My MacBook Pro was running Mac OS Sierra before installing my new hard drive. I knew that after the SSD installation, I wanted to try out Mac OS Mojave. The first steps in making sure I had Mac OS Mojave available to download to my new Hard Drive was downloading it to an external drive. If I were to install my SSD without installing a Mac Operating System, I would have no way to set up my computer at all. I would have a new hard drive, but no way to use it. This step is crucial, BEFORE any type of hard drive install.
Supplies:
Before beginning this process, you will need a
A 2.0 or newer USB Flash Drive with at least 8GB of storage space. Also make sure it is compatible with your computer’s Mac OS. I chose a 16GB USB flash Drive, and was compatible Mac OS 8.6 and newer.
MAKE SURE YOUR USB IS FORMATTED.
If you are unsure whether or not your USB Flash Drive is formatted then STOP right now, click here, and double check. Are you all good? Please continue….
Step 1.
a. Download Mac OS Mojave from Apple’s App Store.
b. Once Mac OS Mojave has downloaded, go ahead and click out of the window.
Step 2.
a. In the top menu bar select “Install MacOS Mojave”
b. Click “Quit Install MacOS”
Step 3.
a. Open “Finder” window,
b. Open Applications folder.
c. Right Click on the Installer Application, “Install Mojave”
d. Select “Show Package Contents”
e. Open Contents Folder
f. Open Resources
g. Locate “Create Install Media”, do not select – just find it.
Step 4.
a. Go up to top Menu Bar
b. Select File,
c. Select New Tab, to open up a new Finder Tab.
d. Go back to Application
e. Scroll down, open Utilities folder.
f. Open Terminal.
Step 5. In the Terminal Window
a. Type this into the terminal window : “sudo “
b. You want to write sudo and then a space.
Step 6.
a. Go back to Finder
b. Go to Resources tab.
c. Drag your CreateInstallMedia into your terminal window
d. In your terminal window type “ –volume “
a. You want to type dash dash volume space.
Step 7.
a. Go back to Finder Window
b. Go up to top Menu Bar
c. Select “Go”
d. Select “Go to Folder”
e. In the Go to Folder box, type “/volumes”
a. You want to type slash volumes
f. Click “Go”
Step 8.
a. Your Volumes folder will have all of your currently mounted volumes.
b. This is when you are going to plug in your USB Flash Drive.
c. Is it formatted and empty? Good. Please insert and continue.
Step 9.
a. Once you have mounted your flash drive you should see it under Volumes.
b. Select and drag the drive over and into your terminal window.
c. You should be able to see it in your terminal window.
d. Close out of your Finder
Step 10.
a. In terminal Window, press return.
b. Type in Administrator Password, press return.
c. If you are ready to proceed, press y on your keyboard and return.
a. Type y then press return
Step 11.
a. Now the process begins.
b. First, it will erase the disk then copy data to disk. This process is going to take about an hour.
c. At the end of the process you are going to see it copied 100% “Making disk bootable” and “Copying boot files”
Now the process is complete and you will have a Bootable Mac OS Mojave Installer on your USB Flash Drive.
Step 12.
a. To confirm that the installation went well, close out of the terminal window
b. Open up a Finder Window
c. Double Check that you see Install MacOS Mojave Installer
d. Now you can unmount your USB Flash Drive.
Whenever you are ready to install or reinstall Mac OS Mojave you can just remount the drive, hold the Option Key as you boot up your mac, continue to hold the Option Key as your computer boots up and you should be able to see the startup selection menu and this will allow you to select the Mac OS Mojave Installer and this section of the guide is complete.