Create a bootable USB drive for OSX El Capitan

Everytime when Apple releases new software, I can’t help it to format my computer. I just don’t seem to trust an update of a operating system. I like to create a bootable USB drive because it’s blazing fast to install the OS. For El Capitan, it took me +- 15 minutes with a USB3 stick.

Luckily it is fairly easy to create a bootable USB drive for OSX El Capitan!

Create a bootable USB drive

Have a USB stick ready (USB3 is really fast! :-))
Format it with the Disk Utility tool (Mac OSX extended format, give the drive the name Untitled)
Download OSX El Capitan from the Mac App Store, but quit the update application when it is downloaded.
Open Terminal
Use the following command

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/ --nointeraction

Type in your password when asked
Wait a little while the files are being copied to your USB stick
TAKE A FULL BACKUP OF YOUR IMPORTANT FILES
Reboot your computer and hold the alt key
You’ll see a menu where you can choose to run the installer from the USB drive

Done 🙂

Create a bootable USB drive for OSX 10.10 Yosemite

Everytime when Apple releases new software, I can’t help it to format my computer. I just don’t seem to trust an update of a operating system. I like to create a bootable USB drive because it’s blazing fast to install an OS. For Yosemite, it took me +- 15 minutes with a USB3 stick.

Luckily it is fairly easy to create a bootable USB drive for OSX 10.10 Yosemite!

Continue reading Create a bootable USB drive for OSX 10.10 Yosemite

Grading in the future?

As partial exams just passed at my work (devine.be), the job of carefully entering grades takes a lot of time. A common workflow is

Correct grades on paper
Input grades in a spreadsheet with partial grades
Double-check grades on paper with grades in spreadsheet
Merge partial grades in a new spreadsheet with global grades
Input grades in school system

As I was working I was thinking about how nice it would be if I could just speak to my computer and the grades would be filled in automatically.

Continue reading Grading in the future?

Unhide the Library folder on (Mountain) Lion

Problem

Since OSX 10.7 Apple has decided to hide the ~/Library folder from your users directory. When you are using the iPhone Simulator or other development applications, you spend a fair amount navigating around in the Library. So if you are tired of using command+shift+G all the time, you can easily unhide the Library folder forever and ever, without showing all the hidden files on your system!

Continue reading Unhide the Library folder on (Mountain) Lion

Installing unsigned apps on OSX 10.8 Mountain Lion

Problem

If you have installed Apple’s new operating system (Mountain Lion), you will notice that you won’t be able to install software which hasn’t been signed by an identified developer or downloaded via the Mac App Store (this is also known as Gatekeeper). They do this to counter the growing amount of malware that is bugging OSX the last couple of months. As the option is turned on by default, you have to find where to shut it off to download unsigned content (especially older apps).

Solution

Go to System Preferences < Security & Privacy < Tab ‘General’
You will see ‘Allow applications downloaded from’ greyed out, so first authenticate by clicking on the little padlock at the bottom left of the window.
Select ‘Anywhere’ instead of ‘Mac App Store and identified developers’

You’re done 🙂