The reason to create a USB drive is you don’t need to download OS X each time when you want to install OS X Mavericks on single or multiple Mac computers. OS X Mavericks file size is approx. 5.31 GB and you should save time and your bandwidth as well.
UPDATE: With the release version of OS X Mavericks there is now a much easier way to create a bootable installer. Simply follow these steps. 1) Download Mavericks from the Mac App Store but do not click install. If you install then after it upgrades your machine the installer will be automatically deleted.
2) Insert a USB flash drive and use Disk Utility to format it, name it ‘Untitled’. The installer takes over 4GB so you’ll need at least an 8GB drive. 3) Open terminal and run the following command sudo /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app -nointeraction 4) You’ll see some output in Terminal letting you know it’s copying files. When that’s done your USB will be ready with the bootable installer.
I have made 3 different installation sticks via differing methods and in every case I have to use the netkas IOPCIFamily.kext. Used on its own it creats a kp with backtrace every time I therefore have to use it with a modeded AppleACPIPlatform.kext for the installer to ever get past the PCI COnfiguration Begin lockup! This has been the case since Lion, With Mountain Lion there were no issues but with Mavericks DP1 NONE of my volumes show up – therefore I have nothing to install to? I tried to partition my 32Gb USB Stick (the partition does show up) BUT The installer fails with a minute to go, and The result is not bootable! Anyone else run into this issue? Any fix to get my drives back?
They only disappear with Maverick installer. It’s like they get dropped when loading it!
There’s an important step left out of these otherwise excellent instructions: before doing anything with the USB drive, you have to go into Disk Utility and partition it. Create two partitions, and click the Options button to set each partition to GUID (click one partition, then do this, then click the other partition and do this again). Both partitions should be bootable. It’s probably a good idea to make one of the partitions small (about 5 gb) and use the remainder of the capacity for the other one.
I called the smaller one “Installer”. Then when you get to step 6 and do the restore, restore to the Installer partition. When you reboot, boot to the Installer disk, and when it asks where to install OS X, choose the second partition you created.
If you don’t create two partitions on your USB drive, when you restart at the end of these steps, the installation routine won’t be able to set up Mavericks on the USB drive. It will probably offer to install only on the existing hard drive. I specified a folder instead and it erased my entire hard disc drive.
Could you not.mention. that it erases the drive even though you list that as a separate instruction for me to do?! No doubt you will blame me for not blindly following the instructions. I blame the script for blithely erasing something other than what was specified as the target; the programmer would have had to expressly ignore the folder part of what I specified. That.was. my.backup volume.! Second attempt and now it has chosen to format a hard disc partition called “Untitled”, in preference to a USB stick called “Untitled”.
Yes, again, I should have been more careful. But, again, the programmer should have been more careful. That’s about 3 months’ work wiped out.
In the past, upgrades to Apple’s flagship OSX were done via a CD purchased in an actual store. This made it nice and easy to upgrade each machine. With the last couple versions of OSX that have been released, including OSX Mavericks, the upgrade is done completely online via the Mac App Store. While this is great for cutting down on materials used, it does make it a pain to install on multiple machines. The download comes in at 5.3 GB, which makes for a fairly long download on most broadband connections. It is possible however, to clean install OSX Mavericks with a USB flash drive, so you only need to download it once. There are two steps to setting up OSX Mavericks fresh from a flash drive.
First you need to turn the flash drive into a bootable device, and then you need to install it. Part one will show you how to get the flash drive all set up and part two will show you how to get started with the Install. Part 1 – Mavericks In A Flash You can complete the steps below with or without OSX Mavericks already installed on your machine. If you already have it installed and want to make a flash drive for other machines, follow the steps as listed. If you’re making an installer without upgrading, skip step 1 below and head on over to the Updates tab in the Mac App Store and OPTION-Click the FREE UPGRADE button next to Mavericks.
Download Mavericks (again) Head over to the Mac App Store and find the OSX Mavericks page. It should be shown in the front page. Click on it to continue.
When you click on it, you should see a Download button where the purchase one used to be. Click this to start your download. Since the file is over 5 GB, it’ll probably take a little time. You will get a warning telling you OSX Mavericks is already installed. Click Continue.
Make The Flash Drive With the OS downloaded to your machine, it’s time to make the flash drive bootable. Plug in the flash drive, then open up Disk Utility (ApplicationsUtilitiesDisk Utility) Next, click the flash drive in the left sidebar. With the flash drive selected; click the Erase tab at the top of the window. Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the format, leave the Name set to Untitled, and click the Erase Button. A warning will pop up. Click Erase again to continue. Once this is complete, you can close Disk Utility.
Open up Terminal (ApplicationsUtilitiesTerminal) and paste the following command into it. Make sure to copy it EXACTLY as seen below. This will copy the OSX Installer to your thumb drive.
Once pasted, hit Enter. Sudo /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/Untitled -applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app -nointeraction You will be prompted to enter an administrator password. When you’re typing, it’ll look like nothing is being entered. This is OK and is done by Terminal for security purposes. When your password is entered, hit Enter. You will see Terminal start to work on your Flash drive.
It will look frozen like the screen shot below, but this is OK. The process will take 20-30 minutes. When it’s all done, you should see this: You can now quit Terminal. Your USB flash drive is now a fully bootable OSX Mavericks Installer. Part 2 – A Clean Break With Mavericks set up to install from your bootable flash drive, you’re ready to install it. With the machine of choice turned off and plugged in to a wall outlet, plug your new bootable USB drive in and hit the power button for the computer. As soon as you hit the power button, start holding the OPTION key down until you see the screen below: Double-click the Install OS X Mavericks item to start the process.
You should be booted into an OSX Utilities Screen. Click Install OS X, then Continue. It can take a few minutes for this screen to pop up, so be patient.
At this screen, you can opt to just install OSX Mavericks, or to completely wipe the drive & install Mavericks on a completely fresh drive. If you choose to do this, make sure your data is backed up! Click on Disk Utility, then select the hard drive from the list (the first entry.) With the hard drive selected, click on the Partition tab. You should now see this: Under Partition Layout, choose 1 Partition, leaving all other settings alone.
You will get a warning, click Partition to continue. This will wipe your drive, so make sure you ar backed up! Click Continue to start the installation. Follow the instructions that appear and agree to the terms for install.
Exit Disk Utility to get back to the Mavericks screen, then click the Install OSX Option. Click Continue to move forward, then follow the instructions that appear and agree to the terms for install.
Next, select the drive to install to. ( always choose the internal drive). The installation will now run and should take around 20-25 minutes to complete. Note: You may notice the installer freezing at “ About a second remaining” for a few minutes.
While silly and annoying, this is not a sign of anything wrong. Just let it finish and DO NOT hit the cancel button. Your computer will now restart and the installation process will run through the setup process which usually takes anywhere from 30-45 minutes. When the process is complete, your Mac will restart and you should see the login screen.
With this, the install process is complete and you should have a new, fresh copy of OSX Mavericks. If you opted to do a completely fresh install, you’ll need to set up your account-specific options as well, & restore from a backup if you made one.