Bootable USB Drive – USB Sticks or pen drives have been valuable accessories for both macOS and Windows users for many years. Most of the masses use these portable devices to store essential files and transfer and manage them. Besides this, there are numerous things for which users can use a pen drive or USB stick.
According to Makeuseof, USB sticks are valuable tools that users can use to lock and unlock their computer, run portable applications on different devices, enhance a hard drive’s performance, make a password reset disk, etc. Thanks to their small size and compact form, the portable USB sticks are used by millions of people.
USB drives are also extensively used to boot PCs and Macs. Users can easily make the device bootable on any major operating system. Use it to install a new operating system on their device. This comes in handy if the user faces any issue in their computer systems operating system. Then wishes to resolve the issue by manually installing a better version of the existing OS or installing a new one altogether.
Making a USB flash drive bootable involves numerous steps in different operating systems. This article will shed light on how macOS and Windows users can create bootable USB drives and other potential uses a bootable USB drive has. Let us begin:
Table of Contents
How to Make A USB Drive Bootable:
macOS:
If you are a macOS user and wish to create a bootable USB drive, there are numerous ways following which you can conveniently do so. Firstly, you would need an empty USB drive with at least 14 GB of open space and the required macOS installer files. If you wish to create a bootable USB drive with one click. Disk Drill is a third-party macOS -compatible application that makes the job immensely convenient.
All you need to do is open the utility, look at a detailed tutorial for how to create a bootable drive properly, choose and upload the macOS files, select your external drive as the location and create the macOS installer file. However, if you wish to make a bootable USB drive more traditionally. You can use macOS’ native terminal utility to create a bootable external drive for Mac.
Once you have created a bootable USB drive containing macOS installer files and wish to boot from USB Mac on your M1-featuring Mac, all you need to do is plug in the external drive, hold the power button, open the startup menu, and follow the instructions.
Windows:
Like macOS, Windows also offers users numerous options, following which they can conveniently create a bootable USB drive. Besides this, Windows users can also use the operating system’s native Command Prompt utility to perform the task. The majority of Windows users prefer using Rufus. Rufus is a third-party application that facilitates Windows users to create bootable files with ease.
Other Potential Uses Of A Bootable USB Drive:
Now that you know how to create a bootable USB drive on macOS and Windows.
Let us take a look at some other potential uses a bootable USB drive has:
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It Can Be Used For Troubleshooting Purposes
If there is a problem with any computer, you can use a bootable USB drive containing diagnostic and repair tools. These tools are used to extract and save data from corruption or possible deletion. All you need to do to access the repair tool is insert the drive into the USB port and boot up using it. Besides repairing, a bootable drive also allows users to check their hard drive’s health and the statistics of other components.
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It Can Be Used for Upgrading or Downgrading to Any Operating System
Besides facilitating users to install a new operating system on their computers, bootable USB drives also facilitate them to upgrade to a better version of the operating system or downgrade to a previous version of an OS, as per the user’s preference.
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It Can Be Used For Booting Up a Computer In Case of Any Emergency
If your Windows PC ever fails to boot up, a practical solution that can easily solve the problem is using a bootable drive. Most Windows users do not know that they can use a bootable drive to effectively boot up their device simply by making their USB drive containing Windows files bootable, navigating to the boot options menu, and selecting an appropriate boot option as per their preference.
You can either choose to log in to your existing operating system. Choose to install a new one using the installer files present on the USB drive. It is a highly effective method that facilitates users to access their Windows PC’s data after any mishap.
In Summation:
Bootable USB drives allow macOS and Windows users to install a new operating system on their PCs. If you have an existing bootable USB stick and are wondering what else. Then you can do with it besides installing a new OS, refer to the points mentioned above.
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