How to Make Your Mac Boot From a USB Drive
If you’re looking for a way to Make Your Mac Boot From a USB Drive, you’re in the right place! Here we will guide you through a few simple steps to get your Mac to boot up from a USB drive.
To start with, you will need a USB drive with at least 8GB of available space, a Mac that is running on macOS 10.7 Lion or above, and access to a working Mac computer.
Step 1: Format your USB Drive
Insert your USB drive into your Mac computer, open Disk Utility (you can find it under Applications > Utilities), select the USB drive from the left-hand column, and click on the Erase tab. Here, format your USB drive. Choose “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” as the format type, and give it a name. Ensure that the Scheme is set to “GUID Partition Map.” Click on Erase, and wait for the formatting process to complete before moving on to the next step.
Step 2: Create a Bootable USB Drive
You will need to download the macOS installer from the App Store. Once downloaded, open the installer, and follow the instructions to install it on your Mac. After the installation is complete, the macOS installer will automatically launch. Quit the installer, then open Terminal (you can find it under Applications > Utilities), and type in the command:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/USB –applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app –nointeraction
NOTE: This command is specific for macOS Sierra. If you’re using a different version of macOS, ensure that you replace “Sierra” with the name of your version of macOS.
Press “Enter,” then enter your administrator password when prompted. Terminal will now start creating the bootable USB drive. This process will take several minutes.
Step 3: Boot Your Mac from the USB Drive
Before you start, ensure that any external peripherals are disconnected from your Mac. Turn off your Mac, then connect your USB drive to one of the USB ports. Hold down the Option key while pressing the power button to turn on your Mac. Keep holding the Option key until the Startup Manager appears on your screen.
Here, select the USB drive that you created earlier and hit the “Enter” key. Your Mac will now boot up from the USB drive.
If you’re having any issues booting up from the USB drive, try restarting your Mac holding down the Command + R keys, which will load up macOS Recovery mode. From there, you can troubleshoot any issues or start up your Mac from the USB drive.