Sometimes, you need an emergency or alternate startup disk for testing your Mac. If you have an Intel-based Mac, the eDrive and TechTool Protogo tools can help you create one quickly and easily.
NOTE: The eDrive and TechTool Protogo tools are only available in TechTool Pro if you are using macOS 11 ‘Big Sur’ or earlier.
With the release of macOS 12 ‘Monterey’ and greater, the eDrive tool as well as the TechTool Protogo tool are no longer available in the Tools category of TechTool Pro. The reason why these tools are no longer available is due to an Apple security enforcement which requires that the macOS Installer writes a unique digital signature in order to make the volume a valid bootable system. Prior to macOS 12 ‘Monterey’, copying the operating system of a known bootable system was sufficient.
To make your own eDrive or TechTool Protogo type of bootable volume if you are using macOS 12 ‘Monterey’ and greater, you’ll need to download the macOS Installer application from Apple’s App Store and then run the macOS Installer application and then choose the destination volume you would like to be bootable. Once you have installed an operating system onto the destination volume, boot from the newly created volume to confirm that it boots your Mac and then install TechTool Pro as well as any other utility that you want available when booted from the volume.
It is worth noting that all the tests and repairs in TechTool Pro can be performed while booted from your normal startup volume. The only time you ever would need to boot from a different physical device would be to perform a Surface Scan test on your internal storage device or when your normal startup volume fails to boot your Mac from the Recovery partition.
eDrive – Start up from a diagnostic partition
The eDrive tool allows you to add a separate startup partition on your startup disk that you can use for emergency startup and testing and repairing your internal drive. Simply choose where you would like to create the eDrive from the eDrive Destination Volume, and then click Create eDrive. A partition will be added to the selected disk, and then a data from your hard drive will be copied to your eDrive to serve as the system for the new partition.
Techtool Protogo – Start up from a flash drive
The TechTool Protogo tool allows you to add a separate startup drive – usually a USB thumb drive – that you can use for emergency startup and testing and repairing your internal drive. Select the device you want to use (all data will be erased), the profile you want to use (the Basic Profile is the most common), and then click Build TechTool Protogo Device.
Next Steps
Once you have created your eDrive or TechTool Protogo device, hold the option key at startup to choose it as your startup disk. When finished with testing or repair, restart your Mac normally.
For more information about TechTool Pro and purchasing options, visit the TechTool Pro product page.
