Don’t be surprised by the slowness – it will take considerably longer to boot the operating system of a USB drive than the PCIe SSD installed in modern Macs. You can now run the operating system as normal and can use this USB drive to boot up your Mac if your boot drive fails. Mar 12, 2020 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. Sep 27, 2018 Apple hasn’t shipped macOS updates via CDs/DVDs since a long time. It’s very easy to update to the latest macOS version thanks to the App Store. But if you wish to install the latest OS update using a USB pen drive or memory card, you will need to create a bootable macOS Mojave installer. Jun 15, 2020 Useful tip: how to boot from the pen drive? After copying the operating system from laptop to USB drive via those two methods, you can plug this bootable drive into another computer, the change BIOS boot sequence: 1. Press the power button on your computer. During the initial startup screen, constantly press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10.
Reinstall from macOS Recovery
macOS Recovery makes it easy to reinstall the Mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. All you need is a connection to the Internet. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the Wi-Fi menu , which is also available in macOS Recovery.
1. Start up from macOS Recovery
To start up from macOS Recovery, turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold one of the following sets of keys on your keyboard. Release the keys when you see an Apple logo, spinning globe, or other startup screen.
Command (⌘)-R
Reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac (recommended).
Option-⌘-R
Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
Shift-Option-⌘-R
Reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
You might be prompted to enter a password, such as a firmware password or the password of a user who is an administrator of this Mac. Enter the requested password to continue.
When you see the utilities window, you have started up from macOS Recovery.
2. Decide whether to erase (format) your disk
You probably don't need to erase, unless you're selling, trading in, or giving away your Mac, or you have an issue that requires you to erase. If you need to erase before installing macOS, select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, then click Continue. Learn more about when and how to erase.
3. Install macOS
When you're ready to reinstall macOS, choose Reinstall macOS from the Utilities window. Then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. You will be asked to choose a disk on which to install.
- If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac.
- If the installer doesn't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
- If the installer is for a different version of macOS than you expected, learn about macOS Recovery exceptions.
- If the installer offers you the choice between installing on Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - Data, choose Macintosh HD.
Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. During installation, your Mac might restart and show a progress bar several times, and the screen might be empty for minutes at a time.
If your Mac restarts to a setup assistant, but you're selling, trading in, or giving away your Mac, press Command-Q to quit the assistant without completing setup. Then click Shut Down. When the new owner starts up the Mac, they can use their own information to complete setup.
macOS Recovery exceptions
The version of macOS offered by macOS Recovery might vary in some cases:
- If macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later has never been installed on this Mac, Option-Command-R installs the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. And Shift-Option-Command-R isn't available.
- If you erased your entire disk instead of just the startup volume on that disk, macOS Recovery might offer only the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. You can upgrade to a later version afterward.
- If your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip and you never installed a macOS update, Option-Command-R installs the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.
- If you just had your Mac logic board replaced during a repair, macOS Recovery might offer only the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
Install Mac Os On Virtualbox
If you can't get macOS Recovery to offer the installer you want, you might be able to use one of the other ways to install macOS.
Other ways to install macOS
Mac Os Flash Drive Install
- You can also install macOS from the App Store or Software Update preferences. If you can't install macOS Catalina, you might be able to install an earlier macOS, such as macOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, or Yosemite.
- Or create a bootable installer disk, then use that disk to install macOS on your Mac or another Mac.
Tip:This tutorial also applies to similar demands of copying OS from a laptop HDD/SSD to a USB pen drive. For example:
how to transfer Windows OS from a laptop to USB drive and make it bootable?
How to install the laptop OS on an external pen drive?
Why Do You Copy OS from Your Laptop to a USB Pen Drive
Portable and accessible anywhere. For example, you can easily access your work computer system from home with only a USB drive!
That fully explains why you put a laptop OS on a removable storage device. In fact, other than carrying your laptop operating system elsewhere (at home, in the office or on a business trip), there is another noticeable benefit. With a bootable USB pen drive at hand, you shall feel worry-free and risk-free when accidents happen, especially the hardware failure or system blue/black screen of death that prevents you from booting up your laptop normally.
What's the Best Way to Put Your Laptop OS to a USB Pen Drive
First, let's list some viable solutions:
- Windows To Go Creator.
- System backup software.
- System clone software.
As we know that the Windows To Go is a feature only available in Windows 8.1 Enterprise, Windows 8 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise and Windows 10 Education. People running those mentioned operating system editions can use this tool to install OS on some supported USB drives. Otherwise, it's likely to receive the error 'this is a removable drive and isn't compatible with Windows To Go' and fail to create Windows To Go with non-certified USB flash drive.
By contrast, the latter two ways seem to be much easier with fewer limitations. Even though, the last way of system clone is much better!
This is what you should clearly understand between the two manners of copying OS from a laptop HDD/SSD to a USB pen drive.
First, you need to download EaseUS Todo Backup on your laptop. It's reputable Windows backup software with comprehensive solutions to system backup and system clone.
Second, the system backup way takes effect like this:
It's software associated. i.e., you can only use the software to back up the laptop operating system, in addition, restore the system from the USB pen drive via the software again.
At last, the system clone way is the simplest and most efficient. It's independently existed as long as you have transferred the operating system from the laptop to the USB drive, which means that once the bootable USB pen drive is successfully made for the first time, you can boot the laptop OS anytime on any other computer or laptop, without requiring additional tools!
How to Create a Portable USB Pen Drive with Easeus Todo Backup
Installare Mac Os Su Pendrive
USB requirements:
1. Check how much disk space is used for the system C drive. Let's assume 40GB. Then prepare a qualified USB drive, of which the disk capacity must be larger than 40GB.
2. Do you use an empty new USB drive or an old one? Make sure that all the important data has been safely transferred because the system clone will overwrite data on it completely.
3. Correctly connect the USB drive to your machine and make sure that Windows has detected it and assigned a drive letter to it.
Follow the overall process to create a portable Windows USB drive and boot from it:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Todo Backup. Expand the menu and click 'System Clone' in the lower position.
Step 2. On the 'System clone' window, the software will choose the system partition and boot partition by default. Just Choose the USB drive as the destination disk.
Click on 'Advanced options' and then 'Create Portable Windows USB drive'. Click 'OK'.
Click 'Proceed'. The software will start immediately cloning the default partitions of your desktop/laptop to the USB drive. After the cloning process is over, you can safely plug the USB drive out.
Step 3. Boot from the USB drive.
- Connect your portable USB to the computer
- Restart the computer and press 'Del' to enter BIOS
- Set the PC to boot from the portable USB by changing the boot order in BIOS under the 'Boot' tab
- Save changes and you'll see your system booting up from the USB drive