Creating A Bootable Mac OS X Flash Drive Using DasBoot

DasBoot is a free disk utility from SubRosaSoft.com Inc. that allows the user to create a bootable Mac OS X repair drive.  This drive can be a USB flash drive or external hard drive and can be loaded with all their favorite disk repair utilities and data recovery software.  All that’s required to create your own bootable repair drive is a bootable CD/DVD like those included with FileSalvage, CopyCatX, Drive Genius and DiskWarrior and a USB flash drive or external hard drive at least 1GB in size.  To get started, download DasBoot here for free.

1)  Before launching DasBoot, it’s best to first insure that your USB flash drive or external repair drive you will be creating is already formatted for Mac HFS+ using Disk Utility.  Also have both the USB flash drive and the bootable CD/DVD from one of the software makers listed above inserted into your Mac before launching DasBoot.  Once you have done so, launch DasBoot.

2) At the DasBoot startup screen, click the Start button to continue to the main window.  You will be prompted to enter your administrator password.  This is required for DasBoot to “bless” your bootable repair drive with the bootable abilities.

2) At the main screen you will see that the Source boot CD/DVD is shown.  If you would like to select a different Source, simply select it from the drop-down menu.  Below the Source disc is the Destination volume that will become the bootable repair drive.  Information about this drive is shown in the Destination area.  If there is more than one eligible volume connected to your Mac, the correct volume may be selected from the drop-down menu that will appear in the Destination area.

3)  Be default, DasBoot populates the Applications area with commonly helpful programs found on your Mac.  Programs that will be included on your repair drive are shown with a green checkmark.  To remove any of these programs, simply click on them once and a red X will display indicating the application will not be included.  To add additional applications, simply drag and drop the application into the Applications area of the DasBoot main window and you will find they have been added to the list.

4) Once you have successfully selected your destination device and applications to be included on your bootable repair and recovery drive, simply click the Start the DasBoot process button.  A warning will appear.  Once you have read the warning, click the Agree button and the DasBoot process will begin.

5)  DasBoot will start building your bootable recover device.  This may take some time depending on the speed of the USB flash drive or external hard drive used as the destination device.  When the process is done, a completion dialog will appear and you’re set to use your recovery and repair drive.

You’ve now built your own bootable repair and recovery drive for your Mac using DasBoot.  To boot from this device, simply connect it to your Mac and hold the Option key while your Mac is booting.  A screen will appear showing all available bootable drives connected to your Mac.  Double-click the DasBoot device you created to boot from it.  The DasBoot launcher program allows the user to launch their desired program.

DasBoot offers users a great way to repair and recover lost information from their Mac along with perform general maintenance.  It’s free and easy for even the novice Mac user and is a great way to be prepared for when hard drive problems strike.  While it isn’t a substitute for keeping good backup copies of your important data, having a repair and recovery drive around in case of emergency can help to lessen the headache of data loss and hard drive problems.