How to Create a Bootable Mavericks Install Drive

Why we need to make a bootable Mavericks install drive? There are a number of good reasons. Below are some.

1. A bootable install drive makes it more convenient to install Mavericks on multiple Macs
2. A bootable install drive makes a handy emergency disk when your Mac runs into problems
3. A bootable install drive makes it easier to install Mavericks over Leopard
4. A bootable install drive makes it easier to revert Mavericks from Yosemite
…

To create a bootable Mavericks install drive, you got a plenty of options. We got you two options here which we thought are the most reliable methods.

Note: If you have only a Mac, a newer one shipped width Mavericks preinstalled, please let alone the following instructions but refer to the other instructions for newer Macs.

Method One: Use Disk Utility

You'll find Disk Utility in \Applications\Utilities. Before you use Disk Utility to create an install drive, you should know that Disk Utility won't create a Recovery HD Partition. If your Mac's drive doesn't already have Recovery HD partition, you can use the createinstallmedia which will be introduced below to create an install drive since it will create the missing partition. If your Mac's drive already have one, please keep follow the instructions:

· Find the Mavericks installer which is named Install OS X Mavericks.app

· Right click the installer, then choose Show Package Contents

· Open Contents in the folder that appears, and then open Shared Support to find InstallESD.dmg

· Double click InstallESD.dmg to mount its volume which shows in the Finder as OS X Install ESD

· Open the Terminal app in /Application/Utilities and type open\Volumes\OS\ X\ Install\ ESD\BaseSystem.dmg, and then Return

· Launch Disk Utility in \Application\Utilities, select BaseSystem.dmg

· Click Restore button

· If the BaseSystem.dmg icon is not in the Source field on the right, drag it into it

· Connect to the formatted hard drive that you want to use for the bootable Mavericks installer

· Find the targeted drive in the left sidebar in Disk Utility, and then drag the partition with the drive name into the Destination field on the right

· Click Restore

· Click Erase in the dialog box; if there is a prompt, enter an admin user name and password

· The restore procedure will take a few minutes

· When finishes, choose BaseSystem.dmg on the left in Disk Utility, and then click the Eject button in the toolbar

· Open the destination drive that you use for bootable install drive

· Open the System folder, then open the Installation folder, and then delete the alias named Packages

· Open the mounted OS X Install ESD volume, then drag the folder called Packages into the Installation folder on your destination drive in order to replace the deleted Packages alias

· Eject the OS X Install ESD volume

· Done; finally, you can choose to rename the bootable installer drive

Method Two: Use Createinstallmedia

Createinstallmedia is a Unix program hidden inside the Mavericks. It is especially for creating a bootable Mavericks installer. It is very easy to use if you have no problem using Terminal. Anyway, this works only in Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks, but not Snow Leopard. If you need to make a Mavericks install drive when booted into Snow Leopard, please see the Disk Utility instructions above.

Instructions on how to use createinstallmedia to make a bootable Mavericks install drive:

· Get the Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store, save it in Application folder since the Terminal command we are using here assumes it in its default location-Application folder

· Connect to the Mac a formatted 8GB or larger drive, rename it to Untitled

· Select and copy the text below of this Terminal command sudo \Applications\Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app\Contents\Resources\createinstallmedia --volume \Volumes\Untitled --applicationpath \Applications\Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction

· Launch Terminal in \Applications\Utilities

· Paste the copied text into Terminal and Return (Please note that this action will erase the destination drive or partition. Therefore, please ensure it doesn't have any valuable data.)

· When there is prompt, type your admin-level account password

· The Terminal window show how it works: Erasing Disk: 0%...10%...20%...100%... Copying installer files to disk…This process can take 20 or 30 minutes. It depends on how fast your Mac can work. When finishes, there will be the text Copy Complete, which means you've created a bootable Mavericks install drive.

Note: If you want to learn more about the createinstallmedia and the instructions of it, you can copy and paste the command below in Terminal and press Return: \Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app\Contents\Resources\createinstallmedia

After your Mac is booted from your installer drive, you are able to install the OS. If you've tried another method and it worked perfectly, please let us know; contact us or leave your comment below.