Making USB drive bootable with mac osx


mur.616

Recommended Posts

Im a noob and need help.

 

Im trying to set up unraid 5.0 rc8 on a new usb drive.

 

The BOIS reconizes the usb as a bootable device but unraid wont boot.

 

I have formatted to FAT and used and used unitbootin.

 

Other notes, i am trying to use existing data drives. i believe me usb is failing.

 

New USB is SanDisk Cruzer 4gb

Old USB Rally2 OCZ 2GB

 

1 Parity Drive. 7 Data Drives.

 

Please Help

Link to comment

I use unetbootin on my Mac to create flash drives all the time.

 

It might be a specific version or something that works better.  I will have to see which version I have on my Mac.

 

I usually rename the .zip to .ISO and then use unetbootin without a problem.

 

Have you done this on OS X 10.8.2?

Link to comment

I use unetbootin on my Mac to create flash drives all the time.

 

It might be a specific version or something that works better.  I will have to see which version I have on my Mac.

 

I usually rename the .zip to .ISO and then use unetbootin without a problem.

 

Have you done this on OS X 10.8.2?

 

I have not on 10.8.2 as I just (as in 2 days ago) installed Mountain Lion on my machine.

 

I can do a test stick when I get home tonight and report back.

Link to comment

Ok, I was using version 549 under OS X 10.6.8.

 

That version appears to not work any longer under 10.8.2.  I downloaded the newest version and while everything appears to work as expected it does not create a bootable USB drive.

 

Not quite sure how to fix that as of yet... will have to do some more searching and reading.

Link to comment

You can try this, but I've not tested this with unRAID.

 

Format the flash drive with Disk Utilities: Create a Single partition of type FAT(MSDOS).  Make sure that Master Boot Record is selected in Options. Name it UNRAID.

 

Unmount the drive. Select the UNRAID partition and click Info. Copy the Disk Identifier, e.g., disk4s1.

 

Open a terminal.

 

Enter: "sudo newfs_msdos -F 32 -v UNRAID -c 1 /dev/disk4s1". Make sure to use the correct disk identifier!!!

 

This will make a FAT32 partition with a smaller cluster size and may enhance compatibility.

Link to comment

Ok, I was using version 549 under OS X 10.6.8.

 

That version appears to not work any longer under 10.8.2.  I downloaded the newest version and while everything appears to work as expected it does not create a bootable USB drive.

 

Not quite sure how to fix that as of yet... will have to do some more searching and reading.

 

Do you know if that is the most recent version that works with Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8)? I had to downgrade from ML to SL. Lion, and above, make my MacBookPro unuseable (WORST..OS..EVER). I asked on their forum a few days ago, but no one seems to be willing to answer.

Link to comment

Do you know if that is the most recent version that works with Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8)? I had to downgrade from ML to SL. Lion, and above, make my MacBookPro unuseable (WORST..OS..EVER). I asked on their forum a few days ago, but no one seems to be willing to answer.

 

Honestly not sure, it was the version I had on my machine.  I did an md5 on the unetbootin app to figure it out.

 

I would try the version I mentioned above and see if that works for you.  I KNOW it did for me under 10.6.8.

 

 

I have figured out a way to make a bootable USB drive on OS X 10.8.2 and am working on some instructions and a script to do it.  Making the script is easy enough, making it user friendly... not so much.

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

Just wanted to let anyone who might be interested know that i have got this working pretty smoothly.

 

I have been working with Tom to get some details ironed out and I think everything is pretty much good to go.  With any luck the next release of unRAID will include instructions and all needed files to make a bootable stick on a Windows or Mac machine!!

Link to comment
  • 3 months later...
  • 4 months later...

Just wanted to let anyone who might be interested know that i have got this working pretty smoothly.

 

I have been working with Tom to get some details ironed out and I think everything is pretty much good to go.  With any luck the next release of unRAID will include instructions and all needed files to make a bootable stick on a Windows or Mac machine!!

 

Can you share this info.  Trying to upgrade from 4.7 to 5.0 and after formatting my flash drive I get "permission denied" when trying to run fdisk -e /dev/disk2 in terminal.  Thanks.

Link to comment
  • 2 months later...

me too...any update on the OSX / make bootable situation would be much appreciated. As it is, I can't boot my upgraded 5.0 unraid, it's stuck at syslinux screen

If you use the zip file available here it should get you working.  Note that this will wipe the entire USB drive.  so if you have stuff on there you want to save, copy the config directory and anything else off to a safe place.

 

I give no warranty if you wipe your drive by accident and have to start over.

 

https://code.google.com/p/unraid-greenleaf-repository/downloads/detail?name=Make%20Bootable%20Files.zip&can=2&q=

Link to comment

thanks for this!

included in the zip is 5.0rc5, can i just invoke "make_bootable_mac" on the mac via terminal, and then copy the latest 5.0 release over to the stick?

 

EDIT: ok, I hope I'm getting this right - I copied 5.0 to the stick, and also copied make_bootable_mac - now I invoke it from the terminal... correct? Sorry if i'm asking dumb questions...

Link to comment

thanks for this!

included in the zip is 5.0rc5, can i just invoke "make_bootable_mac" on the mac via terminal, and then copy the latest 5.0 release over to the stick?

 

EDIT: ok, I hope I'm getting this right - I copied 5.0 to the stick, and also copied make_bootable_mac - now I invoke it from the terminal... correct? Sorry if i'm asking dumb questions...

The directions should lay everything out for you.  Basically whatever you copy to the stick will be "copied back" at the end of the process.

 

The "make_bootable_mac" file just needs to be double clicked.  Everything else from there is automated, or you have to just answer a question.

 

You have to make sure the syslinux folder from the zip file is on the flash drive or nothing will work.

Link to comment

thank you, it worked!

i'm now booted into 5.0.

And although it is a little OT, I'll ask anyway:

 

I reassigned all disks to the correct slots. All disks are blue, however, and it says "Stopped. Initial configuration". I am now a little hesitant whether I should start the array, or not... :o

Any quick advice?

Link to comment

thank you, it worked!

i'm now booted into 5.0.

And although it is a little OT, I'll ask anyway:

 

I reassigned all disks to the correct slots. All disks are blue, however, and it says "Stopped. Initial configuration". I am now a little hesitant whether I should start the array, or not... :o

Any quick advice?

So long as you have all the disks back in the correct place (specifically the parity drive) you can go ahead and start the array.  It will likely do a parity calc and you should do a parity check after words to make sure everything is good to go.

Link to comment

thanks!

seems to be all good.

You seem to have got going OK, but for others the key thing to check is that when you first start the array (without parity assigned) no disk shows up as 'unformatted'.  If it does then the chances are high that the disk in question is really the parity disk and not a data disk.

Link to comment

What is that 'make_bootable_mac' file in the root of the flash doing?

It is a very small c application that launches the script in terminal using "sudo".

 

The entire contents consist of:

//
//  main.c
//  make_bootable_mac
//
//  Created by Kyle Hiltner on 12/22/12.
//  Copyright (c) 2012 Kyle Hiltner. All rights reserved.
//

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <unistd.h>


int main()
{
    system("mkdir /tmp/UNRAID;cp -r /Volumes/UNRAID/* /tmp/UNRAID;");
    system("sudo /tmp/UNRAID/syslinux/make_bootable_mac.sh" );
    return 0;
}

 

I was attempting to make it as easy as possible for a newbie to run this.  Otherwise they have to load terminal, type sudo, then drag the .sh file into the terminal window.  Those directions are easy enough for me to to follow but a single file that can be double-clicked is easier.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.