These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.
This will create the Recovery Disk Assistant.appfile - drag it into your Applications folder. Attach an external hard drive or USB stick and launch the Recovery Disk Assistant. Agree to the terms and conditions and wait until the software detects your external drive. Select the drive you want to use to create the OS X Recovery Disk.
- What is Mac Recovery USB? Just like the functionality of recovery partition, Mac OS recovery USB.
- Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac. Recoverit Data Recovery for Mac is one of the most useful.
Download macOS
Find the appropriate download link in the upgrade instructions for each macOS version:
macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, ormacOS High Sierra
Installers for each of these macOS versions download directly to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS Catalina, Install macOS Mojave, or Install macOS High Sierra. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. Important: To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
Installers for each of these macOS versions download directly to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS Catalina, Install macOS Mojave, or Install macOS High Sierra. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. Important: To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
OS X El Capitan
El Capitan downloads as a disk image. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.
El Capitan downloads as a disk image. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.
Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal
- Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer. Make sure that it has at least 12GB of available storage and is formatted as Mac OS Extended.
- Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is still in your Applications folder, and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace
MyVolume
in these commands with the name of your volume.
Catalina:*
Mojave:*
High Sierra:*
El Capitan: - Press Return after typing the command.
- When prompted, type your administrator password and press Return again. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type your password.
- When prompted, type
Y
to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the bootable installer is created. - When Terminal says that it's done, the volume will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Catalina. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.
* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the
--applicationpath
argument, similar to the way this argument is used in the command for El Capitan.Use the bootable installer
After creating the bootable installer, follow these steps to use it:
- Plug the bootable installer into a compatible Mac.
- Use Startup Manager or Startup Disk preferences to select the bootable installer as the startup disk, then start up from it. Your Mac will start up to macOS Recovery.
Learn about selecting a startup disk, including what to do if your Mac doesn't start up from it. - Choose your language, if prompted.
- A bootable installer doesn't download macOS from the Internet, but it does require the Internet to get information specific to your Mac model, such as firmware updates. If you need to connect to a Wi-Fi network, use the Wi-Fi menu in the menu bar.
- Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
Learn more
For more information about the
createinstallmedia
command and the arguments that you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter this path in Terminal:Catalina:
Mojave:
High Sierra:
El Capitan:
'I recently switched over from Windows to a Mac, and I’m really enjoying my Mac. My only issue is I want to create regular backups but don’t know how to. I heard of something called Mac Recovery. Is this the right feature? How does it work?'
Macs are fantastic and exciting pieces of technology, so much that arguments on Windows vs. Macs usually get fierce. These systems have several standout key selling features, one of which is the Mac recovery USB.
Read more to learn all about Mac recovery USB, how to create Mac recovery USB, as well as how to create bootable USB drive and recover data from unbootable mac with it.
What You Should Know about Mac Recovery USB
Mac OS X Lion and higher versions usually create a hidden recovery volume on your startup drive. The reason for this is so that in case of an emergency, you can recover your data using the Disk Utility. Also, the computer keeps a copy of the recovery USB drive that Disk Assistant creates.
How Does It Work?
This is the equivalent of a complete data backup in Windows, but Mac does it automatically, even without an internet connection. The following sections will cover how to create a recovery USB drive on Mac OS X.
To create an OS X Recovery USB drive, here are some things to have:
A usable recovery volume on your computer startup drive. The copy of the recovery volume will be created here.
An external USB drive with not less than 1GB of free storage space.
NOTE: A working recovery volume on your computer is necessary to follow the methods here. Further, these guides will not work for you if you have an older device model that is upgraded on a newer OS.
How to Create a Recovery USB Drive on Mac OS X
All data in the volume will be wiped if you clone the recovery volume on a partition in Disk Utility. Hence, mainly if the USB drive has ample storage space, it is advisable to first prepare the USB drive before creating OS X Recovery drive with Disk Assistant. You do this by creating partitions in the new location that will serve as a special section for the recovery drive. Next, follow the below steps to create a recovery USB drive.
Step 1: Launch Disk Assistant from Applications > Utilities. If it’s not there, download it from Apple’s support site.
Step 2: Connect a USB drive and run the Recovery Disk Assistant. Select the new recovery disk you just connected and hit Continue.
Step 3: Your system will then create a clone of the recovery volume. After this, click Quit and disconnect the drive.
Note: This method is only possible for Macs running below OS X Lion.
How to Create a Bootable USB Drive on Mac OS X
There are times you may need to create or use a bootable USB drive, eg your Mac crashed or unable to boot. At which time, you can count on iMyFone AnyRecover to get the work done for you.
Preparation for Creating a Bootable USB Drive
Before the process begins, you need to prepare:
1. A working computer
2. A blank USB drive
3. Connect the USB drive to the working computer
Then follow the steps below to create a bootable USB drive:
Step 1: Download and launch AnyRecover on the working computer, select 'Recover from Crashed Computer' from the first screen, then click 'Start'.
Step 2: Select the USB drive you want to create bootable drive with, hit 'Create' button to begin.
Step 3: A window will pop up, alerting that your data will be wiped out during the process. If you've backed up your important data, click 'Format' to continue.
Step 4: Once the format completes, it will start to create bootable USB drive.
Create Mac Recovery Usb Windows
Extract/Backup Data from Unbootable Mac with AnyRecover Bootable USB Drive
When the USB bootable drive is created successfully, you can follow the on-screen instructions to restart your unbootable Mac then follow the steps below to recover data from your unbootable computer.
Steps to Recover Lost Data from Unbootable Mac Using AnyRecover
STEP 1. Select a location you want to recover data from, then click 'Start'.
Create Recovery Usb Mac Os X Yosemite
STEP 2. AnyRecover will start an 'All-Round Scan' on your selected drive. You can pause or stop the scanning during the process.
STEP 3. When the scan is complete, all your lost files will be displayed with respect to file type.
STEP 4. Locate the files you want and double click to preview them. Once you are sure, click 'Recover' to get them back in no minute.
Why Should You Choose AnyRecover for Data Recovery on Mac
If you want to get back your missing data in the best way possible, or for any Mac recovery needs, we strongly recommend iMyFone AnyRecover Mac Recovery Software. Search through Google for recovery software, and you will see them in the hundreds, but most do not come close to AnyRecover in terms of functionality, ease of use, and compatibility with several models, among other reasons. Still in doubt? We will explain in the next section.
Windows 10 System Repair Usb
Reasons for Choosing AnyRecover:
Create Recovery Usb Mac High Sierra
Full Scan: Adopting advanced algorithm, goes deep into data structure to retrieve inaccessible data.
Preview Available: Allowing you to preview scanned files before recovery to ensure accurate recovering.
Crash Computer Recovery: Recover data from crashed or unbootable Mac with MacPE bootable drive.
Encrypted Drive Recovery: Supporting to recover data from Bitlocker encrypted hard drive with password.
All Data Loss Scenario Recovery: Recovers data lost in various scenarios like virus attacks, deleted files, or even emptied trash.
Wide Compatibility: Compatible with all Mac OS versions, including macOS high sierra, macOS Mojave, macOS Lion, etc.
100% Safe: The whole process done by yourself, nobody else would view your data.
This list is far from exhaustive, but it gives you a good idea of why AnyRecover should be your go-to tool.
Conclusion
You see, data recovery on Mac is quite straightforward. If you go through the steps in this guide, you will fix any data loss issues you are experiencing with the help of Mac recovery USB or the recommended tool - AnyRecover Mac Data Recovery.