Further ReadingIt was 2009. Things have proceeded remarkably smoothly since version 10.7 switched to download-only installers, but there are still good reasons to want an old, reliable USB stick. For instance, if you find yourself doing multiple installs, a USB drive may be faster than multiple downloads (especially if you use a USB 3.0 drive). Or maybe you need a recovery disk for older Macs that don't support the Internet Recovery feature. Whatever the reason, you're in luck, because it's not hard to make one., there are two ways to get it done. There's the super easy way with the graphical user interface and the only slightly less easy way that requires some light Terminal use. Here's what you need to get started.
Create a Portable Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5, 10.6 Install on a USB Flash Drive. Note that Windows can not read/write HFS+ so if you have any Systems running Windows or friends who you might borrow a USB stick or external HDD they will not be able to access these media if formatted to HFS+ (except if they install software like MacDrive.
A Mac, duh. We've created Yosemite USB from both Mavericks and Yosemite, but your experience with other versions may vary. An 8GB or larger USB flash drive or an 8GB or larger partition on some other kind of external drive. For newer Macs, use a USB 3.0 drive—it makes things significantly faster. The OS X 10.10 Yosemite installer from the Mac App Store in your Applications folder. The installer will delete itself when you install the operating system, but it can be re-downloaded if necessary. If you want a GUI, you need the latest version of app—we wrote this article based on version 4 beta 2, but if a 'final' version is released alongside Yosemite we'll update the article.
This app is free to download, but if you want to support his efforts. An administrator account on the Mac you're using to create the disk. The easy way. Diskmaker X has actually been around since the days of OS X 10.7 (it was previously known as Lion Diskmaker), but it's more important now because Apple has made alterations to the installer that prevent easy USB drive creation using the built-in Disk Utility app.
![Best Usb Sticks For Installing Mac Osx Best Usb Sticks For Installing Mac Osx](/uploads/1/2/5/4/125495729/905035241.jpg)
It's still possible to create a disk manually using a Terminal command (which we'll go into momentarily), but Diskmaker X presents an easy GUI-based way to do it that is less intimidating to most people. Select OS X 10.10 in Diskmaker X, and the app should automatically find the copy you've downloaded to your Applications folder. If it doesn't detect the installer (or if you click 'Use another copy'), you can navigate to the specific installer you want to use.
It will then ask you where you want to copy the files—click 'An 8GB USB thumb drive' if you have a single drive to use or 'Another kind of disk' to use a partition on a larger drive or some other kind of external drive. Choose your disk (or partition) from the list that appears, verify that you'd like to have the disk (or partition) erased, and then wait for the files to copy over. The process is outlined in screenshots below. The finished Yosemite boot drive, which also includes OS X's handy startup utilities. The only-slightly-less-easy way If you don't want to use Diskmaker X, Apple has actually included a terminal command that can create an install disk for you. Assuming that you have the OS X Yosemite installer in your Applications folder and you have a Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)-formatted USB drive named 'Untitled' mounted on the system, you can create a Yosemite install drive by typing the following command into the Terminal.
Sudo /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app -nointeraction The command will erase the disk and copy the install files over. Give it some time, and your volume will soon be loaded up with not just the OS X installer but also an external recovery partition that may come in handy if your hard drive dies and you're away from an Internet connection.
Whichever method you use, you should be able to boot from your new USB drive either by changing the default Startup Disk in System Preferences or by holding down the Option key at boot and selecting the drive. Once booted, you'll be able to install or upgrade Yosemite as you normally would.
I have an early 2011 MacBook Pro. I want to try Sierra as most of the software I want to use no longer works on Mavericks. I went through a number of post that I can install Sierra on 8 GB USB drive but that turned out only to be a macOS installer thumb drive.
I am interested in installing Sierra on USB drive just to test drive it and to run my favorite software. I bought 16 GB USB for that purpose but only found out it cannot be installed there for lack of space.
Can somebody guide me, can I have Sierra USB Image that I can load on USB and test drive it or can I install it on USB and run Sierra from it whenever I want it. @macuser You need an install usb stick because macOS Sierra does not support installing itself (exception: updating) onto other devices except from the bootable installer. Also, the 16gigs of ram is nice, but your USB 2 bus is dog slow and not memory nor processor will do much good. You're only as fast as all of the components working together. SATA for the SSD will only help for in/out filesystem access of files stored on it.
A thunderbolt to eSata or USB 3 to an external drive would be practical for testing software. I've done this. – Feb 20 '17 at 13:36. You certainly can install macOS Sierra to a USB device. I would advise you use USB 3 or 3.1 in order to ensure a smoother experience while booted from this device.
First of all, use the Mac App Store installer for macOS Sierra, which you can get here:. Learn more about obtaining macOS Sierra here: Next, it's best to format your USB device as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). With Scheme as: GUID Partition Once you do this, open the macOS Sierra installer. When you are prompted to choose an install destination, make sure to choose your USB device.
I too am attempting this on the very same model of machine. I have found that it is possible to install directly to the flash drive without a second USB installer. However, it took on order of 8 hours to complete. And running the OS was excruciatingly slow. I find this confusing as I have installed that OS on a USB external hard drive with no issues and only a very slight slowdown booting over USB from that drive. Makes me wonder if Apple is deliberately hobbling flash drive installs.
Or perhaps there is some sort of accelerator that is missing for flash drive boot volumes. Download the High Sierra installer to your Mac (it should end up in Applications). format the USB pendrive to have GUID Partition Scheme. open Terminal and type: sudo /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/MyVolume -applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app Substituting 'MyVolume' for the name you gave to your USB pendrive. It will erase the pendrive and install High Sierra on it. Reboot and select the pendrive as the startup disk, using Option key while booting.