Have you ever been faced with the need to install a new operating system on a crashed PC but realize that you don't have the installation disc? For most people, such a case is always discouraging and disheartening because they know that the only way to install a new OS is to use an installation disc. Actually, all you need is a USB with a good capacity and a utility like Rufus. Rufus is a free, portable open-source utility that you can use to create bootable USB flash drives. Rufus is small in size, but it surprisingly has everything you need as far as the above are concerned.

Does Rufus Have a Mac Version?

1. If you want to use your USB stick with an Apple Mac, you will need to restart or power-on the Mac with the USB stick inserted while the Option/alt (⌥) key is pressed. This will launch Apple’s ‘Startup Manager’ which shows bootable devices connected to the machine.
2. In fact, all the methods and tools out there to create Windows 7 bootable USB work great with Windows 10 as well. To prepare the bootable UEFI USB drive of Windows 10, we recommend using a free tool called Rufus over the Microsoft USB/DVD Download Tool as Rufus is more reliable and offers more features when compared to other tools in the market.

Rufus is primarily a Windows application and currently, it supports 64 or 32 bit Windows XP/7/8/10 only. This means that you can not use Rufus on the normal Mac computers. If you need to run Rufus on a Mac, then it will be imperative for the computer to have a dual boot Windows installed on Mac. However, this is not an easy task at all.

To those in the dark, this simply means that you will need to have a Windows Operating system installed in your Mac computer. However, if you didn't want to have two operating systems running on the same machine so that you can access Rufus, there are quite a number of alternatives you can use to achieve the same functionalities of Rufus on Mac.

Jesus Vigo goes over the steps to create a bootable USB to install OS X 10.7-10.8 and OS X 10.5-10.6, as well as how to put multiple versions on the same USB.

Rufus for Mac Alternative 1: UUByte ISO Editor

UUByte ISO Editor is by far one of the best ISO toolkits for those who want a seamless process in creating, burning, extracting and editing ISO images. Unlike Rufus, it has both Windows and Mac versions so you don't have to worry about not having Rufus for Mac or the need to install two operating systems in your Mac.

This ISO editor can effortlessly burn ISO image to DVD, CD or USB which you can then go ahead and use as a bootable disc for new installation. The tool is also versatile enough to create an ISO archive from folders or external sources, in addition to extracting or mounting ISO files to Mac or Windows computers. With over 220,000 users worldwide, it is a clear winner among the ISO toolkits available in the market today.

Why Choose UUByte ISO Editor

• Full ISO toolkit for Windows and Mac.
• Easily create bootable USB or DVD from Windows ISO.
• 5X faster burning speed.
• Excellent customer support.

How to burn ISO to USB on Mac using UUByte ISO Editor: Please download UUByte ISO Editor for Mac and install the app. Then drag and drop the app icon to Application folder so you can open the app from Launchpad. After that, insert a USB stick and click 'Burn' button at the first screen. Now import Windows ISO to the program and start burning ISO to USB by clicking 'Burn' button at the bottom of the Window. Finally, wait for 10 minutes to get the job done.

Rufus for Mac Alternative 2: UNetbootin

Universal Netboot Installer Unetbootin, is another cross-platform utility toolkit that makes a great alternative to Rufus on Mac. It has the ability to load and install various Linux distros on Mac. It is easy to use and supports a myriad of platforms. All you have to do is select an ISO file or the specific distribution you want to download and then simply choose the target drive. It also comes with a nice GUI, which further adds to the user experience during use.

Pros:

• Support Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Able to download Linux ISO within the program.
• Easily create ISO image from files or folders.

Cons:

• Non-native user interface.
• Lower success rate on new USB drives.
• Lack support for CD or DVD.

Rufus for Mac Alternative 3: Etcher

Etcher is another great Rufus alternative for Mac. It has been designed to allow you to easily and comfortably burn ISO images to USB drives and SD cards. The utility comes with an advanced interface which may be intimidating on first glance, but after going through the simple user guide, getting around to use the utility becomes a breeze.

Simply download this tool, launch it, and then choose the IMG file you are interested in burning. You will then select the location of the target USB drive or SD card and then wait for it to do its magic. It is lightweight and relatively fast, so you won't have to wait for a whole day for the burning process to end.

Pros:

• Polish user interface.
• Support USB drives as well as SD cards.
• Easy to use.

Cons:

• Being loaded slowly on startup.
• Get stuck at burning process easily.
• Poor support for Windows 10 ISO.

Verdict:

Rufus is a great application for burning ISO to USB. Unfortunately, there is no Mac version yet. So for burning ISO to USB on Mac, you have to use third-party alternatives like UUByte ISO Editor to get it done. The suggestions in this post almost do the same thing as Rufus on Windows so don't worry about the functionality. Go ahead and pick up the best one according to your experience.

If you’re still using a Mac OS X the time will come when your computer won’t boot, or a problem may arise where you can’t take control of the device, and booting from an OS X installation media will be required.

This is why it’s recommended that you make a Mac OS X bootable USB when your Mac is in working conditions. However, if you find yourself on a scenario where your device (iMac, MacBook Pro, Air, Mac Pro or Mini) is not responding and you happen to have a Windows 10 device, then you can still be able to make a USB bootable installation media for your Mac OS X to reinstall the operating system using the Recovery Assistant.

These instructions will also work for Windows users who are running Mac OS X on a virtual machine and need to upgrade to the latest version. For instance, to OS X Yosemite.

Requirements

Before you dive into this guide, you’ll need a few things:

• A broken Mac computer with Mac OS X.
• A trial copy of the TransMac software.
• One high quality USB flash drive with 16GB of storage.
• A copy of Apple’s macOS (DMG file).

Now that you have all the necessary ingredients, you’re ready to make a Mac OS X bootable USB using the DMG file of the operating system with the steps below.

Create Mac OS X bootable USB installation media

Before you can use TransMac, you first need to partition your USB flash drive with a GPT partition, as a normal MBR partition may not work. To do this, you’ll need to use the Diskpart command-line utility on Windows 10.

Setting up GPT partition

Use these steps to set up a USB drive with a GPT partition:

1. Open Start on Windows 10.

2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result and select the Run as Administrator option.

3. Type the following command to open Diskpart and press Enter:

4. Type the following command to determine the USB flash drive and press Enter:

5. Type the following command to select the storage and press Enter:

   Quick tip: The select disk 1 command as an example, but you have to replace 1 with the number of the flash drive you want to use.

6. Type the following commands to delete everything from the USB thumb drive and press Enter:

7. Type the following command to convert the drive into a GPT partition and press Enter:

8. Type the following command to select the new partition and press Enter:

After you complete the steps, the USB flash drive from MBR to GPT format, you can use the steps below to create a bootable USB installation media to install Mac OS X.

Create USB install media

Create A Bootable Usb Mac Os

Use these steps to create a bootable media to install Mac OS X:

1. Download and install a copy of TransMac.

   Quick note: TransMac is a paid software, but it has a 15-day trial solution, that give us more than enough time to move the DMG files to the USB drive from Windows. (If you want to support the developer, you can purchase the full version.)

2. Insert the USB drive that you’ll use to fix your installation of OS X. (Remember that all the data in the USB will be erased. Make sure you take off any important documents.)

3. Right-click the TransMac software icon and Run as administrator. (You’ll be prompted to Enter Key or Run, because we’ll be using it once, click the Run option.)

4. On the left pane, you’ll see all the Windows PC drives listed, right-click the USB drive that you’re intending to use to reinstall Apple’s OS X and select the Restore with Disk Image option.

5. In the warning dialog box, click the Yes button.

6. Use the Restore Disk Image to Drive dialog box to browse for the DMG file with the installation files for Mac OS X Yosemite in this case, and click the OK button to create a bootable USB of the operating system.

   Now, you’ll have to wait a long time. No kidding. It could take one or two hours to complete the process depending on your computer and other variables.

Once your bootable USB installation media is ready, remove it and insert it into your Mac, power it on, holding down the Option key, and select the USB you just created to reinstall Mac OS X.

Create A Bootable Usb Mac Os X Snow Leopard

If you’re having issues trying to create a bootable media, you can get a USB flash drive that comes with Mac OSX ready to install.