Troubleshooting Guide

8
Clean Install
1. With your Apple SSD plugged in:
a. Create a USB installer of your preferred operating system (High Sierra or newer is
required).
i. Please note at least 8GB of space is needed for this step.
1. High Sierra
2. Mojave
3. Catalina
2. After the installer is made:
a. Turn your computer off.
b. Replace your Apple SSD with your new Feather SSD.
3. Plug in your USB installer.
4. Power on your computer and immediately hold down COMMAND + R until you hear chimes.
5. Once booted, you should see a drive select screen.
a. Select the USB installer you previously created.
6. Go to Disk Utility and select the new Fledging Feather SSD.
7. Hit “Erase” in the top-middle of the Disk Utility window.
8. Reformat the drive.
a. If you are using High Sierra:
i. Use MacOS Extended (Journaled) with GUID Partition Map.
b. If you are using Mojave, Catalina, or Big Sur:
i. Use APFS with GUID Partition Map.
c. If your drive won’t erase and reformat:
i. Try adding a partition to the drive. Then erase and try formatting again.
9. Quit Disk Utility.
a. This should place you at MacOS Utilities.
10. Select “Install MacintoshHD”.
11. Select “Feather SSD” as the destination to install your new operating system, then choose
“install”.
a. This will begin the process of clean installing the operating system onto your
computer. This may take a few minutes.
12. Your computer will reboot itself automatically during this process.
a. Do not interrupt the installation.
13. After the clean install is complete, your computer will boot back into a fresh and new
installation of the MacOS as if the computer was new.