Apple released macOS Big Sur on November 12, 2020. macOS Big Sur continues the list of Central California landmarks as well as marks the new operating system for Mac. Those who tried it say that it’s more stable. It also sports a refreshed version of Safari that is 50% faster than Chrome. Here’s how to perform a clean install of macOS Big Sur with pictures and helpful tips along the way.
What is a clean install? (Big Sur or any other macOS)
A clean install means that you install the macOS onto the erased drive.
To Install macOS Sierra on PC, you should have macOS Sierra 10.12 final version or beta version. Now, I can’t give the link of the dmg file, but you can easily google search and find the dmg file. Also, it is free on the App Store, follow step 1 to download and create a macOS Sierra USB installer. Above are the top 10 situations as well as the solutions for new hard drive not showing up/external hard drive not showing up. You may just have a try and see if they are helping. We hope you will never take the last one. If you have any questions or better suggestions, let us know by tying them in the comment section below. Choosing this as your install target should begin the installation process and install MacOS Sierra on your external hard drive. When the machine reboots, it will be booting to your external hard drive where you can set up an account and get to your desktop. Ive checked Disk Utility and Finder, it simply does not recognize the external hard drive whatsoever. Ive been trying to change the permissions on the external drive using my mid 2010 macbook pro (OS high sierra), but the info window does not allow changes to permissions (no lock icon). It currently says 'you have custom access'. Back at the macOS Utilities screen, choose “Install macOS” to install a new copy of macOS High Sierra. This will be the clean macOS install onto the freshly erased hard drive. Click on “Continue” and navigate through the installer screen, selecting “Macintosh HD” (or whatever your hard drive is named) as the destination for macOS.
Why is clean install more preferable?
A clean install is the opposite of macOS upgrade. You format your hard drive, and therefore, it keeps no leftovers from the previous macOS.
- macOS performs faster
- You get rid of apps you don’t use
- Persistent issues may go away
Basic steps to clean install macOS Big Sur
The first step is to clean and back up your Mac to some external source. Then, you’ll need to download macOS Big Sur package to your Applications. Next, you’ll need to create a bootable USB installer (involves another external drive). And lastly, we’ll use Disk Utility to erase your Mac and install macOS Big Sur using the bootable USB device.
1. Clean & Back up your Mac
Cleanup
Cleaning your Mac is generally a healthy practice but since we’re about to back your Mac up, it’s worthwhile to get rid of system junk first. After we’ve cleaned your Mac, you’ll end up with a refreshed system ready for a Time Machine backup.
Time Machine will make a snapshot of your system.But before that we’ll ensure there's no unwanted leftovers on your entire Mac. To clean your machine automatically, you can run CleanMyMac X. This tool is one of the best-known cleaning utilities for Mac, and it’s been notarized by Apple.
Download the free version of CleanMyMac X cleaner here.
Install the app and click on System Junk to perform the scan.
Back up your Mac
Now, you’re ready to back up your computer. There is a tool built just for that purpose, you guessed it, Time Machine. Time Machine needs a storage source onto which it will copy your system.
So, you’ll need an external drive. This is the first external drive that we will use to clean install macOS Big Sur. This is the reserve backup for the worst-case scenario.
- Go to System Preferences > Time Machine.
- Connect an external drive (that’s more spacious than your current system).
- Select this Disk as a backup source in Time Machine.
Well done. The preliminary steps are done with, and we’re ready to clean install macOS Big Sur.
2. Download macOS Big Sur installer
macOS Big Sur has been released on November 12, 2020.
Since the public release in the fall of 2020, macOS Big Sur can be downloaded from the Mac App Store. It also can be found in the Software Updates pane in System Preferences.
So you’ll find it in System Preferences > Software Updates.
- Click Upgrade Now
Wait for the installer to download onto your drive. You will see the macOS Big Sur intro screen.
Don’t click Continue but for now, close this window by choosing Quit Install.
We only want to make sure that the app called Install macOS Big Sur.App is now firmly sitting in your Applications.
This is the file we’ll use later to run the clean install of macOS Big Sur via Disk Utility.
Now, and only now have we come to clean installing macOS Big Sur. This is only a short stop on the road, so catch your breath, and let’s move along.
3. Create a bootable Big Sur installer
Now, it’s time to grab another USB flash drive and connect it to your Mac. This drive should have at least 16 GB of storage space.
Wipe the drive clean with Disk Utility
- Pick this drive and click Erase in the top menu.
- Double-check what you’re erasing.
- Make sure the USB drive is shown as “Untitled”
- Under Format, choose: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
All data on that disk will be lost, so beware.
Go to Terminal (Phew, we’re almost there)
This step will actually create the source disk so we can install Big Sur from bootable USB.
Launch Terminal app from your Launchpad.
Paste in the following command:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Big Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled
Type in your admin password and press Return and Y to confirm the action.
This command creates a bootable USB installer based on macOS Big Sur.app, which we’ve previously placed in your Applications.
4. Erase your startup drive in Disk Utility
It’s time to wave goodbye to your current configuration. Remember, we’ve already cleaned it up from junk with CleanMyMac X and backed it up onto our first reserve USB drive.
Now, start your Mac in Recovery mode:
- Turn off your Mac and hold down Command + R.
- Choose Disk Utility from the menu.
- Choose your main startup drive and click Erase.
Voila! Your Mac is now formatted. What you can do now (actually, this the only thing you can do now) is to clean install macOS Big Sur 11 from the connected USB installer drive. If it’s not connected, connect the bootable USB installer now.
- Go back to the original Disk Utility screen
(If you can’t return to Disk Utility, restart your Mac and hold down the Option key) - Click Install macOS and choose to install it from the selected USB drive.
- Click on “Install macOS”
How do I regularly install macOS Big Sur?
The regular install is done via upgrading your current macOS. That is, you don’t erase your entire disk. When the new macOS Big Sur is officially released, you just open the App Store > Updates.
Or even better, go to your System Preferences > Software Updates
How to reinstall macOS Big Sur?
If for some reason your Big Sur macOS doesn’t work as expected, you can reinstall it by sending your Mac into Recovery Mode.
- Restart your machine and hold down ⌘ + R
- Choose Reinstall macOS
That’s it.
As we’ve just seen, running a clean install of macOS Big Sur could be a crazy rabbit hole. We hope you survived. Now you’ll be rewarded with the best Apple’s operating system up to date. You’ll also have a clean Mac that works at blazing speed with a little extra help from our favorite Mac cleaner — CleanMyMac X. You can get started with a trial version — so download it here.
Dec 21, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
There are lots of people who mistakenly think that the USB drives and hard drives format don’t really matter. But the reality is quite different. Whether it is a hard drive or USB or internal drive, Mac uses different format support. So, you can’t simply use the same drive with both Windows and Mac. As a result, you will need to format the hard drive for Mac. Using the Mac preferred file system is important otherwise the files will be of no use to you.
In this article, we are going to discuss how to format a hard drive for Mac and some related terms too.
Part 1. Situations When Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac:
Before you get deep, you must understand what is the drive formatting. Some people confuse the term with reformatting. Basically, formatting is the process of preparing the storage devices such as hard disk drive, solid-state drive, USB flash drive, or any other for initial use.
The basic operation is termed as low-level formatting which means erasing the existing data on the disk. But it leaves the track to recover the data using the recovery tool.
There is another term related to disk formatting and it is called reformatting. It is called high-level formatting as it is used to prepare the disk for different file system formats. It is usually done during the OS installation or adding a new disk. Reformatting is done to free the storage space from the previous content stored in it.
You can consider disk formatting in macOS in various circumstances. Whether your system has corrupted data, damaged software, impending system upgrade, storage is full, or it is running slow, formatting will fix a lot of issues. Take a look at the scenarios given below and you will be sure that disk formatting will help you.
- If you want to quickly erase all content from the drive permanently without leaving a trace of data on it.
- If you want to change the format of the disk such as PC format like FAT or exFAT to Mac format.
- If you see the message that the disk is not readable by Mac.
- If you want to resolve a disk issue that can’t be fixed by the Repair feature of Disk Utility.
- If the macOS installer can’t see the disk or unable to install it.
- In case the macOS installer says that the drive can’t be installed because it is a part of Apple RAID.
Under all these situations, formatting is most likely to fix your problems and you will be able to use the drive on Mac.
Part 2. How to Format a Hard Drive on Mac:
Formatting is a very simple procedure that is operated in a similar way for all sorts of storage media. So, whether you wish to format the internal hard drive, external drive, or a USB flash drive, the procedure is the same for all. Here is the step by step guide you need to follow to format the hard disk on Mac. Before you erase a disk, make sure that you have a backup of the files you want to keep.
Step 1: Connect the USB drive or external drive to Mac and launch the Disk Utility from Applications.
Step 2: From the left side panel, pick the volume or the drive that you want to format and switch to the Erase tab.
Step 3: As you click on the Erase button, you will see several fields in the section. Enter the given information-
- Name- Enter a name for the disk such as Macintosh HD/SSD/USB Drive or anything else you want.
- Format- You have to choose a Mac supported format from the list. The most recommended format is APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). There are numerous other formats too which will be displayed in the drop-down menu. You can select any format as per your requirement.
- The scheme- If this option is available, then you should choose the GUID Partition Map from the option.
Step 4: After specifying the fields, click on the Erase button at the bottom of the window and Disk Utility will format the drive.
Once the formatting is complete, you can use the disk for a backup drive, sharing, time machine backup, or any other requirement. In case if the drive doesn’t appear in the Disk Utility interface, you will have to disconnect all the extra and non-essential devices connected to Mac. Make sure that the External drive is on and connected properly. Restart your Mac and then carry out the task.
Part 3. How to Perform Mac Data Recovery After Format:
There are situations when Mac users don’t get the chance to create a backup of their data and forced to format the hard drive. But you don’t need to panic. You can get your hands on Recoverit data recovery for Mac. If you have mistakenly formatted the data that you still need, Recoverit is the best chance you have to get the files back. It is a complete data recovery solution that is capable of recovering all kinds of files with wide format support of 1000+.
You can download the software from the official website and install it immediately on Mac. Once the setup is complete, follow the steps below to recover formatted drive files.
Step 1: Specify Location:
Run the program and specify a location from the main drive. If data is lost from an external drive or USB flash drive, then you’ll have to connect the drive with the system and then specify the location.
Click on the Start button to initiate the scanning process.
Step 2: Scan Results:
Depending on the data that is lost or deleted, scanning will take some time. As the process finishes, the files will be displayed on the screen according to their respective format.
You can decide whether you want to look for files according to file type or file path. You can also stop the scanning process in between if the results are displayed before the scanning finishes.
Step 3: Preview and Recover Formatted Data:
As soon as the data is displayed on the screen, you can have a preview of the files. Select as many files as you want and have a preview of the files. Tap on the Recover button to save the files on your system.
As you are retrieving the files, keep in mind not to save the files in the previous location. Depending on the amount of recovery, it will take a while and ultimately you’ll have your files back. If the normal scan doesn’t work for you, Recoverit also has a deep scan mode to look deeper for the deleted and lost files.
Part 4. Different Formats of Hard Drive for Mac:
Mac Hard drives have wide support for formats but there are two major formats that are preferably used by the Mac users. It also depends on the macOS version you are using. The key point to consider is that the drives formatted with the newer versions won’t be recognized by the older devices. So, when you are formatting a USB drive, it will be ideal to choose the right format which is Mac OS Extended.
The supported Mac formats for the drive are explained below:
APFS:
The APFS format is optimal for Solid State Drive such as flash drives. Hence, if you are formatting a flash drive, you should definitely choose the APFS format. Along with the flash drives, this format is also faster and more reliable for Mac hard drives.
Mac OS Extended:
Talking about Mac OS Extended, it is perfectly suitable if you want to use a drive for backup. The Time Machine feature of Mac still doesn’t have support for APFS disk. In case you select this format, Time Machine will prompt you to reformat the drive.
When you are formatting disk on Mac, keep some things in mind. Never ever change the inbuilt format of a Mac drive.
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Part 5. Tips for Formatting a Hard Drive on Mac:
Even though formatting doesn’t seem like a big deal, still it can be very helpful. So, you must stay active and keep all things in mind. Here are some tips that might help you when you are about to format a Mac hard drive.
- Disk Utility in macOS Sierra and later chooses a compatible format for you automatically. But you should know the default format for your drive. It is advised not to change the default format of a Mac hard drive under any circumstances.
- You can check the format of a drive inside the Disk Utility Menu bar. Just click on the Get Info option and you’ll know the current format a drive is using to store files. Open the System information and select the storage. In the right-side panel, you will see the respective format for each volume on your Mac.
- If you want to erase your disk before you install the latest High Sierra on your Mac for the first time, then opt-out for the Mac OS Extended format. During the installation of OS, the macOS installer will automatically decide whether to use APFS or Mac OS Extended for the disk.
- You can also use the FAT32 format on Mac for USB drives if you wish to use it on both Mac and Windows. The FAT32 format can be read and written on both OS and hence it is the most versatile format for use.
- If you wish to transfer big files from Windows to Mac, you’ll still have an alternative, i.e. exFAT. This format doesn’t have a file limit but it can only be read on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or later.
So, before you pick out the format, look out for the advantages and the disadvantages of the formats to choose the optimal format for Mac. The Windows supported format is usually listed as an MS-DOS format in the list of formats.
Wrapping It Up:
As you can see, now you know how to format hard drive/ USB flash drive/ internal drive/external drive on Mac. So, from now on whenever someone is in need, you can help them. And formatting doesn’t always finish without complications. So, if you lost some important files while formatting the drive, you can use Recoverit data recovery software for Mac to restore them in the original condition. Recommend the software to your friends and family and let them know that there is a master tool for recovery for both Mac and Windows OS in the market.
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