You can get the platform tools for Windows, Linux, or Mac direct from Google's servers. You get a ZIP file containing the platform tools folder with ADB, fastboot, and a few other tools.

If you chose a different directory, than ADB and Fastboot will reside in the platform-tools folder under whatever location you chose to install the Android SDK Tools to in step 2.

Having ADB and fastboot available outside of the other two main downloads, first of all, saves space. Android SDK takes up 292 MB of space.

A Nexus device along with a USB cable to connect it to your computer. The Android SDK installed on your machine with ADB and Fastboot command successfully working. Here’s a tutorial on how to do ...