What is Lion Disk Maker?

Lion Disk Maker is a small application programmed with AppleScript that you can use with Mac OS X 10.6 or 10.7 to burn a DVD or build a bootable USB key from Mac OS X Lion’s Installation programm.

Download Lion DiskMaker 1.7 ( ZIP file, 800 KB).

As soon as you launch the application, it checks the presence of Mac OS X Lion Install in the /Applications folder, or tries to find one using Spotlight. Then, it proposes to build a DVD or create a USB bootable install disk.

To burn the DVD, you’ll need a SuperDrive and a writable DVD (single layer, 4,7 GB). To build a bootable disk, you’ll need a 4GB (minimum) USB or Firewire drive or an SD-Card.

WARNING! The whole contents of the drive (including every other volume from this drive) will be erased! Please backup any data on another disk if necessary.

 

method= »post »>If you have any question, or wish to report a bug, please send an e-mail: webmaster AT  gete DOT net.

FAQ

I am told I have no copy of Mac OS X Lion Install available.

Mac OS X Lion Install is automatically erased after you upgrade from Snow Leopard to Lion. If you need to download it again, open the Mac App Store, open the Purchase page while pressing Option (Alt) key. You’ll be able to download Mac OS X Lion Install again.

The best time to use Lion DiskMaker is when you just finish downloading Lion from the Mac App Store. Create your disk with Lion Disk Maker , then install Lion.

Can I use Lion DiskMaker with the latest MacBook Airs or Mac mini pre-equiped with Lion (Summer 2011 models) ?

The answer is YES. There are in fact two ways to do it.

- If you already purchased Lion on the Mac App Store (and therefore have a valid copy of Mac OS X Lion Install application), you can download the full 10.7.2 installer from Mac App Store first. This installer is compatible with Macs pre-equiped with Lion.

- If you did not purchase Lion, but want to get an Install disc, there is a way to get the InstallESD.dmg file for your Mac. The method is not really easy though. Check afp548.com for the full story. After you got the InstallESD.dmg file, use it to build your key or DVD with Lion DiskMaker.

I encountered the following message : The disk could not be created because of an error : An error occured : 1. hdiutil: attach failed – No such file or directory

This happens if you chose the wrong Mac OS X Lion Install application, or if you mounted manually the InstallESD.dmg file first.

The simple answer is: don’t do this :-) Lion DiskMaker is clever enough to detect your copy of Mac OS X Lion Install itself. Then it will mount the DMG file itself.

Yes, that’s cool, but I don’t have the complete Mac OS X Install app and I just kept the InstallESD.dmg file. So do I have to re-download Lion again?

Don’t worry, Lion DiskMaker checks also if an InstallESD.dmg file is available, or you can select it manually.

Can I use a FireWire or SD-Card?

Yes, you can, though the USB drive is « universal » and works on any Mac.

My drive was completely erased!

Yup. This is how the software works, and you are warned before choosing the drive. Backup any file on your drive before using the software if necessary. And use a dedicated, small drive (a 4 GB USB key is incredibly cheap these days).

Can I redistribute this software ?

Sure, as long as you mention the author and don’t suppress any comment or change anything in its package.

Booting from the DVD is slooooow as hell…

A DVD will always be slower than a USB key, and it seems Lion’s disk image is not optimized for use with optical disks. If you can avoid it, well… avoid it, and use a USB key.

Is Mountain Lion supported ?

Please note that  Lion DiskMaker is NOT compatible with OS X Mountain Lion Developer Preview. This should come in a future version.

Lion DiskMaker is donationware

If you found this program useful and wish to make a donation, you can use the Paypal button below (I also accept iTunes Store vouchers ;-) ). However, if you wish to use it without paying, I am totally fine with this. I intend to keep the software free of charge.

 

 

©2011, Guillaume Gète. The content of this application is available for testing and research. Please don’t distribute this app without its comments and additional contents.

Thanks to…

Thanks to Laurent Pertois and Nicolas Furno for their help and precious tests !

Thanks to Emmanuel Mathias (Keynote.fr) who designed the icon.

History

v1.0

Hello World. Though it should be  more like « Hello France », at this time.

V1.1

• Support for 4GB drives.
• New icon, designed by Emmanuel Mathias (keynote.fr).
• New donation feature through PayPal.
• asr has been abandoned in favor of ditto for the copy part.
• Moved to MBR partition file format to allow 4GB drives support.

V1.2

• Automatic detection of Mac OS X Lion Install application using Spotlight. If Spotlight can’t find anything, you can select another folder containing the application.
• Instead of forcing to use Safari when clicking a web link, LDM respects the user’s choice and uses his prefered web browser.
• More feedback when creating a boot disk.
• Suppressed the « USB key » reference for « disk », more generic.
• More comments in the code. In case you would want, you know, tweak it.

V1.5

• Full localization support ! No more different versions for US or French, now the script will use the proper localization automatically according to your’s system language ! And if you wish to translate it in another language, please get in touch with me, the job will be VERY easy to do (juste a mere file to translate).
• Icons in dialog messages. Because, well… I just could.
• Full support  for InstallESD.dmg files, in case you used this one instead.
• Smarter choice of eligible disk. Lion DiskMaker  will try to detect if you use a small (less than 8,5 GB), removable drive, and will propose to use it automatically. You’ll still be able to change it though.
• Utilities folder is now automatically copied at the root of the Install disc, so that you won’t have to search in the subfolders for these tools (especially the Firmware Password Utility…). And yup, its name is automatically localized.
• When you open the disk, it will look beautiful now ! You will find the « Install Mac OS X Lion » application, Utilities folder, properly aligned with the neat background . Now THAT looks cool ! And it has a bonus effect: it appears in the Startup Manager, so you will know you have to choose this one.
• And because we thought we could make it even cooler… A nice custom icon for your disk ! Won’t work for DVDs, sorry !
• I also worked-around an issue with Lion DiskMaker failing when a Mac has two DVD drives or more connected to it. Thus, now the first drive considered will always be the first internal one. If you want to use another, just change the needed parameter in the script by opening it with AppleScript Editor.
• And a few small issues fixed.

V1.6

• Fixed the MyDiskName variable problem encountered by many…
• Fixed English localization not appearing. Sorry English-speaking people who’ve been confronted to French 
• Changed the language of comments in the script to English.
• Changed a few variables names to avoid confusion.
• Now Spotlight looks for the full, literal « Install Mac OS X Lion »  string. Should limit the risk of showing wrong files.
• A few buttons’ texts have been shortened.

V1.6.1

• The infamous « MyDiskName variable not defined » should have been definitely squashed now, hopefully.

V1.6.2

• Removed the Automatic detection of disks. People tend to not read the alert message saying that the whole drive would be erased, so better no detection than bad detection and complaining. You have now to manually select your USB stick or whatever drive by yourself.
• Added an extra warning message before erasing the disk. Read first paragraph.

V1.6.3

• Fixed now infamous error -10006 which happened mostly if your Finder displays the full path to a window instead of the name (an option you can activate with third-party system tools or command line).
• Added 2 localizations :  Spanish (thanks to Fernando Juan-Santos) and Czech (thanks  to Boris Dušek). If you want to help Lion DiskMaker, you can also propose new translations !

v1.7

• 4 GB USB drives again compatible with Lion 10.7.3. I had to regain space by not copying AdditionalSpeechVoices.pkg (which is NOT essential) if you choose to use a 4 GB USB thumb drive. Lion DiskMaker will propose to copy AdditionalSpeechVoices.pkg on the Desktop after creating the disk.
• Now you can use  Lion DiskMaker to create a boot disk without reformating the WHOLE volume. Now, if you use a bigger-than-4-GB disk, only the volume selected to install Lion DiskMaker will be erased. The other volumes will be kept safe.
• If you use a more-than-4GB drive, the disk will be visible in the Startup control panel, with its real name… but the disk will need to use the GUID partition scheme.
• More localizations : Lion DiskMaker is now translated in Italian (thanks Nicola Castaman), German (thanks Johannes Huber) and simplified Chinese ((thanks Tommy Yang) !
• No more timeouts if a dialog is left open and idle, woohoo !