# How to make a bootable Snow Leopard USB in Lion?



## XenNightz (Dec 16, 2011)

On a new MacBook Pro running Lion I keep getting a restore failure, error 206. It seems like it's ok though, as I can see all the files on it but when I use option to boot up on an old white Macbook that was/is running Snow Leopard (but not booting up anymore) the USB says EFI boot instead of Snow Leopard like I named it. I click it and it just displays a folder with a ? mark on it.

Is there something wrong with the way Lion makes a bootable drive or is my Snow Leopard DMG damaged? Or what? What do you guys think is going on?


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## midijeep (Dec 16, 2011)

Try resetting your NVRAM and then see if you can boot from the USB.

Learn how from here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1379


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## XenNightz (Dec 18, 2011)

It did not work.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Dec 18, 2011)

> On a new MacBook Pro running Lion I keep getting a restore failure, error 206. It seems like it's ok though, as I can see all the files on it but when I use option to boot up on an old white Macbook that was/is running Snow Leopard (but not booting up anymore) the USB says EFI boot instead of Snow Leopard like I named it. I click it and it just displays a folder with a ? mark on it.



Can you word this differently and explain what you're trying to do with each computer?

You have a MacBook Pro that is having a problem with some kind of "restore failure."  Please explain how, exactly, you're trying to "restore" this computer and why.  Are you trying to boot from the emergency Lion partition on the computer?  Or are you trying to boot from some kind of USB key?  If so, what version of OS X are you using to try and boot it?

You have an old MacBook that doesn't boot.  The folder with a "?" indicates no bootable partitions were found on the hard drive (and any connected drives).  What kind of device are you trying to boot this computer from?

How was this "Snow Leopard DMG" made, and from exactly what kind of Snow Leopard disk?  Macs, in general, will not boot from OS X install DVDs that:

1) are of an older version than what originally shipped on the computer -- so if a MacBook shipped with 10.6.3 and you're trying to boot it from a retail OS X DVD that is version 10.6.0, it won't work.

2) are from a different computer.  These are gray in color, and they come with every Mac purchase, and are specific to the Mac that they shipped with.  You can't take a gray Snow Leopard DVD set that came with an iMac and boot a MacBook with them, for example.


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## XenNightz (Dec 18, 2011)

ElDiabloConCaca said:


> Can you word this differently and explain what you're trying to do with each computer?
> 
> You have a MacBook Pro that is having a problem with some kind of "restore failure."  Please explain how, exactly, you're trying to "restore" this computer and why.  Are you trying to boot from the emergency Lion partition on the computer?  Or are you trying to boot from some kind of USB key?  If so, what version of OS X are you using to try and boot it?
> 
> ...



I have two laptops, an old white MacBook that was running Snow Leopard and a new MacBook Pro running Lion. The white MB won't start up, gets stuck at the Apple logo with a spinning gear. The CD drive on the MB is broken so a USB drive is my only hope.

So on the MBP I tried to make a USB drive with an OS X 10.6 dmg. At the end of the "restore", making it bootable and putting the DMG on it I get a "Restore failure" error with the number 206. But I can see the files on it.

So I put it in the broken MB and start up holding option. The USB has the name of "EFI Boot". When I click on it I just get the flashing folder with question mark icon.

I'm not sure of the source of the dmg. My buddy sent it to me. Downloaded off the net. I don't have the original disk. Also I've just gotten to China and there are no Apple stores near.


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## ElDiabloConCaca (Dec 19, 2011)

Make sure the USB drive is partitioned with the "GUID" partition format. You can do this via disk utility by selecting the device (not the indented volume), creating a new partition scheme, and selecting GUID in the options.

Does it succesfully restore after doing that?

Also, not knowing where the DMG came from is a big, red flag. You don't know if it's a retail version, system-specific version, or even what version of OS X it is (not to mention the legal gray area of obtaining a Mac OS X install DVD via the method you mention).

Once you get it to successfully restore (if that's even possible), you now need to cross your fingers and hope that it's a version of OS X that will boot your MacBook.


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