create a bootable usb flash drive for mac

You should see your USB drive to the left pane of Disk Utility. Go to Utilities/Disk Utility and open it. This will eliminate the install process from beginning as the contents of your SSD drive will be back to it’s original state. Once you have completed the clone process go to System Preferences and Select “Start Up Disk”, select your internal SSD drive you just cloned. Now Clone your External Drive to your SSD Drive. Once you move it to the Desktop the Red Dot and Minus Symbol will disappear and you will be able to view the contents. Don’t be alarmed if you cannot view the contents of the folder. The folder will have a Red Dot with a Minus Symbol to the lower right corner of the folder. In the root directory you will find a folder called “Mac OS X Install Data. Once you are booted into your external drive you can view the contents of the internal SSD drive. When it boots HOLD DOWN THE OPTION KEY and select your EXTERNAL BOOT HD as the boot drive. WE DO NOT WANT to continue the installation onto the internal drive! When the download is almost complete be in front of your Mac. Be patient and closely monitor the progress of the download. I have a 13 Mbps connection so it took about an hour. The download will take sometime depending on your Internet connection speed. At this point the installer will begin to download additional components and will indicate, “Your computer will restart automatically”. It will then prompt you to where you want to install Lion OSX, select your INTERNAL boot drive, as the Recovery HD will be grayed out. Again it will ask you if you agree with the terms of the license software agreement. To continue you must agree withthe terms of the software license agreement. At this point a window will appear and say, “To download and restore Mac OS X your computers eligibility will be verified with Apple”. Mac OS Install will begin with a picture of a Lion and the option to continue. You will be given the option to boot into your Regular SSD Internal Drive or onto Recovery HD. Connect it to your Air.įrom a cold boot press and hold the Option Key. Keep it connected to the Air.īACKUP Your Boot Drive to the External USB Drive. I used a Patriot Xporter Dash 8 GB.įirst Install Carbon Copy Cloner and clone your internal SSDDrive.

NOTE: The drive must be partitioned as GUID to be bootable. USB BacUp Drive big enough to hold the contents of your bootdrive.

Making a Bootable USB Flash Drive for the MacBook Air 2011.

Create a bootable usb flash drive for mac