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Installing Lion on a second machine

Avatar John Marriott
Before installing Lion on my MacBook I downloaded the installer to the desk top and copied it to a memory stick. Then I installed it on my MacBook all OK. I then proceeded to install from the memory stick on my iMac.
All not OK, all I get is a box indicating the 'candy' bar (blue) and the words 'checking "(null)".
This goes on and on. I returned to the App store and I assumed that I could simply download again from the store and ignore the version on the memory stick - not so the store tells me that it is installed and I cannot find a way to download again. Can anyone help me please?
John Marriott

Re: Installing Lion on a second machine

Avatar Euan Williams
John, have you copied the Lion Installer back to the Mac on which you want to install it?

It's not just that memory sticks (USB2) are very slow, but that almost all sticks in use by Mac users are still formatted for MS-DOS FAT which can store Mac data, but not application software (Windows is not, and never has been, part of the Unix family)

If so, it would be wholly unsuitable for an "executable" such as an installer which probably needs to unpack itself before starting work.

The advice to store a copy of your downloaded installer on a CD or Memory Stick is just that: storage.

For fun I did install Lion on an 8GB (reformatted with Disc Utility for Mac OS Extended - journaled) stick, and it 'works', although as there is no space to spare for caches, etc. and as USB2 is slow, it is only useful in the direst emergency. Using a 32GB stick might have improved performance - a bit.

Let us know how you get on.

Re: Installing Lion on a second machine

Avatar John Marriott
Hello Euan
Thanks for that, the memory stick was in fact formatted in Mac OS extended but somehow although it was a 16Gb stick the system would not work. I phoned Apple and they confirmed that it was not working ( I don't know how ). In the end I revisited the App store and downloaded Lion onto the iMac.
Thanks again see you next Tuesday
John
 
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