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Need to install Mountain Lion OS X on iMac model EMC 2211

I need to replace the hard drive on an old iMac model EMC2211. I've been told it's a 2008 model. I've taken it apart and purchased what I thought would be the OSX download, but instead appears to be just the product code for Mountain Lion OSX. My situation is that I'm replacing it with an SSD hard drive, I've already got a mount to place it in and already have it taken apart but I do not have the actual disc for the OS. What are my options here if I don't have a DVD-DL disc, nor any of the installation discs, but just a blank hard drive, and the product code from the apple store? If I can get a hold of the Mountain Lion OSX iso,could I just load it onto the SSD drive through an external enclosure kit I have so that I can boot off of it or is it possible to load it on a USB flash drive and boot off of that? This is what I purchased from apple store - http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

Tom Beck

I did the same thing for my 13" MacBook Pro about a month ago, copied OS X to a new blank SSD. I followed these instructions. Had to buy an 8GB thumb drive with nothing else on it.

Make Your Own Mountain/Lion Installer

1. After downloading Mountain/Lion you must first save the Install Mac OS X Mountain/
Lion application. After Mountain/Lion downloads DO NOT click on the Install button.
Go to your Applications folder and make a copy of the Mountain/Lion installer. Move
the copy into your Downloads folder. Now you can click on the Install button. You
must do this because the installer deletes itself automatically when it finishes
installing.

2. Get a USB flash drive that is at least 8 GBs. Prep this flash drive as follows:

a. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
b. After DU loads select your flash drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left
side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
c. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one.
Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the
partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until
the process has completed.
d. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side
list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
e. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the
button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
f. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to an hour depending upon the flash
drive size.

3. Locate the saved Mountain/Lion installer in your Downloads folder. CTRL- or RIGHT-click on the installer and select Show Package Contents from the contextual menu. Double-click on the Contents folder to open it. Double-click on the SharedSupport folder. In this folder you will see a disc image named InstallESD.dmg.

4. Plug in your freshly prepared USB flash drive. You are going to clone the content of the InstallESD.dmg disc image to the flash drive as follows:

a. Double-click on the InstallESD.dmg file to mount it on your Desktop.
b. Open Disk Utility.
c. Select the USB flash drive from the left side list.
d. Click on the Restore tab in the DU main window.
e. Select the USB flash drive volume from the left side list and drag it to the Destination entry field.
f. Drag the mounted disc icon from the Desktop into the Source entry field.
g. Double-check you got it right, then click on the Restore button.

When the clone is completed you have a fully bootable installer that you can use without having to re-download Mountain/Lion.

Note: The term Mountain/Lion used above means Lion or Mountain Lion.

As an alternative to the above (you still have to do your own download of Lion/Mountain Lion) you can try using Lion DiskMaker 2.0 that automates the process of Steps 2 through 4.

In fact there is the option of reinstalling Mountain Lion from scratch using the Recovery HD which is an invisible partition created on your hard drive by the Mountain Lion installer.

You can also make use of OS X (Lion/Mountain Lion)- About OS X Recovery in the event that the drive is completely corrupted and must be repartitioned or if you have replaced the drive. If your computer is not now capable of using Internet Recovery then check out Computers that can be upgraded to use OS X Internet Recovery.

You can also put a copy of the Recovery HD onto a 2 GB USB flash drive for use in the event the one on your hard drive becomes corrupted: OS X Recovery Disk Assistant v1.0 and OS X- About Recovery Disk Assistant.

bman2011

ASKER

My problem is that my MAC isn't working at all, so I only have a windows computer to do anything on. Your steps require a mac to do most of the procedures.

serialband

It looks like you can get a copy from softoinc. It's a free download for your Mac in the first place. http://os-x-lion-update.en.softonic.com/mac

Burn a CD or USB then install it on your Mac. You should keep your own copies of every ISO after snow leopard on USB. You can always get the free upgrade to Mavericks or Yosemite too, so I suggest you download those for safe keeping even if you don't want to use them now. That way you'll have a copy if your disk ever fails and you have to purchase a new one.

strung

Serialband, the link you provided is only an 10.7.4 updater. It is not a full install of 10.7.

strung

Your model iMac is an early 2008 and came with OS 10.5 installed. So I am going to assume that you installed OS 10.7 somewhere along the line.

Before you removed the old hard drive, did you try to boot the computer from the recovery partition by holding down command-R while booting?

If not, re-install the old hard drive in the computer and reboot while holding down Command R. If it boots to the recovery partition, connect the new drive to the computer by USB. Then run Disk Utility from the menu and reformat the new drive as Apple Extended Format (Journalled). Then you should be able to do an install of the OS from the recovery partition. When asked where to install it, choose the new drive.

During the install process, you will be asked if you want to move any data from an old Mac and at that point, choose the old Mac drive as the source and it should move your applications, data and settings to the new drive.

serialband

Oops, wrong link. There were so many on Softonic. http://os-x-lion.en.softonic.com/mac/download

I provided it because the question was framed in a way to suggest that the previous disk may have been bad, but that was just my assumption.

They have Mountain Lion and Mavericks too.

strung

Serialband, clicking on that link just connects you to the iTunes store and there is no link to download from there.

If Bman2011 downloaded Mountain Lion from the App store, he should be able to log in to his account there using his AppleID and download a fresh copy from there. Otherwise, Apple no longer makes Mountain Lion generally available. Obviously to log into the App store, he needs a working Mac, which why I suggested he first try to use the recovery partition on the old hard drive if the recovery partition is still available.

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bman2011

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bman2011

ASKER

Tried various methods proposed on forums and on the internet, until I got lucky with an installer and got my mac to recognize it using Transmac software.