Bootable USB stick only wants to reinstall system

Question

Level 1

24 points

Bootable USB stick only wants to reinstall system

I would like to defrag the hard disk on my iMac and I used a method described here:

http://macs.about.com/od/macoperatingsystems/ss/Create-A-Bootable-Version-Of-The -Os-X-Mavericks-Installer-On-A-Usb-Flash-Drive.htm

to create a bootable USB stick so I could boot my mac (OS 10.9.4) off the flash drive. It seemed to work okay, and I see a System file and everything else that should be sufficient on the flash drive, but whenever I boot off the flash drive it immediately launches the program to reinstall OSX on my iMac. The method described above created a program called "Install OS X Mavericks" so I dragged that off the flash stick and onto the iMac. I don't want to reinstall Mavericks, so is there something I can do to just use the flash drive as my startup disk? Should I delete the "Install OS X Mavericks" program?

Posted on Aug 2, 2014 12:29 AM

Reply

Answer 1

R C-R

Level 6

17,782 points

Aug 2, 2014 12:38 AM in response to rlplant

If the USB stick is large enough, you can install Mavericks on it, just like you would on any other external drive, boot from it, & use Disk Utility or whatever other utility software you have installed on it on your iMac's internal drive.

However, note that it will be much slower than a conventional external drive (unless possibly it is a top-performing USB 3 stick & you have USB 3 ports on your iMac) & you don't really need to defrag your iMac's hard disk.

Reply

Answer 2

rlplant Author

Level 1

24 points

Aug 2, 2014 11:51 AM in response to R C-R

That is what I want to do, but every time I boot up off my USB flash drive it launches the program to reinstall Mavericks. I don't want to reinstall Mavericks, I just want to boot up off the flash drive

Reply

Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,566 points

Aug 2, 2014 2:40 PM in response to rlplant

Those instructions you followed only creates an installer. It doesn't create a bootable Mavericks install.

If you want to do that, Copy the install app onto your Mac, run it, and install Mavericks onto the USB stick. Then, you can boot to it, install what you need to defrag you Mac (which usually isn't necessary), and take care of business.

An easier way to defrag, is to clone your drive to an external, then clone that back. Simpler, faster, safer.

Reply