Written by
Connie YangSummary: This article by iBoysoft answers you if there have Rufus for Mac and tells you the best Rufus alternatives for Mac. Besides, it also shows you how to make a bootable USB drive for your Mac without a utility.
Perhaps, you've learned that Rufus can help create bootable USB drives easily and fast and searched for Rufus for Mac. You are in the right place. In this post, we'll tell you if there's Rufus for Mac available and give you some suggestions for creating a bootable USB flash drive for macOS.
Can Rufus be used on Mac?
No. Rufus is a special tool that only works to format and create a bootable USB drive for 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 10/8/7/XP. There's no Rufus for Mac version available.
If you also need a tool to help you create bootable USB drives to boot your Mac, you can choose the Rufus alternative for macOS.
How to make a bootable USB drive for Mac without Rufus for Mac?
There are two ways for you to create a bootable USB drive for Mac. One is to follow the detailed tutorial to create a bootable USB installer for macOS manually. The other is to rely on a so-called Rufus for Mac tool.
Here, we'll show you how to make a bootable USB drive for macOS by yourself. And it is highly recommended you follow the video below. This intuitive video tutorial explains the way to create a bootable USB installer for macOS at great length.
Or, you can follow the detailed steps below to create a bootable macOS USB drive.
Preparations:
- A healthy Mac.
- A Mac OS Extended formatted USB drive or another secondary volume with at least 14GB of storage space (To be on the success side, you'd better ensure there's over 32 GB).
- Download macOS installer from App Store on Mac. Or, you can find and download the macOS installer from apps.apple.com.
Create a bootable USB drive for Mac:
- Connect your USB flash drive to your Mac.
- Open the Terminal utility on Mac.
- Enter one of the following command lines (Each command corresponds to the version of macOS you want to install onto the USB drive). Remember to replace MyVolume with your USB drive name.
macOS Montereysudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolumemacOS Big Sursudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume macOS Catalinasudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume - Press Return. You can find command lines for older macOS versions from support.apple.com.
- Enter your admin password and press Return.
- Enter Y if it warns you the USB drive will be erased.
- Wait until the process is done and safely eject your USB drive.
Then, you get a bootable USB drive for Mac successfully. You can also read this post to get more details about how to create a bootable USB drive for macOS and use it to boot a Mac: How to Boot Your MacBook From a USB.
Save and share the stepwise method of creating a bootable USB drive for Mac.
Best Rufus alternatives for Mac
If you think it is too complicated to create a bootable USB drive for Mac but there have no Rufus for MacBook app, you can use the alternatives of Rufus that are compatible with macOS.
Here, we've summarized several free Rufus alternatives for Mac. You can pick up the one that satisfies your needs.
Rufus for Mac Alternative: UNetbootin
UNetbootin (Universal Netboot Installer) is a cross-platform freeware that supports loading Linux, macOS, and other operating systems on a partition or USB flash drive. This completely free utility is the best equivalent to Rufus for Mac, which can save your time and energy to create a bootable USB drive for macOS.
Rufus for Mac Alternative: DiskMaker X
DiskMaker X is a donationware that is compatible with Mac OS and OS X. You can use it to create a bootable USB drive, external hard drive, or SD card. The highlight of this program is that it utilizes the Spotlight on your Mac to find the workable macOS install app first. Then go ahead to create a bootable installer on the connected USB drive or another storage device.
Rufus for Mac Alternative: Deepin Boot Maker
Deepin Boot Maker is an open source and free program with user-friendly UI. It is designed to help you create a deepin boot disk for Windows or macOS. You can use it to burn an ISO image file to a USB drive within clicks. Then, you can use the bootable USB flash drive to boot your Mac.
If you are satisfied with these free Rufus alternatives for macOS, don't be shy to tell more people.
