Apple replaced the express card slot with a SD card slot on the new 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pros. You can install OS X on a SD card which can be used as a emergency portable bootable drive. You can even set up your development environment on a SD card and just plug that in any MacBook Pro to get started.
What you will need:
- 8 GB SD Card (16GB recommended)
- OS X Installation Disc
Preparing the SD Card for OS X Installation
Insert the SD card in the MacBook Pro and use the Disk Utility to format it. Launch the Disk Utility and select your SD card, click on the partition tab use the following settings:
Volume Scheme: 1 Partition
Name: OS X SD [optional]
Format: Mac OS X Extended Journaled
Options: GUID Partition Table
You are ready to install OS X on the SD card after the Disk Utility is done formatting the card. Insert the OS X installation disc in the MacBook Pro and run the installer. Select the newly formatted SD card as the destination and click on customize on the next screen. Uncheck everything except the “Essential System Software” to minimize the installation size and start the install. You can install additional apps — depending on the size of your SD card- after the OS X is installed.
You need to designate the SD card as the startup disc in Startup Disc under System Preferences to boot from the SD Card.
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Have you actually done this? I have a formatted 8 GB SD card that Disk Utility reports as having 7.2GB free. But the installer says only 6.1GB is available, and the smallest Leopard install I can configure (no drivers, language support) is 6.2GB — so, a no-go. Any suggestions?