Mac mini (From the beginning of 2009 onwards).MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminium, or Early 2009 or newer).The list of supported Mac hardware is as follows: Either way, you’re going to need a compatible Mac. Or it’s because you want a copy handy in case anything goes wrong with your machine. If you’re interested in creating a bootable USB flash drive containing Apple’s OS X El Capitan then it’s logical to assume that it’s because you ultimately want to install a fresh copy of the platform onto one of your Mac computers. DiskMaker X has been around a while and is currently the simplest, visually friendly method of creating a boot flash drive for OS X. Like most things, there are a number of ways to skin a cat as the old saying goes, but we’re going to skin this particular feline in the simplest, most user-friendly way possible to cater to all levels. This prevents us from actually having to delve into the command line and abstracts a lot of the complex nature of the process away. To make things as easy as possible, you’ll need the free and very handy little Diskmaker Xutility app.Note that if you actually go through the process of installing the new OS X El Capitan to your machine via the Mac App Store then the installer will be deleted.

You’ll need the the OS X 10.11 El Capitan installer that’s downloaded when you download the platform from Apple’s Mac App Store.

We’ve compiled a list of compatible Mac hardware below under the “ OS X El Capitan Compatible Macs” heading.

You’ll need a compatible Apple Mac machine, which should really go without saying.

This drive will be formatted as part of the process so it’s imperative to ensure that all required data that may have been stored on it is backed up to a safe location.

First and foremost, you’ll need to have a spare USB flash drive that offers a minimum 8 GB capacity.

If you fall into that category then you’ve come to the right place as we’re going to take a look at how to make an OS X El Capitan bootable USB flash drive using the easiest and most user-friendly method possible.īefore we are able to proceed with creating an OS X 10.11 El Capitan bootable USB drive, there are a few essentials that need to be taken care of. However, if you’re like me, then the chances are that you’ll want to take the opportunity to back up the data that you require and use the El Capitan release as an opportunity to purge and start again with a fresh, clean install of the platform. It’s logical to assume that the majority of Mac owners with a compatible computer will want to simply go through the automated process of upgrading from a current installation of OS X Mavericks or Yosemite to the latest El Capitan release.

Creating an os x boot disk