Wouldn't it be nice to load the entire image onto a USB drive that could be used to install on multiple machines? This blog post will show you how to load the entire Yosemite image on a USB thumbdrive with only one line of command.
What you will need to have is a 8GB thumbdrive (preferably USB 3.0), a Mac and a valid Apple ID account.
Step 1) Download Yosemite from your Mac App Store. It is free and you will only need to this once. Depending on your internet connection speed, it will take approximately 15 minutes to download the 5GB file.
Step 2) Once Yosemite has been completely downloaded on your local machine, open up Terminal. Plug in your thumdrive. (Make sure you have backed up your files on your thumdrive as the steps you perform later will completely wipe out your data on the thumbdrive)
Step 3) Assuming that your Thumbdrive name is Untitled 1, perform this command:
Note: The command is in one line with no next-lines
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled 1 --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction
The entire process of writing the image to the thumbdrive will take about an hour. There will be no progress bar to show you the status but rest assure that it is writing to the drive. You will see a completed status once it is done. Hurray! Now you have a bootable Yosemite thumbdrive!
Step 4) To install Yosemite on a mac, shut down the mac and insert the USB drive. Hold down the alt-option button as soon as you boot up your Mac. You should be able to see an orange coloured drive named Yosemite. Navigate and select the USB drive to boot. You will need to follow the simple instructions to install and you can get up and running with Yosemite in no time!
