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Bootable USB flash drive for mac os x. Creating a multiboot Mac OS flash drive. Creating a Bootable OS X USB Flash Drive Using "createinstallmedia"

On Thursday, a new operating system for Mac computers was released. At the moment, the only way to get the coveted update is to download the image from the App Store. The company's decision to switch to digital software distribution at one time caused many conflicting opinions. On the one hand, in the age of the Internet, this step is completely justified; on the other hand, if there are several computers, the user is forced to download the installation file from the Internet on each of their Macs. You can solve this problem by creating a bootable USB flash drive with OS X Yosemite.

Requirements:

Connect to the Internet to download the OS X Yosemite image.
Apple ID account.
USB flash drive with a minimum capacity of 8 GB.

If everything is ready, you can start.

How to Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive with OS X Yosemite

Step 1: Launch the Mac App Store and download a licensed copy of OS X Yosemite. For the second time in the history of the platform, Apple is offering an update absolutely free.

Step 2: Launch Disk Utility from the Utilities folder.

Step 3: Select the USB drive in the left pane and go to the Disk Partition tab on the right.

Step 4: Select “Partition 1” in the Partition Layout drop-down menu, on the right – “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” format. Name the drive Yosemite.

Step 5: Click the Options button at the bottom. Click on the GUID Partition Scheme option and confirm your choice. Click Apply in the lower right corner of the program. Disk Utility will begin formatting the USB drive.

Step 6: Launch Terminal from the Utilities folder.

Step 7: Check that the USB flash drive is in place and that “Yosemite” is the only volume with that name.

Run the following command in Terminal to create a bootable USB flash drive. Enter the administrator password.

Sudo "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/Yosemite" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app" --nointeraction

After 10-15 minutes, the Terminal will complete creating a bootable USB flash drive.

Step 8: Reboot your Mac with the flash drive installed while holding Alt on your keyboard.

Step 9: You can start installing OS X Yosemite!

Creating Clover & Chameleon Boot USB Flash Disk
under Windows XP and higher.

Full (partial - format only) installation of Clover bootloader on USB Flash drive:

On the menu Options->Configuration choose:

1. Boot Data set (set of loader files):

Built-in (built-in revisions " Clover&Chameleon«),
External (external) - downloads a zip archive with a folder and file structure similar to the installed bootloader,
Not Install (do not install) - formatting only with installation of boot sectors.

2. Format options (formatting options):

Boot records (boot sectors) -> Clover ,
Align to sectors: 8192 (default)
Align to sectors: 63 (if some strange/old BIOSes don't see the flash drive)
Rest default.

3. Multi Partitioning (breakdown into volumes):

Boot Partition Size (the size of the boot volume is up to your taste) - uncheck this box if you do not plan to create a second volume on the same disk (for example, for the MACOSX distribution).

4. Enable Fixed Disk (activation of work with non-USB drives) — warning -> « at one's own risk«!
5. Press the button " OK «.
6. In the main program window -> Destination Disk (destination drive) - select the required object (USB Flash Drive) for installation.
7. Press the button " Format Disk «.
8. We wait and enjoy the result of the program.

Edit (if necessary) the loader configuration files

Extract the HFS(HFS+) partition image from the distribution package for deployment to a USB Flash drive:

The 10.9 Mavericks image is not bootable! Therefore, we use the converted image from here

For use:
Unpack the .zip archive, and the 5.hfs file in it can be immediately deployed to a flash drive via BDU.

Uploading the MACOSX distribution onto the second volume of a bootable USB Flash drive:

1. We carry out a complete installation of Clover bootloader on a USB Flash Drive with the checkbox checked Boot Partition Size.
2. We get USB Flash Drive , divided into two volumes . (Note: Unfortunately, by default, the OS Windows does not support multi-volume USB Flash Drive, therefore, only one partition will be available under Windows.)
3. Download the MACOSX distribution selected for installation. This distribution, of course, must meet all necessary requirements for installation on PC
4. Extract the image from the distribution kit HFS(HFS+) partition (this will be a file with the extension hfs )
The path to obtain the desired HFS image will depend on the degree of nativeness of your source distribution:

For various distro assemblies, you can try extracting through the menu: Tools -> Extract HFS(HFS+) partition from DMG-files .
What you are using may not be the original InstallESD.dmg taken from the retail packageInstallOSXMountainLion.app/Contents/SharedSupport/ but again the original image packaged into another image and with a different name, for example OSXMountainLion.dmg. InstallESD.dmg from the repacked archive is easier to find and extract with the 7zFM.exe program. And only then, from it, get the HFS image we need.

5. In the main program window -> Destination Disk - choose our USB Flash Drive -> Part2 .
6. Press the button " Restore Partition «.
7. In the Explorer window that opens, select the unpacked file with the extension *. hfs . The file size must be no larger than Part2 .
8. We wait and enjoy the result of the program

Note!!!

When installing OS X from this flash drive, the Recovery HD partition is not created automatically!

If you really need the Recovery HD section, download a separate package from the Apple website:
RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg
Using this package, follow the link to create a full-fledged Recovery HD partition for OS X Mavericks

Fair, not overpriced and not underestimated. There should be prices on the Service website. Necessarily! without asterisks, clear and detailed, where technically possible - as accurate and concise as possible.

If spare parts are available, up to 85% of complex repairs can be completed in 1-2 days. Modular repairs require much less time. The website shows the approximate duration of any repair.

Warranty and responsibility

A guarantee must be given for any repairs. Everything is described on the website and in the documents. The guarantee is self-confidence and respect for you. A 3-6 month warranty is good and sufficient. It is needed to check quality and hidden defects that cannot be detected immediately. You see honest and realistic terms (not 3 years), you can be sure that they will help you.

Half the success in Apple repair is the quality and reliability of spare parts, so a good service works directly with suppliers, there are always several reliable channels and your own warehouse with proven spare parts for current models, so you don’t have to waste extra time.

Free diagnostics

This is very important and has already become a rule of good manners for the service center. Diagnostics is the most difficult and important part of the repair, but you don't have to pay a penny for it, even if you don't repair the device based on its results.

Service repairs and delivery

A good service values your time, so it offers free delivery. And for the same reason, repairs are carried out only in the workshop of a service center: they can be done correctly and according to technology only in a prepared place.

Convenient schedule

If the Service works for you, and not for itself, then it is always open! absolutely. The schedule should be convenient to fit in before and after work. Good service works on weekends and holidays. We are waiting for you and working on your devices every day: 9:00 - 21:00

The reputation of professionals consists of several points

Company age and experience

Reliable and experienced service has been known for a long time.
If a company has been on the market for many years and has managed to establish itself as an expert, people turn to it, write about it, and recommend it. We know what we are talking about, since 98% of incoming devices in the service center are restored.
Other service centers trust us and refer complex cases to us.

How many masters in areas

If there are always several engineers waiting for you for each type of equipment, you can be sure:
1. there will be no queue (or it will be minimal) - your device will be taken care of right away.
2. you give your Macbook for repair to an expert in the field of Mac repairs. He knows all the secrets of these devices

Technical literacy

If you ask a question, a specialist should answer it as accurately as possible.
So that you can imagine what exactly you need.
They will try to solve the problem. In most cases, from the description you can understand what happened and how to fix the problem.

I currently have a 16GB flash drive and I want to install two operating systems, MacOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan, on it. On my PC, these versions work stably, quickly, and will continue to develop, so I chose them. You can use the versions you need.

In this article we will look at installing different images that will help achieve the same goal. The size of the flash drive can vary using different methods from 4 to 16 GB.

Creating a bootable flash drive from original App Store images

To create this installation flash drive we will need:

Flash drive at least 16GB;
Sierra and El Capitan installation images from the App Store;
Latest version.

Format and split the flash drive into sections

The first thing we need to do is format the flash drive. Be sure to use the diagram GUID. Now this flash drive has an Apple standard, a hidden EFI partition (aka ESP) was automatically created on it, which we will use for Clover, but we need to create another partition, we are making a flash drive to install two systems.

By the way, if you are going to do what I did in Sierra Disk Utility, then you should take into account that formatting is successful only the second, and sometimes even the third time. In order for formatting and other manipulations to be successful the first time, you should unmount the internal partitions. Near which there is an EJECT icon, if this condition is met, everything will go without a hitch.

Now let's move on to the breakdown into sections. Open the “Partition” tab.

After formatting, we have only one partition; to install two systems, we need to create a second one. To do this, click “+” under the diagram and, highlighting each section, give it a NAME. For clarity, I set the name El Capitan, but it is recommended to use the section name without spaces to avoid recording errors. So in the name El Capitan, you can use El_Capitan instead of a space.

After assigning names, click “Apply”.

And we get the desired two sections.

Writing boot images to flash drive partitions

Recording OS X El Capitan

Move the installation image to the “Programs” folder and open the terminal utility. Then we enter the code, to simplify it you can copy and paste.

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/ El Capitan–applicationpath “/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app”

It is worth considering that commands must be preceded by two hyphens, very often when copying and pasting into the terminal, two hyphens “–” are replaced by one “-“. In this case, an error will be displayed. This glitch is very common on websites, since many engines automatically replace characters.

(instead of El Capitan we write the name of your USB partition)

Press ENTER, enter the password, El Capitan may also ask for confirmation. In this case, press Y and Enter.

DONE, which will mean that the recording was completed successfully. Writing files can take varying amounts of time, it all depends on the speed of the drive and hard drive, and system load, so don’t panic, just wait for it to complete. Forcibly removing a flash drive while writing or reading can lead not only to data loss, but also turn the drive into an interior element; in many cases, the flash drive may not be repairable.

Recording MacOS Sierra

We perform all the same actions as in the previous case. Only the recording code will differ. To record Sierra we use the code
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/ Sierra–applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app –nointeraction

(instead of Sierra we write the name of your USB partition)

We wait for the operation to complete until the message appears in the terminal DONE.

At this stage, the installation (bootable) flash drive is completely ready for installation on Apple computers or using Clover EFI, which is already installed on the hard drive of the Hackintosh.

For a clean installation on a hackintosh PC, you need to install the Clover EFI Bootloader. I will not repeat myself; I have many articles in which this point is described in detail, so follow the link and read: the only point is to select any partition of the Flash drive we created instead of the system disk. Everything else is exactly the same.

Be careful when setting up config.plist to match the two operating systems. If your configuration does not allow you to get by with one file, create two different ones and place them in the Clover folder, and during installation and download, select the one you already require through the bootloader control panel. To understand how it works, I advise you to read the book - this is the most detailed instructions from the bootloader developer.

Creating a bootable flash drive using recovery images

To do this, you need to download official Apple recovery packages for Recovery HD.
Since we are making this flash drive to install two specific systems, we will download packages for them accordingly.

The sizes of these packages do not exceed 500 MB each, I recommend downloading them one by one, before downloading the second package, move the first one to a folder calling it the name of the system for which the package is intended, otherwise I guarantee confusion.)
Now we launch the downloaded packages one by one and select the corresponding partition on our flash drive as the installation location.
I launch RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg from the El Capitan folder and select the El Capitan partition on the flash drive being created.

After the installation is complete, I repeat everything with RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg from the Sierra folder and install it on the corresponding partition of the flash drive.

I'm waiting for the installation to finish.

I run the command in the terminal.

And I check what happened.

And it turned out as planned!
I repeat, in order to repeat this, a 4 GB flash drive is sufficient.
All that remains is to load your hardware using this UEFI flash drive as a boot device, go to the Clover menu and select the required Recovery HD partition, and then everything is exactly the same as on any original Mac.

A bootable flash drive with Recovery HD can also be created from under Windows using the program.

Why Recovery HDs weigh so little

Because this is not a full-fledged system, but a kind of engineering OS for restoring and configuring the main one, which is stored in an image and deployed only when it boots, Windows also has similar images with wim extensions, the same Win PE is a suitable example for comparison.

Having booted into Recovery HD, we will only get access to the disk utility in order to partition our HDD, and of course there is the opportunity to deploy your own or someone else’s image with the system, as well as the ability to use the Time Machine, but that’s not what I suggested, there is official item by clicking on which any person. can install the system from scratch, using the following algorithm instead of the installation image of the Apple server.

Booted into Recovery HD, selected disk utility, partitioned your disk as it should be according to Apple rules and your own needs, closed disk utility, selected restore..., the system will automatically contact Apple servers and ask which partition you want, you will indicate to it the partition you had previously planned in disk utility, the installation has started. The installation time depends only on the speed of the Internet and the load on the Apple servers at the immediate moment; in this way, installing macOS is even twice as fast as the classic one, but there are difficult moments, but they are rare.)

As you can understand, there are several ways to achieve the same goal. I hope now you will always have order with bootable flash drives.

This article was created based on my personal experience and advice from an expert in the hackintosh community.

The OS X operating system is one of the most stable operating systems in the world. It is almost impossible for the user to “break” it. However, sometimes situations arise that require reinstalling the system from scratch. The easiest way to do this is to use a special installation flash drive. This instruction will teach you how to properly make such a flash drive at home.

Requirements

Mac computer with operating system 10.7 or higher
Stable Internet connection
Operating system installation image
Flash drive 8 gigabyte
DiskMaker X (download)

We will describe all actions using the latest current OS version as an example: OS X Yosemite (10.10.1). A bootable USB flash drive can only be created on a Mac computer running OS version 10.7 or higher.

Downloading the installation image

Open the application on your computer App Store. In the search field write " Yosemite", and press Enter. Select application " OS X Yosemite", and press " Download" If necessary, enter the login/password for your Apple ID.

Preparing a flash drive

While the image is downloading, prepare a USB flash drive. Open the program on your computer Disk Utility"(located in applications, in the Utilities folder). Connect the flash drive to the computer's USB port. Select it on the left side of the application, and click on the “ Disk partition" Select partition scheme " Section 1", format " Mac OS Extended (Journaled)».

Click the button Options" Select " Guide Section Layout", and press " OK».

After that, click the button Apply" In the confirmation window, click the button Split disk" In a few minutes the flash drive will be ready for use.

Creating an installation flash drive

So, the image is loaded, the flash drive is prepared. Now comes the fun part.

Download and run the program (download link at the beginning of the instructions).

In the program window, click the button Yosemite (10.10).

The program itself will find the previously downloaded system image. You only need to click on the " Use this copy».

DiskMaker will prompt you to select a disk to create the image. Click the button An 8 GB USB thumb drive" In the next window, select your flash drive and click the " Choose this disk" Next, click the “ Erase then create the disk».