OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive Now on Sale from Apple for $69, Cheaper to Do It Yourself
Don’t want to make an OS X Lion USB install drive yourself? Apple has you covered, and now the official Apple OS X Lion Thumb Drive is available for purchase through the Apple Store for $69. The main advantage to using a USB installer is that it allows you to install Lion without an internet connection.
You can get the official USB thumb drive on Apple.com
The official Apple offering comes at a bit of a price premium, and even Apple reminds you that “OS X Lion is also available for a lower price as a digital download from the Mac App Store.” so they certainly aren’t trying to upsell anyone. Jump below to see how to create your own drive and save some cash.
Note that Apple’s Lion USB thumb drive is different than the Lion Recovery Disk created by the assistant tool, and it will allow you to install Lion without an internet connection rather than just boot into recovery mode for the internet restore.
Save Money and Make Your Own OS X Lion USB Drive
Again, it’s much cheaper to just create one of these yourself. Here are the necessary items and OSXDaily’s walkthrough if you’d rather save some cash:
- Guide to Make a Mac OS X Lion USB Install Drive – easy as pie
- 8GB+ USB thumb drives on Amazon.com
– about $10 and widely available - Mac OS X Lion from the Mac App Store – costs $29.99 for a personal license
– about $10 and widely availableIf you already bought and installed Lion through the App Store, it’s even cheaper because you don’t have to buy OS X 10.7 twice. You just need to get a blank 8GB+ USB drive and then redownload Mac OS X Lion from the Mac App Store before following the aforementioned guide to make your own drive.
Hi, can I use this this OS X Lion USB Thumb Drive to install on PC?
thanks
Has anyone actually used the Lion thumb drive to boot up? If so, how did you do it? PLEASE do not answer based on how you know it is ‘supposed’ to work, or the way Apple says it will work. If you have done it, I would be grateful for guidance. (I have a brand new 2011 MacBook Air, wiped clean of its recovery drive — because ‘experts’ were helping me to sort out problems when things didn’t work the way Apple said they would.)
Just to tell you that you can’t re-download Lion from the App Store once you’ve installed it ;)
Yes you can. Hold the Control button while you click on the “Purchased” icon in the App Store.
If you have a bandwidth cap you are forced to either buy one of those drives or go to use someone else’s WiFi for several hours while Lion downloads from the App Store.
I made my own thumb installer the day Lion was available, but I appreciate Apple selling a pre-made option too even if it’s expensive.