You can create a bootable installer for any operating system if you have the right installer. In this case, the system will be installed on that Mac, and the installation files will disappear when the process is finished. If, however, you only want to reinstall macOS once on one computer, you don’t have to use a carrier.
You might want to keep installing files on an external drive if you think you might need to install the operating system multiple times or on different computers. In the following instructions, we will use a USB flash drive as an external carrier example. Give your disk the name of the operating system, e.g., Sierra, Mojave, Catalina. Whichever type of drive you choose, make sure that it has at least 12GB of free memory.īear in mind-when you download an installer, the disk will be reformatted to suit the operating system you’re trying to run.
In this article, you’ll find detailed instructions and answers to your questions on how to make a bootable USB on Mac. You can try out the different tools for free, so download it, and see what you think. MacKeeper can do everything from finding malware to updating your apps for you.
Just go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility to launch it and choose Erase and then select OS X Extended (Journaled) to format it (if you’re going to create a macOS boot disk).A bootable macOS (previously, OS X) install disk is a portable device containing all the necessary installation files for a selected version of macOS. You’ll need to format your USB drive to use as a boot disk by using Disk Utility in macOS.ĭisk Utility is a free tool in macOS which allows you to perform a number of diagnostic tests on your hard drive including creating a USB boot disk. There are a few other alternatives such as Deepin Boot Maker and ROSA Image Writer but they aren’t updated frequently for macOS and are mainly designed for creating bootable Linux distros. These are by far your 3 best ways to create a bootable USB drive on a Mac. However, for anyone looking for a Rufus alternative that works on all versions of macOS including Mojave and Catalina DiskMaker X is all you need.
Unfortunately, due to changes in macOS Big Sur, DiskMaker X does not work on Big Sur and the developer has no plans to upgrade it in the future. It will also detect any USB drives plugged into your Mac and automatically flash the system image. Simply launch DiskMaker X and it will automatically find the installation file using Spotlight. UNetbootin is extremely fast and is a great Rufus alternative for flashing macOS, Windows, Ubuntu or any other Linux distroĭiskMaker X (formerly Lion DiskMaker) is designed specifically for macOS and is one of the most popular USB boot tools on Mac. It’s designed mainly to create Linux-based bootable USB drives from any machine but works perfectly on macOS. UNetbootin works on Mac, Ubuntu and other Linux distributions. Can’t choose between GBT and MBR partition styles.This prevents wasted time writing images on corrupt USB drives and isn’t something you usually find is boot utilities. That’s all there is to it.Įtcher is very fast at flashing images and also includes Image Validation which verifies the system image and removable drive before flashing. Simply select an ISO image, USB stick and click on Flash. EtcherĮtcher works on all platforms including Mac and is very easy to use. With this in mind, here are the best equivalents to Rufus on Mac to create a bootable USB drive.
Best Rufus For Mac Alternatives To Create a Bootable USB Drive
The only way to run Rufus on a Mac is to install Windows on your Mac and then install Rufus in Windows.
Rufus only works on 32 bit 64 bit versions of Windows XP/7/8/10 only.