Download mac os x boot disk. Bootable USB flash drive OS X Yosemite

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Hello, Makovody! There was such a joke in my computer youth - when choosing a disk, I suggested taking a larger disk (at that time a 500 GB disk was already available) to replace the native one, which was often in the range of 100 - 200 GB. They looked at me like that and didn’t understand why there was such a “large” volume. And just then everyone began to have the Internet, a lot of content, saving movies and music to the computer... And it was clear - the larger the disk, the better - in six months or a year the disk would be jam-packed :) Now everything has changed: fast Internet and various services for content distribution - online movies, music streaming services like Apple Music... But even now, taking all this into account, the question has not lost its relevance - “how to free up space on a Mac?” And now I’ll tell you where to look and what to delete!

Who needs a lot of space on Mac?

Today, more and more often you can find Macs with an installed SSD - MacBook Air, Retina and just MacBook. I also like to install a fast SSD (solid-state drive) in everything that moves in a Mac, and often, the volume of such a drive varies from 120 to 250 GB, which may not be enough... The issue of free space in a Mac is very relevant for owners of a 120 GB drive GB - the system with programs takes up 20 - 30 GB + 10 - 20 GB is better left for stable operation of the SSD and as a result, 70 - 90 GB remains for movies, music and documents. Agree, this is not that much, and you will definitely find something to fill them with :) And the free space will run out at the most inopportune moment, when you urgently need to record some movie on the road or create a backup copy of your iPhone... Now I will try to talk a little about the intricacies SSD work, and if you are not interested, feel free to skip the next chapter :)

Subtleties of SSD operation and how much free space to leave on the SSD

An SSD is very similar to a flash drive that we all use every day, only the filling is a little cooler. Inside, in addition to the memory chips themselves, there are many more interesting things, but the most important thing is the controller, and the maximum speed of the disk, service life, and so on depend on what it is and how it works... Data on the disk is written to memory cells, and the controller knows where to write down what and where there is free space. When you perform the read-change-write procedure, the controller begins to frantically move data blocks to check the “wear and tear” of memory cells and other procedures. The more free space on the disk, the easier and faster this procedure is, but as soon as the free space on the disk approaches zero, the speed gets lower and lower... This can be compared to the defragmentation procedure on regular disks, those with spinning platters. As a result, when there is only 1 - 5 GB left on a 120 GB SSD, the speed drops so much that the speed of launching programs is similar to torture!

Now let's talk about optimal free space on SSD. From personal experience and from articles on the network, the volume was revealed to be 10 - 20% (percent!) of the total storage volume! Exactly percent, and not just 10-20 GB, since the controller’s operation will depend on the percentage of free space, how much room it will have for maneuvers - redistributing data for optimal “wear” of memory chips. Alas, memory cells cannot be written and cleared an infinite number of times, but the statistics on average are such that if you write several gigabytes per day, your disk will last at least 5 years! But this does not mean that it will really work that long if you leave 1 - 2% free on it and constantly work with it... In any case, after 5 years, you will want to change your drive, if only because the prices for SSD are creeping down all the time (if not for the depreciation of the ruble) and from year to year discs are becoming more and more accessible!

By the way, since we’re talking about the intricacies of SSDs, I can’t help but notice one VERY IMPORTANT THING - recovering data from an SSD is very difficult and expensive! Do you know why? And all because the controller is very smart and at every opportunity it restructures the data. On regular disks, when you delete a file, the data itself does not disappear, the disk simply marks the empty space as free and continues writing subsequent files to other cells. This is precisely because when you have deleted some important file, it can still be restored through special programs or services. The main thing is to turn off the computer as quickly as possible or disconnect the disk on which the data has disappeared and call the service. By the way, 🙂

But on an SSD, when you delete something, the controller can reassign the freed blocks within a few minutes (from 3 to 30 minutes), thereby permanently deleting the data. And to recover data from an SSD, you need to disconnect the disk and take it to a storage facility, where they will disassemble the disk, take out the board with the chips, unsolder the chips (if possible), and read all the information directly from them. After such a procedure, the disk will most likely go in the trash... So it is extremely necessary!!!

So, we have briefly discussed the intricacies of SSDs and now we can start clearing disk space!

How to free up space on Mac

To clean up a disk on a Mac, you can use 2 methods - go to the Finder, select the desired folder - Pictures, Music, Documents, and so on, and look at the properties of the folder: how much space does this or that folder take up and start cleaning out the junk. The method is good, but only for a master who knows exactly which folders to look in first, so as not to break the system and remove truly unnecessary folders and files! Personally, I immediately go into iPhone/iPad backups, system library and cache. But that’s me - I understand that you can delete things from a Mac to free up space and not kill the system! In difficult cases, I run an excellent program. And don’t pay attention that the program is paid, since its free functionality is more than enough for us!

We download the program, run it, and see this window (for the second or more launches, you need to wait until the reference line disappears, and then click on Test Drive):

In the first window you can see all drives, both the system drive and all flash drives and images connected to the Mac. We need exactly the drive that says “boot drive” next to it, although you can also scan an external drive. Click on the scan button and wait for the process to complete: depending on the type of disk (hard drive or solid-state) and volume, the program will scan the disk from several seconds to several minutes. And after the scan, a window will appear with a diagram, which will be different for everyone, but similar to this:

Here's a nice diagram that shows all the large objects - folders and files on the selected drive. Keep in mind right away that not everything can be touched with your playful hands, and some things will not even be accessible, but first things first. If, like me, you have “(hidden space)” at the very bottom of the list, then this is a local disk backup: you can only get rid of it by connecting an external disk and . In most cases, this solves the problem, and if not, then there is no point in bothering (when the disk runs out of space, the operating system cleans up this space)!

Above there may be, like mine, folders System And Libraries — SUPER SCARY FOLDERS YOU SHOULD NOT ENTER WITHOUT A BACKUP COPY!!! They contain essential files for adequate operation of the OS X operating system! Only professionals who clearly understand what is there and what it is responsible for can get into these beautiful folders.

Next comes the folder private— it’s also worth going into it if you don’t know what lies there and what to do with all this stuff. I deleted something from there and a surprise awaited me :) Even system administration teachers in Moscow did not immediately say what was there and how it worked. Kroch, let’s not go there!

Cleaning the Applications folder

But then there is where we can go and delete something - Programs and Users. For 90% of my readers, the Users folder will be at the very top. Inside a folder Programs We will see something like this:

By the way, to immediately see in the Finder the object that you want to delete or view, just hold down the Command (CMD) key and left-click on the object in the diagram or in the left column.

Here you can delete whatever you want, except for system programs such as iChat, Quick Time, etc. You won't be able to delete them - OS X will tell you that it can't be done because they are system files. But you can easily find some rarely used or unnecessary programs! Here I always remove junk from the iLife package - GarageBand, iWeb And iDVD, of course, if you don’t use them at all. Sometimes it goes into the trash bin iMovie, but this is rare. iPhoto almost always remains on the Mac :) The installation package of the new OS X can also take up a lot of space ( OS X Yosemite Installer, for example), and if you have no plans to install it, then you can safely throw it in the trash, since downloading it again on Mac will not be difficult!

Clearing the Users folder

At this stage, you will have the opportunity to evaluate your files from a bird's eye view - how much data you have in your downloads, how much music and movies you have, as well as look into your libraries. Naturally, I cannot give you advice on what you need in photographs, music or documents - these are your personal files and only you understand their value. I want to show those few folders that are most often not very necessary, but at the same time there is something to delete in them!

Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Media -> Mobile Applications - this may contain programs from the iPhone and iPad that you downloaded from the App Store. In fact, there is no point in storing them on your Mac, since you can always download them from the store at any time! Sometimes this folder can take up a lot of space and in my case its volume was about 15 GB!

You can also inspect your library for large albums and re-evaluate their importance to you. There are some things you no longer want to listen to, and some things you’re tired of – don’t clutter up your disk with these compositions. By the way, you also need to pay attention to 2 folders: Music -> iTunes -> iTunes Media -> Home Video and Movies there - they may contain your movies purchased in iTMS and movies that you added to iTunes. It’s possible that you no longer need them, and there’s no point in just keeping movies from the store in your media library!

It is important to understand where exactly your music is stored - in the iTunes library or simply organized in folders. For example, all my music ends up in my library and after that, I delete all the original files. Although there are times when there are no tracks in the library itself, and music files are scattered throughout the Mac. Go to iTunes -> Settings -> Add-ons and see what checkboxes you have:

If, like me, all the boxes are checked, then the songs that you download from the Internet and then upload to iTunes are stored both in the media library and in the original downloaded folder! In this case, you can safely delete the original files and leave them only in iTunes.

If we have sorted out the media library, then we can safely stomp to the side iPhone backups on iTunes. To do this, you can either go to Libraries, which I don’t particularly recommend without understanding what to do, or go to iTunes and delete it through it. Let's clear the place using the second method. To do this, go to iTunes -> Settings and in the window that appears at the top, click on Devices:

If your Mac is already many years old and your family has a lot of phones and tablets, then you may be in for a surprise :) Personally, I have almost no copies there (and if there are, they are fresh), but for some I have seen more than 10 different devices with very ancient copies (up to 2010...)! Some copies may belong to your gadget, while others may belong to your wife, girlfriend or colleague - why do you need them?! Feel free to select irrelevant copies and click on Delete backup copy from below, and then on the OK button. If you click on Cancel, the copies will remain on your computer! Or you can do it a little differently - right-click on the device, select Show in Finder and from there delete the folder with the copy.

The difference is that when deleting via iTunes, you do not see the process itself, and if the copy is very large (more than 10-20 GB), then during deletion the Mac will slow down, and you will not see the process itself and the time it ends. And if you delete a copy directly from Finder, you will see the progress of deleting the copy :)

For Mac owners with a solid-state drive, it will also be a good help. This trick will help you kill 2 birds with one stone - have backup copies from your iPhone/iPad, and also not fill up your laptop’s built-in disk with them!

In addition to the iTunes library, you can look into the library Photo or iPhoto. Look at your photos and you may find a lot of unnecessary ones. Personally, all the photos from my iPhone ended up in Photos/iPhoto (via photo stream), and I often take something as a reminder, and the value of the frame disappears almost immediately after shooting, but these photos still ended up in the library. Photos on the iPhone turn out to be very high quality, but the downside of quality is the weight of the frame! By deleting a hundred unnecessary pictures, you will save about 200 - 500 MB. But you should not only delete the photos themselves from the library, but also empty trash in iPhoto and delete “recently deleted frames” in Photos.

And if a photo takes up a couple of megabytes, then a short 10-second video on an iPhone 5 (for example) already takes up 20 MB, not to mention the fact that videos on newer models take up much more space! And if you, without thinking, save all this in a media library or in a separate folder, then it’s worth visiting them and checking their volume. It may well turn out that some videos were shot by accident, or have already lost their relevance :)

By the way, in addition to cleaning media libraries, you can also use them :)

In addition to all of the above, I also recommend inspecting the folder Downloads! The most necessary and most harmful folder at the same time - everything that you download from the Internet most often ends up there, but not always, the downloaded files crawl to other places - music to music, films to films, etc... I very often see , as the Downloads folder takes up almost the most space, and only because the files from there are never audited and cleaned. Take a look there and take a close look at the contents! By the way, for me, this folder is the largest, but only because I store a lot of useful things there (iOS firmware, updates for Mac, etc.) and I have a clear structure inside the Downloads folder.

Well, that seems to be all. So, off the top of my head, I delete 20 GB of data from some Macs that is not really needed on the computer. I hope that you can clean up your Mac from unnecessary files :)

Despite the fact that Apple has provided the ability to install the system from a hidden partition on your hard drive, you should not neglect the opportunity to burn the installation image to a DVD or flash drive and feel protected from any unforeseen situations. Plus, you won't have to spend least$69 on , which only goes on sale in August.

To implement this plan, we will need Lion downloaded from the Mac App Store, a blank DVD or flash drive with a capacity exceeding 4 GB, and 30 minutes of free time. Also, be sure to make sure that you have copied all important information (if any) from your chosen flash drive. So let's get started.

We go to the directory with installed programs, find the Installation Mac OS X Lion.app application there (if it is not there, you will have to download it again from) and select “Show package contents” in the context menu.

In the window that opens, you should travel through the internal directory structure and go to the SharedSupport folder.

We are interested in the first file, which is 3.74 GB in size. If you want to create a bootable DVD, just take any application that can write DMG images and use it to burn InstallESD.dmg to disk (just copy it to at least the Desktop first).

Otherwise, double-click on this file with the left mouse button and wait until the mounted image called Mac OS X Install ESD appears on the screen:

It's time to insert the USB flash drive into the computer and launch Disk Utility, which is located in the Programs > Utilities folder. Now in the sidebar select our flash drive, and on the right - the tab Erase.

In field Format you should select the file system type “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” in the Name enter something meaningful and press the button Erase. The formatting operation will take some time (depending on the size of the flash drive).

There is very little left to do - restore our connected InstallESD.dmg image to the USB flash drive. To do this, you need to select the flash drive again in the side menu and click on the tab Restore.

In field Source drag the image icon called Mac OS X Install ESD, and in the field Purpose- our newly formatted flash drive.

Check several times that you have not mixed up the fields, and also that you have not selected any desired flash drive as the destination. If everything is indicated correctly, then feel free to press the button Restore and you can go for a walk:

That's all! Now, when the need arises, all you have to do is insert the flash drive into the USB port of your computer and, after turning it on, press and hold the Option (Alt) key to select the boot partition.

You may be wondering which is better: burning a DVD or creating an installation flash drive? I think that the last option is more acceptable, and owners of new Mac minis don’t have to choose at all :)

Why are they needed and when to use them.

Generally, the Mac runs smoothly. However, anyone can encounter a problem that prevents OS X from loading.

The system has a whole set of tools for emergency computer startup, system recovery, and specific startup methods for non-standard situations. Let's take a closer look at all the possible boot options for your Mac.

Thanks for the advice re:Store. You can find out even more Mac and iPhone secrets at official lectures and master classes. Registration and visit is absolutely free.

Hurry up! Master classes are starting tomorrow: in Moscow about a music studio, and in St. Petersburg about fashion illustration.

Most modern Macs support more than 10 ways to start the system. To get into any of them, you need to hold down a certain button or key combination immediately after the start sound when turning on the power.

1. Recovery mode

Why is it needed: Recovery mode provides access to Disk Utility, OS X Installer, and the Time Machine backup recovery service. You need to boot in this mode if the system does not start in the usual way, to restore it from a backup or completely reinstall it.

How to get: press the combination Command (⌘) + R after the sound signal indicates that the computer is starting to turn on until the loading indicator appears.

2. Autorun manager

Why is it needed: If the second system on the Mac is Windows, then in this menu you can choose whether to boot into OS X or into Window.

How to get: hold down the button Option (⌥) or point the previously paired Apple Remote at your Mac and hold down the button Menu.

3. Boot from CD/DVD

Why is it needed: Intel-based Macs with an optical drive or an external CD/DVD drive can be booted from disk. If you have an OS X distribution on the disk, you can install the operating system.

How to get: clamp WITH.

4. External drive mode

Why is it needed: Any Mac with a FireWire or Thunderbolt port can be used as an external drive for another Mac to transfer large amounts of data between computers or to expand the drive on a second computer.

How to get: You will first need to go to Settings – Boot volume and activate External drive mode. After this, you should hold down the button while loading T.

If you don’t want to risk the data on your Mac’s drive, choose a capacious and fast flash drive.

5. Safe Mode

Why is it needed: safe mode allows you to eliminate problems that arise during normal loading of OS X. When the system starts, the integrity of the drive will be checked and only the most necessary system components will be launched. If third-party applications caused startup errors, the system will boot without problems.

We use this mode when OS X crashes and freezes when loading. If the Mac boots into it, we begin to disable the automatic loading of applications that launch along with the system.

How to get: clamp Shift (⇧).

6. Network recovery mode

Why is it needed: This mode is similar to the previous one, but allows you to restore the system from a distribution downloaded from the Apple server. To do this, you will need to connect to a network with Internet access. This mode should be used if the normal recovery area of the disk is damaged.

How to get: use a combination Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + R.

Specialized devices from Apple will help you save data and be able to restore from a backup.

7. Reset PRAM/NVRAM

Why is it needed: A special partition of Mac memory stores certain settings (speaker volume settings, screen resolution, boot volume selection, and information about the latest critical errors). If errors occur that may be related to these settings, you should reset them.

How to get: After the beep, press and hold Command + Option + P + R. Hold down the keys until the computer restarts and you hear the boot tone a second time.

8. Diagnostic mode

Why is it needed: This mode is designed for testing Mac hardware components. It will help identify the cause of the computer malfunction. If there is a suspicion of a malfunction of Mac components, we boot and check.

How to get: press the button D.

9. Network diagnostic mode

Why is it needed: like the previous mode, it is intended for testing hardware components. However, if your Mac has hard drive or SSD problems, Network Mode will download everything needed for testing from the Apple server.

How to get: press the key combination Option (⌥) + D.

10. Boot from NetBoot server

Why is it needed: In this mode, you can install or restore the operating system over the network. To do this, you will need a ready-made disk image, which is stored on a server accessible over the network.

How to get: just press the button N.

11. Single-player mode

Why is it needed: In this mode, only the command line will be available. You should only boot this way if you have experience with UNIX commands. Advanced users will be able to perform computer maintenance and troubleshoot system problems.

How to get: press the combination Command (⌘) + S.

12. Detailed logging mode

Why is it needed: This mode is no different from the standard Mac boot. However, during system startup, instead of the usual indicator, you will see a detailed system startup log. This may be necessary to understand which OS boot process is causing the error or failure. Please note that this mode is aimed at advanced users.

How to get: press the combination Command (⌘) + V.

13. Reset System Management Controller (SMC) parameters

Why is it needed: Such a reset should be used if there are system errors that do not disappear after rebooting the system and turning off/on the computer. Below is a list of similar problems in which Apple experts recommend resetting the controller parameters:

computer fans spinning at high speeds for no reason (when the Mac is idle);
improper operation of the keyboard backlight;
incorrect operation of the power indicator;
The battery charge indicator on the laptop does not work correctly;
the display backlight is not adjustable or is adjusted incorrectly;
Mac doesn't respond when you press the power button;
the laptop reacts incorrectly to opening and closing the lid;
the computer goes into sleep mode on its own;
problems arise when charging the battery;
The MagSafe port indicator does not correctly display the current operating mode;
Applications do not work correctly or freeze upon startup;
Errors occur when working with an external display.

How to get: On different Macs, this reset is accomplished in different ways.

On desktop computers:

On laptops with a non-removable battery:

Shift + Control + Option

On laptops with a removable battery:

Bookmark the article so you don't have to search for it if problems arise.

Fair, not overpriced and not underestimated. There should be prices on the Service website. Necessarily! without asterisks, clear and detailed, where technically possible - as accurate and concise as possible.

If spare parts are available, up to 85% of complex repairs can be completed in 1-2 days. Modular repairs require much less time. The website shows the approximate duration of any repair.

Warranty and responsibility

A guarantee must be given for any repairs. Everything is described on the website and in the documents. The guarantee is self-confidence and respect for you. A 3-6 month warranty is good and sufficient. It is needed to check quality and hidden defects that cannot be detected immediately. You see honest and realistic terms (not 3 years), you can be sure that they will help you.

Half the success in Apple repair is the quality and reliability of spare parts, so a good service works directly with suppliers, there are always several reliable channels and your own warehouse with proven spare parts for current models, so you don’t have to waste extra time.

Free diagnostics

This is very important and has already become a rule of good manners for the service center. Diagnostics is the most difficult and important part of the repair, but you don't have to pay a penny for it, even if you don't repair the device based on its results.

Service repairs and delivery

A good service values your time, so it offers free delivery. And for the same reason, repairs are carried out only in the workshop of a service center: they can be done correctly and according to technology only in a prepared place.

Convenient schedule

If the Service works for you, and not for itself, then it is always open! absolutely. The schedule should be convenient to fit in before and after work. Good service works on weekends and holidays. We are waiting for you and working on your devices every day: 9:00 - 21:00

The reputation of professionals consists of several points

Company age and experience

Reliable and experienced service has been known for a long time.
If a company has been on the market for many years and has managed to establish itself as an expert, people turn to it, write about it, and recommend it. We know what we are talking about, since 98% of incoming devices in the service center are restored.
Other service centers trust us and refer complex cases to us.

How many masters in areas

If there are always several engineers waiting for you for each type of equipment, you can be sure:
1. there will be no queue (or it will be minimal) - your device will be taken care of right away.
2. you give your Macbook for repair to an expert in the field of Mac repairs. He knows all the secrets of these devices

Technical literacy

If you ask a question, a specialist should answer it as accurately as possible.
So that you can imagine what exactly you need.
They will try to solve the problem. In most cases, from the description you can understand what happened and how to fix the problem.

A bootable flash drive with macOS Catalina comes in handy when you need to install the system from scratch, or update several machines at once. Now I will tell you how to create such a flash drive in macOS itself and in Windows. The instructions are suitable for High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive on macOS

We will need any USB drive from 8 GB and a free utility Disk Creator. A flash drive can also be created using console commands through the terminal, but I don’t see the point in suffering.

Step 1: Download macOS Catalina

If you currently have macOS High Sierra or a later version of macOS installed, you can download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store, then in the folder Applications macOS will have a new icon Install macOS Catalina.

Once the download is complete, the macOS Catalina installation file will appear in the Applications folder.

Step 2: Launch Disk Creator

If you downloaded the macOS Catalina installer in advance, Disk Creator will automatically find it and display it in the interface. All you have to do is select the flash drive to which you want to deploy the image:

To create a bootable USB flash drive, select a drive. The macOS Catalina installation file will be downloaded automatically

Step 3: Create a boot disk

Click Create Installer and wait while Disk Creator creates a bootable USB flash drive with Catalina. On a fast drive, the process takes 3–4 minutes.

Notification that the creation of a bootable disk with macOS Catalina is complete

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into the Mac and turn it on while holding down the Option key. The computer will start booting into the flash drive. If you are going to install the system on a Hackintosh, you will select the flash drive as a “bootable” drive in the BIOS.

🤦‍♂️If loading from a flash drive does not happen, you should try to recreate it again or try a different drive. I myself have more than once encountered situations when the installer simply did not want to boot with certain patches.

Step 1: Download macOS Mojave

Alas, there is no official way to say macOS from Windows. You will have to download it using your iMac or MacBook. Or find an installer on torrents.

Please note that the installer must be in .dmg format
Step 2: Run TransMac in Administrator Mode

Right-click on the TransMac icon and select the appropriate item in the menu.

Right click on TransMac and run it in administrator mode
Step 3. Format the flash drive

Format Disk for Mac.

Before creating a bootable USB flash drive in Windows, the flash drive itself must be formatted
Step 4. Select the dmg file with the macOS image

Right click on the name of the flash drive;

Restore with Disk Image ;

Specify the path to the macOS installation file;

Wait until the bootable USB drive is created.

Start recovery from disk image
Locate the Mojave installation file you downloaded earlier
Wait until the bootable USB drive is created
How to boot from a flash drive and start installation

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into the Mac and turn it on while holding down the Option key. This will allow you to begin the installation. If you are going to install the system on a Hackintosh, you will select the flash drive as a “bootable” drive in the BIOS.

And definitely. In this article, I told you how not to forget anything and spend a minimum of time reinstalling the system.