Jan 19, 2018 Install Disk Creator: Once you run the application, select a USB drive, choose a Mac OS installer, and click Create Installer to begin to create an install USB drive. Disk Utility to Create a Bootable macOS/OS X Installer. Before using createinstallmedia command, people used to use Disk Utility to create a bootable installer drive manually. Nov 15, 2018 WizDMG fills a huge gap in Windows not supporting DMG files. It is a desktop utility supporting Windows and Mac. It allows you to directly burn DMG files to disk in order to create a bootable macOS Mojave installer or a boot disk for any macOS version. WizDMG offers an intuitive interface with no clutter and full functionality to handle DMG files.
If you're thinking about installing macOS Catalina, the first thing to consider is whether you want to install it directly onto your Mac or create a bootable drive. You can use a bootable drive on a hard drive partition for dual-software installation, to install on multiple Macs in your home, or as a bootable drive if you can't use the Internet Recovery partition.
Note: These instructions require the use of Terminal. If you don't feel comfortable making changes to your Mac with Terminal, you can create a bootable disk using the DiskMaker X program.
Before you start
Before you get started, make sure you have a thumb drive with at least 15GB of storage, or a spare external hard drive (one you aren't planning to use for anything else). You'll also need to download macOS Catalina and ensure that it's sitting in your Applications folder.
Note: After macOS Catalina has downloaded, it will automatically launch the installer to begin the installation process. Quit the installer when this happens.
And please: Don't forget to back up your Mac before you do anything.
How to format your external drive for macOS Catalina
You'll need to start with a clean thumb drive or external hard drive in order to make it a bootable drive.
Plug the thumb drive or cable for your hard drive into the appropriate port on your Mac.
Click on Finder in your Dock to open a Finder window.
Select Applications from the list on the left side of the window.
Scroll down and double-click on Utilities.
Scroll down and double-click on Disk Utility.
Select your thumb drive or external drive under External.
Click on the Erase tab at the top of the window.
Note the name of your external hard drive (probably 'Untitled') because you will need it when you create a bootable drive. If you have more than one external drive with the same name, you will need to rename the drive you are using as a bootable installer now.
If your Mac is using AFS+, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) from the format list. If your Mac is using APFS, select APFS from the list of options.
If Scheme is available, select GUID Partition Map.
Click Erase.
Click Done when the process is complete.
Close the Disk Utility window.
Your thumb drive or external hard drive is now ready.
How to put macOS Catalina onto your external drive
Important: You will need to use an administrator account on your Mac in order to run the Terminal commands to create a boot drive. You'll also need to ensure that macOS Catalina is in your Applications folder and you'll need to know the name of the external drive.
Click on Finder in your Dock to open a Finder window.
Select Applications from the list on the left side of the window.
Scroll down and double-click on Utilities.
Scroll down and double click on Terminal.
Recall the name of your formatted external drivewhen entering the following text into Terminal. If it is not named 'Untitled,' you will need to change the command syntax for the pathname where it says: Volumes/MyVolume. The name of the drive can't have any spaces and it is case sensitive.
Enter the following text into Terminal (Don't forget to change the name 'Untitled' in the text below to the actual name of your external drive. Names are case sensitive and can't have any spacing.):
Enter your administrator account password. This is the password you use to make changes on your Mac or log in. No text will appear in Terminal when you enter the password.
The process could take a very long time, depending on the drive. When it is done, the Terminal window will report 'Done.'
How to install macOS Catalina with a bootable installer drive
Once macOS Catalina is installed on your external drive, you can install it on any Mac with the drive plugged into it. You can use this installer to upgrade your operating system easily on multiple Macs or to help downgrade if you decide you want to go back to an earlier version of macOS.
If you're downgrading from macOS Catalina, please check out this guide instead.
If you're upgrading to macOS Catalina, follow the steps below.
Turn off the Mac you want to install macOS Catalina with the bootable installer drive.
Connect the external drive to your Mac via the USB port.
Turn on your Mac.
Hold down the Option key when it starts up.
Select the external drive with macOS Catalina on it from the list of systems to start up your computer.
Follow the installation process when prompted.
Questions?
Do you have any questions about how to create a bootable drive for the macOS Catalina installer? Let us know in the comments.
Updated September 2019: Updated for macOS Catalina.
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HomeTips & TricksDownload and create USB installer for Mac OS X (Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain...
As you know, Apple releases a new OS X operating system every year, and the new OS X can only be downloaded via the Mac App Store (currently OS X Yosemite). The older versions of OS X are still supported by Apple, but it should be more difficult to download. My following tip can help you easily download and create USB installer for OS X – Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, and Lion.
Before doing, you need to prepare 2 things:
An USB – at least 8Gb or higher.
A MacBook to run Disk Utility in OS X.
How to create USB installer for Mac OS X
Step 1: Download installer of OS X Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, and Lion
We are still able to download Yosemite from Apple store:
Go to Mac Apple Store > use your Apple ID and login > Find and download OS X Yosemite. After downloading, OS X Yosemite Installerwill appear in /Applications. To get the InstallESD.DMG, go to Application > right mouse on OS X Yosemite > select “Show Package Contents“.
OS X – Mavericks, Mountain Lion, and Lion can be downloaded through Torrent method:
Firstly, Get μTorrent or Folx Pro (Folx Pro 3 full version download), then use following torrent file to download the OS X version you desire.
Download OS X Lion 10.7.5 (4,3 GB) – Torrent.
Download OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.5 (4,1 GB)- Torrent.
Download OS X Mavericks 10.9.5 (4,9 GB)- Torrent.
Download OS X Yosemite 10.10.2 (5,3 GB)- Torrent.
Step 2: Format and make USB bootable
1. Plug USB into Macbook and run Disk Utility > Select the USB drive in the left side > Click on Erase > Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format > Apply. 2. Go to Partition tab > Select 1 Partition at Partition Layout. 3. Change the name to Untitled 1 from Untitled > Click on Option.
5. Choose GUID Partition Table and click OK.
6. Click on Apply to format USB > End the Disk Utility when the process is completed.
Step 3: Make USB OS X installer
Run OS X installer.DMG download in step 1 to mount it’s virtual hard drive into system > Launch Disk Utility, select the right USB in the left side > Click pn Restore > Drag and drop OS X installer.DMG into Source > Drag and drop USB into Destination > Click on Restore button.
After the restore process is completed, we have obtained the USB stick containing the installer of OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, Mavericks, or Yosemite at your choice.
Notice: Once the USB stick should only contain one OS X installer version. You should have several USB stick if you want to create many installers.