Make A Os Boot Flash Drive Mac

By default, Mac starts from its built-in hard disk, but a startup disk can be any storage device that contains bootable contents that compatible with your Mac. For example, if you install macOS or Microsoft Windows on a USB drive, your Mac can recognize that drive as a startup disk. This guide provides 2 ways to boot a Mac from a USB flash drive.

• Mac Os Flash Drive
• Make Usb Boot Drive Mac
• Mac Os Boot Flash Drive

Boot your Mac. If you want to use your USB stick with an Apple Mac, you will need to restart or power-on the Mac with the USB stick inserted while the Option/alt (⌥) key is pressed. This will launch Apple’s ‘Startup Manager’ which shows bootable devices connected to the machine. I was able to make a macOS Sierra external USB boot disk in a few minutes, and the installation worked without a hitch. Also works with older versions of OS X. Diskmaker X is a popular app. Jul 07, 2020  A broken Mac computer with Mac OS X or macOS (version 10.12 or later). A trial copy of the TransMac software. One high quality USB flash drive with 16GB of storage. A copy of Apple’s macOS (DMG file). Create macOS bootable USB installation media. To create a bootable USB drive. Apr 18, 2012  A bootable Mac OS X thumb drive comes in handy when you need to troubleshoot OS issues for yourself, your family, or your friends. It's also extremely useful for keeping your basic setup.

Requirement

In this article we'll run through the steps necessary to create a bootable installer of the Mac operating system, whether it's so you can install the latest version of the macOS on multiple Macs.

1. Sep 14, 2015  If your Mac doesn’t boot from an external volume or the drive doesn’t show up in Startup Manager even though it contains a bootable copy of OS X, it might need repair. The first order of business should be attempting to repair disk permissions in Disk Utility. In the worst case scenario, you might need to reinstall OS X on the external volume.
2. Use your USB drive right-click on it and select format disk format this will format the USB drive so that it can be used to store the Mac OS operating system. One thing you need took care of that the USB drive needs in GPT partition in order to work on a Mac computer otherwise it won’t boot.

Starting up your Mac from an external disk requires the following:

• Intel-based Mac.
• Bootable USB thumb drive formatted with a GUID partition type and containing an OS X installer or a usable operating system.

Let’s see how to boot a Mac from a bootable USB drive and what to do if your Mac doesn’t start up from it.

Way 1: Boot Mac from USB Drive using Startup Manager

Getting your Mac to load from a USB drive is fairly straightforward. Use the following steps, you can easily set Mac boot from an external drive in Startup Manager, so it’ll only boot from USB that one time.

Step 1: Insert the USB boot media into a USB slot.

Step 2: Turn on your Mac (or Restart your Mac if it’s already on).

Step 3: Press and hold the Option key immediately after you see the Apple logo. Holding that key gives you access to OS X’s Startup Manager. Once the Startup Manager screen appears, release the Option key. The utility will look for any available drives that include bootable content.

Step 4: Using either the pointer or arrow keys on the keyboard, select the USB drive you wish to boot from. Once selected, either hit the Return key or double-click your selection. The machine will start to boot from the USB drive.

Way 2: Set a Mac Boot from USB Drive using Startup Disk

When you use Startup Disk preferences to set Mac boot from an external drive, so it’ll boot from that disk until you choose a different one. Here is how:

Step 1: Go to Apple menu > System Preference, then click Startup Disk.

Step 2: Click the locked icon and then enter your administrator password.

Step 3: Select External drive as the startup disk, then restart your Mac.

What to do if your Mac does not boot from the selected drive

If you see a message prompts that your security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk, check the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility, and then allow your Mac to use an external startup disk.

Step 1: Open Startup Security Utility.

Turn on your Mac, then press and hold Command (⌘) + R immediately after you see the Apple logo. Your Mac starts up from macOS Recovery. When you see the macOS utility window, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility from the menu bar. When you’re asked to authenticate, click Enter macOS Password, then choose an administrator account and enter its password.

Step 2: Select “Allow booting from external media“.

If you want to select an external startup disk before restarting your Mac, quit Startup Security Utility, then choose Apple menu > Startup Disk.

Note: If you’re using Boot Camp in a dual-boot Windows/OS X environment, you may be unable to boot negatively into supported versions of Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 10 operating systems installed on external USB hard drive.

Make sure disk has been formatted with a GUID partition type

Intel-based Macs support starting from an external USB storage device’s volume that has been formatted with a GUID partition type. If you wish to boot from the drive, it’s important to format the partition as “GUID Partition Table” rather than either of the other two ahead of time when you use that drive as a bootable drive.

Make sure your disk is bootable

Volumes that aren’t bootable and don’t contain a copy of a valid operating system aren’t listed in Startup Disk or Startup Manager. Make sure the external drive you’re trying to start from contains a usable operating system.

Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions

A Universal Serial Bus or USB drive, also known as a flash drive is a portable data storage device that includes a memory which includes a USB interface. It is typically removable and much smaller than an optical disc. Any sort of data can be stored in this device. The drives are available in various sizes and as of till date, the 2TB(Tera-Byte) flash drives in terms of storage capacity are the largest ones available in the market.

Today, these drives are one of the most consumed used devices in the world. Thanks to their portable nature, affordability, and compatibility, USB drives are being used to send and receive endless information across a surplus of networks and platforms all around the globe. This small tool has opened the world to a stream of limitless options with respect to storing, transferring, copying data, and much more. One of them includes Booting the Mac from such device.

Mac Os Flash Drive

Part 1. Reasons for Mac Boot from USB:

Booting the Mac from USB in a way gives the power back to the user. The likeliest of the reason for choosing the boot from USB method is that your Mac won’t start which denies the user access to the computer. Using from an external source like the USB drive helps the user get around the problem. It provides the user access to contents of the internal drive, assuming the data is safe and not corrupted. It also helps to repair the Mac disk with Disk Utility and other tools. Here are the top reasons why the user should choose to Boot Mac from USB:

• Allows the user to install a different version of MacOS.
• It allows the user to test a new version before you make the decision to upgrade.
• Allows risk-free testing of the Beta version.
• Faster and efficient.
• By installing older versions through USB, it permits certain Apps to run which are not compatible with the latest MacOS.

Part 2. Preparations for Booting Mac from USB:

To ensure a risk-free procedure certain measure should be taken:

• The user should buy a name-brand flash drive.
• The USB should contain 16-32GB of free space.
• The user should scan the flash drive with some reputable Anti-Virus software.
• The user should check to see what size of ports they have on the Mac. A 12’ Mac only contains a single C-Type port.
• Make sure to purchase the C port flash drive to avoid any inconvenience.
• It is adviced that the user should go with a USB 3.0 supported drive, with a size of 16GB to ensure a swift transfer of data.
• The USB drive should be formatted with a supported GUID partition.
• It should contain an OS X installer or a usable operating system to work with.

Part 3. How to Create Bootable USB on Mac:

Make Usb Boot Drive Mac

There are a few general guidelines that can help get your machine started which are mentioned above, regardless of the OS the user prefers.

Here are the methods to create a bootable USB drive on Mac.

• Creating a Bootable USB Using Terminal.
• Create a Bootable drive with the help a third party compression software, which is available for free.

Creating a Bootable USB Using Terminal:

Terminal is the default gateway to the command line on a Mac. It is just like the Command Prompt feature works for MS Windows. The Terminal feature ensures a hassle-free experience for the Mac user without the conventional pointing and clicking, the user just has to type the commands and the computer does the rest. The user can find Terminal in the Applications>Utilities folder or it can be checked in the finder utility.

Using the Terminal feature is the most simple way to create the bootable USB drive. The user just needs to follow one easy step which is renaming the MyVolume portion of the command with the name of the drive. The name of the drive can be changed using the Disk Utility of Mac.

Here are the steps required after opening the Terminal feature to create a bootable USB drive.

• Copy and paste the command which is suited for the version of the operating system into the Terminal window.
• The command for MacOS Mojave is as follows:

sudo /Applications/InstallmacOSMojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume/Volumes/MyVolume

• Press the Return key.
• Enter the password.
• Confirm to erase the USB drive by typing Y followed by the Return key.
• Terminal will erase all the data inside the drive and create the bootable USB drive.

If there is a need to install a different version of the operating system then the user just has to replace the above-underlined command with their desired version of OS. For example, if the user wants to install Mac OS Sierra instead of Mojave then they would have to replace “Mojave.app” with “Sierra.app” inside the command line.

Part 4. How to Boot Mac from USB Media:

After creating a bootable USB drive, the user simply needs to plug the created drive into the open port on the Mac. Here are the steps to boot Mac from the USB flash drive:

• Power on the system.
• Press and hold the Option (Alt) key on the keyboard when the computer starts.
• Select the USB drive as a startup disk when the option appears.
• The system will start the boot process off the USB drive.
• Install the operating system from the MacOS utilities.
• Data can be restored by using the Time-Machine backup option.

Part 5. How to Recover Data from Unbootable Mac:

The Mac becomes unbootable when the BIOS which is a firmware that is used to perform hardware initialization during the booting process fails to recognize the startup process. It usually happens when there is a failed system update, system crash, damaged MBR, or when the drive becomes corrupt.

Recoverit Mac Data Recovery tool is the most efficient option to recover all the lost data when Mac becomes unbootable. Developed by Wondershare, Recoverit is one of the most preferred recovery tools in the world. The tool provides an instant preview of what is recovered after a detailed scan. It allows to connect almost every type of portable device and recover data from them. Data can be restored by performing the recovery and repair process. The process involves the installation of the Recoverit software that offers users the chance to get back the important data that they had lost.

First of all, the user is required to download the Recoverit software on Mac system from the official website. Here are the following step required to recover data from an unbootable computer:

• Installation: Please Install Recoverit by clicking on the icon.
• Select the folder: Select the “Recover from Crash Computer” option.
• Initiate Recovery Process: Click on “Start” for the recovery process to launch.
• Create Bootable Drive: Select the “Create USB bootable drive” option and click on “Create”.
• A pop up will appear that will prompt the user to format the USB drive.
• Format the Drive: Click on “Format” Now.
• The process will start that will create a bootable flash drive.
• Recover Data: After the boot is completed, click on the ”View Guide” option to recover data.
• Start Recoverit: Launch the Recoverit software again.
• Recover Data: Scan the drives for lost data.

All hope gets lost when the computer becomes unbootable and the data gets deleted. Recoverit recovery software is the most convenient program when it comes to retrieving lost data from the computer.

Conclusion:

Installing the MacOS from a USB flash drive gives the user an instant solution when the Mac installer due to some reason refused to work. The method to create a bootable drive is easier than it sounds. Now, you know what to do whenever you want to upgrade your MacOS from a bootable external source by following different methods to ensure a safe and hassle-free process. If you lose valuable data when the Mac becomes unbootable then you can easily recover the lost files by using the Recoverit recovery software. Recoverit guarantees data recovery in no time.

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