > > So I’ll have another go today to make a boot drive though I’m not super > confident after yesterdays fail. The drive I’m using has 3.99 TB available > > and the MacBook Air has 208 GB available but I’m wondering if the USB > powered drive may be too slow and that may be effecting the install. > > > > I thought of going to something smaller like an iPad Air but then I’d > end up with a MacBook Air siting around doing nothing. > > Plus I’m 70 now and don’t get about much any more so I don’t want to > spend heaps for a mobile device when I already have one, > > even though at the moment it’s one that isn’t doing what I want. > > > > Exetel support tried to help but once they learned it works on other > computers they figured the fault lay with the MacBook Air. > > > > I’ve not tried to contact Huawei and I am not sure if that’s even > practical except to maybe to find what was installed and where. > > > > Thanks for your help. > > > > Brian > > > >> On 29 Jun 2019, at 6:18 pm, Neil Houghton <[email protected]> wrote: > >> > >> Hi Brian, > >> > >> Before starting anything, I assume that you have at least one full > up-to date backup of your existing system! > >> > >> > >> I think you need to be a bit clearer on what you are trying to do and > why. > >> > >> Some thoughts: > >> > >> • If you just want to have a temporary external USB boot drive > then you do not need a large USB drive. When I decided to upgrade 3 computers > to El Capitan I created a bootable USB flash drive with just the El Capitan > installer on it. The actual USB drive is only 32GB capacity and only 6.2GB of > that is used for the El Capitan Install app. > >> • This drive allowed me to boot-up the computer and > erase/reformat the internal hard drive and do a clean install of El Capitan. > Obviously this approach requires that I have already got my original system > and user data backed up elsewhere. Then you need to decide what apps and data > you want/need to migrate over. > >> • When you say "I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and > re-establish El Capitan on it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story)" - > the "WHY" will probably have a bearing on "HOW" you should go about it! For > example: > >> • If your existing setup is all working fine and you just > want/need to reformat the internal drive (say change the partition scheme) > then you would probably just clone the existing system drive/partition to an > external drive, reformat the internal drive and then clone back from the > external drive to your new internal target. > >> • On the other hand, if your reason(s) to wipe the drive and > re-install the OS is down to some perceived problems with the existing set-up > then just moving the existing set-up to the external drive and then back > again will most likely retain the problem! > >> • The nature of any existing problem would, most likely, tend to > drive the best approach to reinstalling the system and user data - is the > problem likely down to system corruption or user data/preference corruption? > >> > >> I'm not sure how helpful all that is but my experience has definitely > been that more time spent analysing and planning BEFORE you dive in will > often save problems down the track and save time in the long run. > >> > >> HTH > >> > >> > >> Cheers > >> > >> > >> Neil > >> -- > >> Neil R. Houghton > >> Albany, Western Australia > >> Tel: +61 8 9841 6063 > >> Email: [email protected] > >> > >> > >> -----Original Message----- > >> From: <[email protected]> on behalf of > Brian W Scott <[email protected]> > >> Reply-To: WAMUG <[email protected]> > >> Date: Saturday, 29 June 2019 at 17:23 > >> To: WAMUG <[email protected]> > >> Subject: Re: Is it possible to have an External USB boot drive? > >> > >> Hi, > >> > >> I found I could do it with the Recovery Disk/Partition. > >> > >> But it’s complaining that the 4TB drive I’m trying to put it on is > not big enough. > >> > >> I suspected it must using the MacBook Air drive to store stuff so > I’ve made some room on it and will try again tomorrow. > >> > >> 208.95 GB should do it I guess. > >> > >> At one time it said it had About 1,102,053,030 hrs 22 mins to go. > (That’s 125,722 average Gregorian years) > >> > >> But about a minute later it continued on to it’s next activity. > >> > >> > >>> On 29 Jun 2019, at 1:34 pm, Brian W Scott <[email protected]> > wrote: > >>> > >>> Hi, > >>> > >>> I have a MacBook Air 13 inch, Mid 2011 with Mac OS 10.7.5 El Capitan > 10.11.6 on it. > >>> > >>> I would like to wipe MacBook Air’s drive and re-establish El Capitan > on it. (Why I need to do this is a longer story) > >>> > >>> I have a 4TB USB powered by the USB port it doesn’t have a power > supply. > >>> > >>> I was thinking I could use it as an external boot drive while I deal > with the MacBook Air’s drive. > >>> > >>> If it is possible to do the above could someone please point me to > some instructions for getting this done. > >>> > >>> Thank you, > >>> > >>> Brian Scott > >>> > >>> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > >>> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > >>> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > >>> Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > >> > >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > >> Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > >> -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > >> Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > >> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > >> Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug> > -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- > Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml > <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml>> > Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml > <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml>> > Settings & Unsubscribe - > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug > <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>>
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