What's Hot at TechRepublic. Apple takes great care to ensure that personal users can use their computers with little to no fuss, and this applies to the OS install/upgrade cycle. The OS updates for enterprise users are usually managed by IT staff, and downloading the update per computer isn't the best approach—that's why IT pros may want to create a bootable USB installer drive. Similarly, for end users that have multiple computers to upgrade, the USB installation method cuts the time down per install significantly, especially for users with limited internet access or metered connections.
Note: Given macOS High Sierra's current beta status, the installation process is subject to change between now and the release of the final code; however, that's unlikely to happen, so the steps detailed here should be valid for the final release as well. SEE: (TechRepublic Academy). SEE: (TechRepublic) How to create a bootable USB installer for macOS High Sierra 1.
Both will work with your Mac, but if your Mac has USB 3.0 ports (most Macs since 2012 have USB 3 ports), you will want to use a flash drive with USB 3 support for the faster read and write speeds available. After creating the bootable installer, follow these steps to use it. Connect the bootable installer to a compatible Mac. Use Startup Manager or Startup Disk preferences to select the bootable installer as the startup disk, then start up from it. Your Mac will start up to macOS Recovery.
Insert the USB flash drive into a USB port. Note the drive's volume name when mounted in the Finder. Launch the Terminal and enter the following command to format and extract the macOS High Sierra files to your USB drive ( Figure A). Beware: The process deletes all of the data on the drive. Sudo /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -volume /Volumes/USBDRIVEVOLUMENAME -applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app -nointeraction Figure A The command begins by erasing the contents of the drive, formatting with the proper file system and partition type, and finally copying the installation files to the volume ( Figure B). Figure B The process should only take a few minutes, depending on your computer's specifications. Once the process completes successfully, an on-screen confirmation will be displayed as confirmation that the drive is ready for use ( Figure C).
Figure C Using the newly created USB installer, users are able to upgrade to macOS High Sierra directly from an existing installation of macOS or OS X; otherwise, a clean install may be performed by inserting the drive to an available USB port and powering on the computer while pressing down the Option key. This invokes the boot selection menu from where users can boot to the USB drive and follow the prompts to install macOS High Sierra on the Mac.