Mojave: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/MyVolume.Catalina: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/MyVolume.Big Sur beta: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur\ Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/MyVolume.Depending on the version of macOS you downloaded, enter one of the following commands: Once you’ve done that, connect the USB drive to your machine, open the Terminal application on your Mac. First, you’ll need a USB drive, preferably one that is formatted to macOS Extended for any macOS backup to serve as your startup disk creator. It will download directly to your Applications folder if your Mac starts to try to download and install the version of macOS you downloaded, simply quit the installation process.Ĭurious how to create a bootable external drive for Mac? We’ve got you covered. Whether it’s an external hard drive or a USB ‘thumb’ drive, both are considered bootable drives.įor the sake of clarity, we’ll simply refer to any external drive as a USB drive.īefore you begin, you’ll need to download the macOS version you’d like to use directly from Apple. Simply stated, a bootable USB Mac drive is one that has a version (or versions) of macOS available on a disk that isn’t your machine. Try free What is a Bootable USB or External Drive?
