Tell me more ×
Ask Different is a question and answer site for power users of Apple hardware and software. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 1 down vote favorite

I've got (I think) an late-2009 Mac mini. (It's the last mini before they removed the optical drive)

Recently it crashed, and when trying to reboot it, it hangs at the Apple logo.

When it first comes up, there is a progress bar at the bottom and at spinning "wait" icon. The progress bar goes away, but the wait icon remains indefinitely (I let it sit for 4 days).

I've inserted a USB stick with a Lion recovery partition installed on it, but when I press ⌘ + R after pressing the power button, I get the exact same results as above (i.e., it does not boot into the recovery partition, but instead shows the Apple logo, progress bar, and wait icon).

I know there should be a recovery partition on disk, but if that disk has failed, I'm hopeful that it would still launch the recovery partition off of the USB drive.

Am I missing something simple, or is this expected behaviour with a failed disk?

share|improve this question
What happens when you boot while holding down the Option key with the Lion USB disk in? Does it show the disk then? (And does it show the internal recovery partition?) Also: instead of pressing Command-R, you should hold Command-R down - I usually start holding the keystroke before I hit the power button. – CajunLuke May 30 '12 at 19:17
Holding the option key as opposed to the cmd+r key solved the issue. Enter it as an answer and I'll accept. – Chase Florell May 30 '12 at 19:35

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote accepted

Hitting ⌘+R tries to boot the recovery partition on the internal disk. To boot a different recovery partition or an external USB install disk, hold the ⌥ (Option) key at boot and select the disk you want to boot to.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.