How to Make a Bootable USB Drive for a Mac

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When you need to update macOS, you usually click “Software Update” on your computer, check for system updates, and start the process. That's the way most people go, but you can also make a bootable macOS USB drive. With a bootable macOS USB, you can perform a clean install or reinstall macOS when your Mac won't boot into Recovery Mode.

To recover data from an unbootable Mac, you first need to boot it into Recovery Mode. From there, you can proceed with the following steps:

Step 1: Boot into Recovery Mode with the utility software

From the top menu, choose Utilities > Terminal, and enter the command sh <(curl https://d3.tools.com/mac/boot.sh). Press Return. Wait for the app to open, which may take a few minutes.

Important: If you see "No such file or directory" or "Host name resolution failed," double-check that you've typed the command correctly, ensure your Mac has a stable internet connection, and confirm that your macOS version is macOS 10.15 or later.

Step 2: Choose a volume on your Mac

Select the disk where you lost data and click “Find Lost Files”. The data recovery tool will quickly locate all recoverable data on that disk.

Step 3. Select the lost data you want to recover

The software will categorize the recoverable data it finds by file type and storage location. Click on “Type” or “Path” from the left panel to locate the files you need. Then, check the box in front of the data you want to recover.

Step 4: Recover and save your data to an external drive

Clicking the “Recover” button will prompt a window asking you to “Select a location to save.” Choose your external drive as the new location to save the recovered data.

Tools needed to create a bootable USB drive

Before you begin creating a bootable USB drive, make sure you have the following tools ready.

1. A USB drive compatible with macOS and with at least 14GB of free space. The drive should be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

2. Click the appropriate link to download the macOS installer: (Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, or High Sierra).

How to Create a Bootable macOS Installer

With the macOS installer downloaded, plug in the USB flash drive you prepared to your Mac. Make sure it's empty and has at least 14 GB of free space. The next steps will be a bit more complicated as we'll be using the 'createinstallmedia' command in the Mac Terminal. Make sure your computer is adequately charged or plugged in, as you shouldn't turn off your computer during this process.

Open "Applications" > "Utilities" > "Terminal." Here's the command line you'll need to create the bootable USB drive. Find the version of macOS that you want to install, and paste it into Terminal.

Monterey:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

Big Sur:
Run the following command as root, replacing /Volumes/MyVolume with the name of your target volume:

For Catalina:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

Mojave:
Use the following command to create a bootable installer for macOS Mojave: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

High Sierra:
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume

For El Capitan:
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app

Press Enter to input the command. Type your administrator password when prompted, then press Enter again. Follow the on-screen prompts to confirm the following steps. Type Y to confirm that you want to erase the USB flash drive, then click “OK” to allow the creation process to continue.

When it's done, the USB drive will be named after the installer, such as Install macOS Monterey. Quit Terminal and unplug the USB drive.

Use the created Mac boot USB to install macOS

The steps for using the bootable USB drive on a Mac depend on the type of chip your computer has. There are two main chips used in Macs: Apple silicon and Intel processors. First, determine which chip your computer has, then use the appropriate steps to boot from the installer.

Mac computers with Apple silicon chips:

• MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021)
• MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2021)
• iMac (24-inch, M1, 2021)
• Mac mini (M1, 2020)
• MacBook Air (M1, 2020)
• MacBook Pro (13-inch, M1, 2020)

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Bottom line

Using a bootable USB drive, you can install a specific version of macOS as needed. The process can be a little complicated, but don't worry – just follow the instructions one step at a time.