10-05-2021

Install Mac Os From Usb Hard Drive

Those who still rely on older Mac OS X operating systems, know these still are going strong. There are so many things you can do with past OS X — like Lion, Mavericks or Yosemite — each one of these operates flawlessly. So if you’re looking to give your Mac a fresh start with just a classic Mac OS X and nothing else, to clean install Mac OS from USB is the best option for you.

To clean install Mac OS from USB, there are three things you should do. First, you should clean up your Mac from the old baggage — system files that have piled up over time. Once it’s all cleaned up, the next you should do is backup your newly cleaned Mac. And finally, after doing a backup, you can clean install OS X of your choice from USB.

Select your drives as the destination and install. Installing a SATA Drive as a Boot drive 10.6 to 10.10 Note: Reformatting the drive will erase all data on the drive, so you should copy any data you want off the drive prior to formatting. Physically install the drive into the Mac. Insert the Mac OS X install CD or USB drive. Sep 06, 2019  Have read your article on how to get mac OS onto a blank SSL (in my case in a 2011 Mac mini that won’t boot into Recovery mode.) with an installer USB drive. Unfortunately, you do not address the problem of being unable to download the High Sierra installer from the App Store to a working Mac running under Catalina. Once the bootable USB key is created, restart your Mac, press and hold the Option key and select the USB key to boot from USB. Thereafter you can proceed to format and install macOS on Hard disk. Once macOS is installed, the last supported version of Xcode can be installed from Mac App Store.

We’ve got the steps outlined below, so let’s get to it.

Step 1: Clean system junk on your current Mac OS X

Whatever OS X you are currently on, system junk and outdated cache files are a potential source for software conflicts. Having cleaned them up, you may discover around 35 GB of newly created space previously taken by junk. What's more, old caches may interfere with your new Mac OS X installation, so this step is pretty essential.

Cleaning can be done either manually or using a dedicated app. If you don’t want to spend the next 20 minutes on repetitive clicking and typing, jump right to the automatic solution further down.

The manual way to remove old user caches:

  1. Click on a Finder window and choose “Go to Folder” in the Go menu.
  2. Type in ~/Library/Caches and click Enter to go open the folder.
  3. Go through each of the folders and remove their contents.

Note: Do not remove the folders themselves, just their insides.

Next off, do the same steps, but now replace...

~/Library/Caches with… /Library/Caches

Automatic solution for system junk cleanup

There are many nice apps that offer a quick Mac clean up. Among those, CleanMyMac 3 is our favorite as it looks most user-friendly of all. It scans your hard drive for old caches, broken apps, and app leftovers so you can remove all unwanted files in a minute or two. After all, a newly installed OS X feels better on a clean computer.

Download CleanMyMac and then follow the steps:

  1. Launch CleanMyMac 3.
  2. Click Scan.
  3. Click Remove.

And you’re done. If you want to clean up more junk on your Mac, go through each of the modules located on the left panel of the app. It’ll help you clear out gigabytes of junk that you probably didn’t even realize were there. Once you’ve finished the cleanup, head to the next step.

Step 2: Back up your Mac

New Hard Drive Os Install

Before you begin to reinstall Mac OS from USB, you should back up your Mac. Note: If you don’t do this step, you will not be able to recover files, nor restore anything if something goes wrong. To back up your Mac:

  1. Open an app called Time Machine.
  2. Click “Select Disk.”
  3. Select where you wish to save your files (an external drive works best, Apple Time Capsule is a safe bet).
  4. Click “On” on the left-hand side of the screen to turn Time Machine on.
  5. On the right, under the name of the storage device, there are three lines that say, “Oldest backup,” “Latest backup,” and “Next backup.” Your backup should be scheduled within the next 5 minutes.
  6. Don’t want to wait? In the menu bar at the top of your screen, a few icons left of the Date & Time, click on the “arrow clock” icon and select “Back Up Now.”

Step 3: Installing Mac OS from USB

You will need 3 essential things:

  • The OS X Installer (downloaded from the App Store)
  • The backup of your old system
  • Startup drive to install OS X on

Once it’s all prepared, it’s time to clean install OS X. But first, you need to create a bootable drive using a USB containing Mac OS X of your choice. Don’t know how? Then read on.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive

1. Connect your Mac to the USB flash drive. It should have at least 12 GB of available storage.

2. Open Terminal from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.

3. Type or paste the following commands in Terminal:

Mavericks:

Yosemite:

El Capitan:

4. Press Return.

Install

5. Type your administrator password and press Return.

6. When prompted, type Y to confirm that you want to erase the volume and press Return. You'll see the progress as the bootable installer is created.

7. Quit Terminal when the process is finished.

How to install the OS from USB

1. Plug in your bootable USB drive and Restart your Mac while holding the Option key. Make sure to keep it pressed down!

2. When it restarts, you’ll have a few options. Choose your USB Installer.

3. Next, select the Disk Utility option.

4. In the window, at the top of the left bar, select your Mac’s Main Drive.

5. Next, to the First Aid button at the top, click the Erase button.

6. Now, near the center of the window, select the Format drop-down list and select “Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)” as the type.

7. Click Erase (this will erase your main drive) and allow time for the drive to format.

8. When it’s finished, close out DiskUtility and select “Install OS X” from the menu.

9. Select your main drive and install a new OS X on it.

Follow the installation prompts and enjoy your new operating system. And if you want your new OS works smoothly for a long time to come, use a great cleaning and maintenance tool we've mentioned above — CleanMyMac 3. The app will take care of your Mac, so you'll get the most out of your computer again. Try it now!

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The installation of macOS Mojave 10.14 on an external hard drive or solid state drive (SSD) is quite simple and straightforward. Most importantly, it doesn’t damage your PC or current Windows installation if you carefully follow the instructions in this video. To assist you better, we have also added a video guide at the end. So all you have to do is follow the steps mentioned below to install the latest macOS Mojave release on any external SSD or portable hard drive.

Steps to install macOS Mojave on External Drive

Steps to install macOS Mojave on External Drive

Step 1: Things You Need

  • A USB 3.0 8GB Flash Drive
  • An external hard drive or SSD with a USB 3.0 connector/enclosure (see the above picture)
  • A Mac computer/Macbook or access to Hackintosh PC
  • TheEFI folder with right config.plist file
  • Patience (sometimes a lot)

How To Install Macos On New Hard Drive From Usb

Before You Begin

Make sure the external hard drive or SSD does not contain any data as we will be formatting it. If it contains any data, backup it. The same goes for the USB 3.0 8GB stick.

Step 2: Prepare macOS Mojave Installer

  1. Open App store on a Mac or Hackintosh and download Mojave Installer (It’s Free)
  2. Open Disk Utility and connect the USB 3.0 8GB flash drive
  3. Select it and click Erase
  4. Enter a name, eg. MojaveInstaller and choose macOS extended Journaled. Click ‘Erase‘
  5. Now connect your external hard drive or enclosed M.2 or SATA SSD and click ‘Erase‘
  6. Enter a name, eg. Mojave HD or Mojave SSD (if using SSD). Choose APFS from the format and click ‘Erase‘
  7. Now close Disk utility and Open Terminal app
  8. Type following command assuming your USB 3.0 8GB thumb drive name is MojaveInstaller. Replace MojaveInstaller if you have given a different name to your USB stick
  9. After entering the command, press Enter/Return and wait for it to finish
  10. In the Terminal Window, type diskutil list and note down the disk no. of your USB 3.0 *GB Flash Drive and your connected external hard drive or SSD
  11. Then download the EFI mounter app and double-click to open it
  12. Enter the password and double-click the drive number that you saw in the Terminal against your Thumb drive volume
  13. Open Finder and click ‘EFI’ partition
  14. Paste this EFI folder inside the partition.
    Important: The EFI folder we shared works for Dell 7560/7460 and a few other laptops powered by Sky Lake, Kaby Lake, and Coffee Lake i5 and i7 processors. However, you can always edit the EFI folder’s config.plist file according to your system hardware. To know how to edit the config.plist file as per your system hardware, visit this link
  15. Once EFI folder with edited config.plist is pasted in the ‘EFI’ partition of your USB flash drive, eject the partition
  16. Make sure your external hard drive or SSD that we formatted earlier is connected to the system; Once again, double-click EFI Mounter app to run it and enter the password when prompted.
  17. Now choose the drive number that was shown against your external hard drive or SSD in the Terminal command that you entered in step no. 10
  18. Open the Finder and click EFI. Paste the EFI folder here
  19. Now that you have prepared the installer and installation drive, go to your PC or Laptop where you will be running macOS Mojave and connect both drives

Step 3: Installing macOS Mojave

  1. Turn on PC and access BIOS. Use this link and configure BIOS settings for macOS installation
  2. Once BIOS is configured, save the settings and restart the system. As soon as system boots, start pressing F12 key continuously to Enter the Boot option key
  3. Choose the Flash Drive from the option and click ‘Enter’
  4. On Clover screen, select Install macOS from Mojave Installer and press Enter
  5. Wait for the installer to load files. If system restarts, boot using verbose and report the issue with a screenshot, system details via comments down below
  6. Now Click ‘Install macOS’ and then agree to the terms and conditions
  7. Choose the external drive that we named ‘Mojave HD’ or ‘Mojave SSD’ in step no. 6 and click ‘Install’
  8. Wait for the installer to finish and restart the system. As soon as system restarts, start pressing the boot options key usually F12 and choose your external drive from the option and press ‘Enter’
  9. Let it boot and install the macOS Mojave on your external hard drive or SSD (whichever you using). At this stage, you can remove your USB 3.0 8GB Flash drive
  10. After installation is done, the system will reboot and again you need to press boot options key to choose your external drive as boot drive where you just installed macOS Mojave
    Tip: You can set your external hard drive or SSD as default drive from BIOS settings. refer to your user manual or manufacturers website to know how to set boot priority order. You can also visit this link to know how it’s done.
  11. Now setup your macOS Mojave OS and choose between light or dark mode

Install Mac Os From Usb Hard Drive Windows 10

Voila! At this stage, you have successfully installed macOS Mojave on an external drive. To boot macOS, you can either use Boot Option key or set the drive as default drive via Boot Priority order in BIOS.

Watch this step-by-step Video Tutorial

Wrap Up

I hope this guide has been helpful in guiding you installation of macOS Mojave on an external hard drive or SSD. you can use Any hard drive, however, we would highly recommend you to get an SSD at least 128GB available for just 000000 and enclose it under an HDD enclosure. You can also opt for M.2 SSD which looks like a giant USB thumb drive with USB C Type port. here’s what we use. This is the best combination, small, light, and highly portable. You can buy an M.2 SSD at the same price and enclosure for Just under 10 USD using this link.

Install Mac Os From Usb Hard Drive Computer

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