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I have a 13 inch Macbook Air 2011. A couple of days back, I was deleting some files and I landed in the Macintosh HD folder (root) and from there I ⌘+Deleted everything. Needless to say, my Mac does not boot up now.

After searching, I found that ⌘+R goes into recovery mode. Now, I'm on this screen (screenshot not mine):

Install Mac OS X - Mac OS X Lion - Downloading additional components. Your computer will restart automatically.

and my Mac says 23 hours remaining. This is my 4th attempt at re-installation and I just can not get it to finish quickly. Sometimes I lose my net connection in between and the whole process starts over again. I have spent at least 72-90 hours reinstalling the whole thing 3 times, but it just doesn't finish. I'm on a 2 Mbps connection.

Is there an alternative to downloading OS X Lion from the net?

EDIT: I don't know anyone who has a Mac, and the Mac store is in another city. If I somehow do get the "Mac OS X Install ESD.dmg" from someone, is it possible to burn this into a bootable USB using Windows 7?

L2G
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YD8877
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3 Answers3

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Sorry but I don't know of any other way to reinstall your lost data.

If you do want to download before installing, borrow someone else's Mac to

  1. Download Lion from the Mac App Store. The installer should show up in your Applications folder.
  2. Right-click on the installer and hit "Show Package Contents". Navigate to Contents > SharedSupport and look for a file called "InstallESD.dmg".

  3. Open up Disk Utility and drag the DMG file into the left-hand sidebar. If you're burning it to a DVD, insert your DVD, select the disk image in the sidebar, and hit the "Burn" button. Skip down to the last step to use it.

  4. If you want to burn Lion to a USB flash drive:

    • plug it in and click on it in the left-hand sidebar in Disk Utility.
    • Go to the Partition tab and select "1 Partition" from the dropdown menu. Choose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled) on the left.
    • Hit the Options button under the partition table and choose "GUID Partition Table". You'll need this to make the drive bootable on a Mac. Hit the Apply button when you're done to format your drive (note: it will erase everything on the drive).
    • Click on the "Restore" tab, choose the InstallESD.dmg file as the source and your flash drive as the destination. Hit the Apply button and it will create your bootable USB drive.

  5. Connect your MBAir DVD drive and boot into OS X and hold the option key when you hear the startup chime. You can boot into your DVD or flash drive from there.

nohillside
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stuart
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  • I dont know anyone who has a MAC and the MAC store is in another city. If i somehow do get the "Mac OS X Install ESD.dmg" from someone, is it possible to burn this into a bootable USB using windows 7 ? – YD8877 Jul 08 '12 at 07:06
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Sounds like the easiest solution would be to use a more reliable internet connection, since it's a very portable computer.

Otherwise, do you have a Snow Leopard installation DVD? You could maybe install that (if it runs on MacBook Air?) and follow the 'standard' upgrade path, which may handle flakey internet better.

Otherwise call Apple (details for the US, if that's where you're from?). They will be able to check (via your Apple ID) if you've got a licence for Lion and/or let you buy one, with a download link, and perhaps even send you installation media (if they still do that).

drfrogsplat
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I have not tried this app, nor ever heard of it however its the only one i found so, i would give it a try if i could, second, my best tip for you, would be as so many said, a better internet connection, cause its probably there it fails!

oh and a simple reinstall of your os will fix your problems with no apparent information loss!

here is a link to a forum that has successfully done what you are looking for link

Macmaniman
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  • Can you please describe the fix not just provide links. Also the question is reinstalling the OS The question is how to reinstall without downloading the OS from the net – mmmmmm Mar 19 '13 at 11:18
  • "If I somehow do get the "Mac OS X Install ESD.dmg" from someone, is it possible to burn this into a bootable USB using Windows 7?"

    there is obviously no way of installing what you don't have!

     – Macmaniman Mar 20 '13 at 07:28