1. Download backtrack 5 R3 iso
2. Open terminal
3. Execute diskutil list
Output should be something like: diskutil list
/dev/disk0
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0
1: EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 419.0 GB disk0s2
3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3
/dev/disk1
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: FDisk_partition_scheme *7.8 GB disk1
1: DOS_FAT_32 U 7.8 GB disk1s1
4. Identify your USB, mine is /dev/disk1
5. Execute sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1
6. Execute sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk1 , then f 1, then write, then exit.
7. Sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1
8. Download syslinux from
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/b ... x-5.00.zip and unzip it by double clicking.
9. Navigate to the syslinux/mbr folder using terminal:
cd /Users/yourusername/Downloads/syslinux-5/mbr
10. sudo dd conv=notrunc bs=440 count=1 if=mbr.bin of=/dev/disk1
11. Open Unetbootin and enter your password, select “disk image”, click on the three dots, select the previously downloaded backtrack 5 R3 .iso and click open.
12. Enter the amount of persistence space that you want for your usb. The persistence will be used to store changes after reboot. You can make it as large as you like because unetbootin will round it down to fit on your usb.
13. Select your usb drive in the box, probably /dev/disk1s1 and click ok.
14. Wait for unetbootin to finish. It might take a long time and seem like it’s frozen but it’s not.
15. Exit unetbootin and shutdown your mac.
16. Power on your mac and as soon as the screen turns white, start holding the alt/option key.
17. Choose your usb. (A yellow usb or hard drive icon on the right) There might be two, if one doesn’t work, try the other.
This works fine as long as your mac doesn’t have usb 3.
Remember to replace /dev/disk1 with the number you get but make sure it’s not disk0.