LanceJ's Ultimate Mac Boot Stick

After a few years of fooling around, I decided to make up my own ultimate Mac Boot USB stick.

My goals: When I administrate computers, I want to have most everything I need on a single boot device so I don't have to fool around downloading, installing, or searching.

My boot stick includes the software that I need most frequently. It isn't that complicated, but it took a while to actually figure it all out. Best of all, you can easily make your own!

Required Stuff:

A 32 GB (or larger) USB 3.0 "thumb drive". These devices are inexpensive, portable, fast, and readily available. I use something like this PNY USB 3.0 stick.

What not to use:

Small thumb drives. You may be able to get away with a 16 GB device, but anything less than 16 GB will limit your flexibility.
Hard disks or SSDs. They're more expensive, bulky, and HD's are less reliable
SD Cards. An SD card is an option, but the truth is that a standard USB 3.0 thumb drive is more universal. They work on just about all Macs produced over the past 10+ years.

Partitions:

I created four partitions to on my Ultimate Mac Boot USB stick:

El Capitan Installer (6.5 GB)
Lion Installer (6.5 GB) (if you deal with 1st generation Intel-based Macs)
Memtest Partition (50 MB)
Installable Software Partition (Remaining Space)

For very old Macs (like a 2005-vintage PowerBook) , I still lug around a Leopard DVD. Oh well, old school equipment demands old school procedures!

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