- #How to format drive mac install os x el capitan how to
- #How to format drive mac install os x el capitan mac os
- #How to format drive mac install os x el capitan install
I understand that it can be done, but that it's more complicated than doing so onto an internal drive. I'm not a windows user, can't help with the fine points of installing windows onto an external drive.
#How to format drive mac install os x el capitan mac os
What's important is that the external drive have a good copy of the Mac OS on it. The Mac doesn't care about WHERE it boots from. You should now boot to the external drive.Īn important thing to remember re the Mac v. Select the external drive with the pointer and hit return. Hold down the option key immediately and keep holding it downĤ. Power down and reboot (or try a restart)Ģ. When done, you can boot to the external drive by doing this:ġ. You can try running the installer and "pointing it" at the external drive.īut first - you must open Disk Utility and erase the drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled. This should download a copy of the installer to your current (internal) drive. In fact, I'm typing this on a Mac that I normally boot and run from an external SSD.ĭo you have a copy of the El Cap installer already?
#How to format drive mac install os x el capitan install
Once done, exit Disk Utility where you will be brought back to the screen.Ĭlick and follow the onscreen steps to start the OS X El Capitan installation process.Īs you may have noticed, this is quite a complicated method, but once DiskMaker X releases the final OS X El Capitan, the process will be much easier and we will update this article when that happens.It's easy enough to install El Cap (or any version of OS X) onto an external drive. If you want to stick with the traditional Mac naming convention, go with, but if you’re feeling creative you can name it anything.Ĭlick on the lower right corner to begin the deletion process. Ĭlick your main hard drive (usually ) in the left sidebar and then click tab. You’re going to want to wipe and reformat your hard drive, so when you get to the screen go to the top menu bar and go to. This next step is important to perform a clean install. It will write “OS X El Capitan” instead of “OS X Yosemite” Click the up arrow under the drive icon to get started. This will open a menu where you will select an installation driver. Restart your Mac with the USB drive inserted and hold the key. Now you have a bootable USB flash drive with OS X El Capitan ready to use and it’s time to install it on your Mac. Don’t mess with the Terminal or remove the flash drive while it’s doing its job. This command will create the USB boot drive and will take around 20 minutes to complete depending on how fast your flash drive is (USB 3.0 is ideal). Sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app -nointeraction Type (or copy and paste) the following command and press: When it’s done, close Disk Utility and open the folder in it. Click it and wait for the format to finish. Select your USB drive in the sidebar and click tab.įrom there, select the box and name it (although it’s already named that way).
#How to format drive mac install os x el capitan how to
If you still want to create a bootable USB drive with Terminal the old-fashioned way, here’s how to do it. When you’re done, you’ll be left with a bootable USB drive. Click on OS X El Capitan 10.11 and let the application do the rest. Next, insert a USB flash drive of at least 8 GB and open DiskMaker X. First, you will want Download OS X El Capitan from the Mac App Storeand once downloaded it may start automatically, but it just shuts down.