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bootable usb fresh Mavericks over 10.6 -format Q

seitsme

seitsme

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 12, 2017
78
2
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hi there,

i have a macbook late 2009, with OSX 10.6.x and after i managed to burn a bootable usb osx mavericks installer, so i can ugrade or do fresh install and allow me to continue with sierra installation...

i am stuck in installation because i see no information on the formating-install process especially
something to tell me if the hdd will be formated completely and loose my data or will do an upgrade install and nothing happens to its contents...

i want to ask you if i click- continue with install on my HDD running osx 10.6.x
will this installer format my mac and loose some data from it or not ?

If i can select fresh install how to select this from installer menu

any advise is appreciated as i dont know what the installer will do if i continue installation and need your help to proceed to next step.

regards
 
The OS X installer does NOT format your drive, unless you first choose to do that in Disk Utility.

If you simply want to install OS X, then you choose that. You point the installer to the drive where you want the install to take place. THAT install process does not erase the drive, and you won't lost files that are not related to the system itself.

If you are booted to the Mavericks installer, and you choose to reinstall on your 10.6 (Snow Leopard!) system, then that system will be upgraded to Mavericks. Nothing else that exists on your drive will be touched.
If you want to do a "clean" install (reformatting the drive, so NOTHING from the drive remains, then erase the drive first, using Disk Utility. You can do that while booted to the installer.
 
Deltamac, thanks a lot for the useful and detail info you provided on this matter...

just tried the installer and all went fine !

The only problem i got afterwards is the high sierra installer file i downloaded is the 19MB and now i try to sort this issue with DosDude tool
and i will do clean install on both hdd and ssd.

Would you advise format APFS for sad please
 
cool tips again ! I am on this method right now. just finished making a bootable 8gb usb with HS.
i don't know though if i.e. after clean install if i have to run terminal and disable SIP or something like this
i think, as i read this security related feature it should be off to allow updates ??

give me your lights on this if you have done it before please.

i will try clean install on internal hdd first 250GB, then i will remove it and install my sad and install on SSD as well.
i try to read some on the SSD format type that could work on late mcb 2009 as well
 
Only certain kinds of installs need to have SIP disabled.
That will depend on what you need to do. I think it is likely that whatever needs to have SIP disabled will have that information on support pages for that particular software.
You won't need to disable SIP for normal system updates, for example.

If you have a HDD (spinning hard drive), installing High Sierra will not change the format of the hard drive.
If you install HS on an SSD (and no other system is installed on that SSD), then the format will change automatically to APFS. When you are booted to High Sierra, on your SSD, you can see and use most any other drive that is connected.
If you then restart to an older system, such as 10.6 - or 10.10, you won't see the APFS drive at all. It will not be accessible when you are booted to an older system.
I think it would be best if you need to have access to other files from other systems, that you move files, or make copies to put files on other, older format drives. That will allow you access to those files, and you won't need to remember which system you are booted from...

(If you DO need to disable SIP to allow installation of some kind of app, when you have that install complete, be sure to re-enable SIP. It's an important part of the security of your Mac OS now.
 
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deltamac, may i ask you what do i have to choose for apfs type ? case sensitive over non case, whats the difference, what is most compatible with osx extended (was it case sensitive also ?)
 
I think that for any normal use, you should not choose case-sensitive.
The reason is that some apps will not work properly (expecting the system to be case-insensitive)
Good thoughts about why that all works here.

Bottom line - don't choose case-sensitive format, unless you are certain it will work for you (and you also would need to know how to fix that if you choose case-sensitive by mistake :D )
The default for the system is case insensitive.
 
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good to hear an advice on this. i was stuck and not sure if my photoshop or final cut likes this case-sensitive format
[doublepost=1515860713][/doublepost]
DeltaMac said:
I think that for any normal use, you should not choose case-sensitive. The default for the system is case insensitive.
Click to expand...

back again ! i followed the insensitive route to format the SSD and i got an error....
now this error needs terminal command to be solved= to write zeroes on ssd and allow formating of it as it is 128gb and
below size of 200GB needed for diskutility to format it...

but i get sudo dd.... command not found any clues how to replace this command correctly for sierra ?
this is where i got it from https://www.reddit.com/r/applehelp/...utility_fails_to_eraseformat_an_external_hdd/
 
Normally, you cannot write zeroes when erasing an SSD. The SSD controller doesn't allow that, so you would get an error.
just erase the drive, using Disk Utility. Don't try to use the options, that you hope would be a more secure erase. It's not really necessary on an SSD.
 
i tried to do extended journaled format, worked, then i did AFPS worked. then i saw 1 container (not sure what this is) and clicked install... then got error not any packages were found (something like this, cannot rememer well) then i restarted and it booted into recovery mode, but i did not even install anything on the ssd, to say, there is software that can load this recovery mode...

now i am stuck in 100 progress bar, does not move at all...
 
Boot to Internet Recovery, then open Disk Utility, select the device line (which will have the model information for the drive), not the line for container, and not the line for the volume. If you don't see a device line, then go to the View menu, and choose Show All devices.
When you have the device line selected, click erase. Let it do the default settings for erase. You can name the volume, if you like. The default settings will be OK for this.
Once the drive has been erased, just reinstall macOS. If you are installing High Sierra, the SSD will be converted automatically to APFS. You don't have to make any choices to do that, the installer will do that for you.
 
i see... but when i choose to erase it is asking me of the format to choose i.e. extended etc. so i go for the AFPS...

regarding the web recovery, i dont see it in the recovery options menu. i just see install a new copy, which does not work when i run this command.

which buttons on the laptop do i press to switch wifi or select network after startup ? i also did a pram reset.
 
Yes, Erasing the drive provides you with choices when you Erase. There are some drop-down menus with some choices - but, you don't have to make any changes. Just click erase, and the drive is erased. I would name the drive, but you don't even have to enter a name there.

Not sure what you mean by "web recovery"
There's the recovery system, which is another local partition on your boot drive. That will allow you to reinstall the same system that you are now using.
and, there's internet recovery, where you boot to Apple's server. The recovery menu looks similar, but the Reinstall OS X will give you the version that your Mac originally shipped with, if that is still available. Internet Recovery ALSO lets you completely format your boot drive, as you are NOT booted to the drive. The recovery system boot does NOT let you do a complete format, but only lets you erase a volume, such as the boot volume.
The two recovery systems look similar, but work very differently. You want to fully erase the hard drive, so boot to internet recovery (Restart with Option-Command-r) You will get a spinning globe, not the normal Apple icon. It may take a couple of minutes longer for that boot. I find that it works better with an ethernet connection to a router, but you may not have that choice available in your location.
 
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i tried option-alt-R but does not show anything else apart from startup bar that boots into recovery mode.
Web -install i mean internet install via apple server, but this option is also gone... also my sub loads so slow dont know why, never finishies to load and i see also no terminal anymore... i think i will put back my old hdd until i get things right again with ssd.

i don t have original install disks as it was 10.6x but with dosdude bootable usb i burned the sierra from apple and it does not like installing it on the ssd as is below 200gb i gues...
 
OP:

If you continue to go in circles and get nowhere, perhaps your best solution is:
1. Go to ebay
2. There are sellers there who will sell you a flashdrive with a bootable copy of the OS on it. They cost about $20 (US).
3. Buy one.
4. Boot the Mac with it
5. Use Disk Utility to erase the internal drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled
6. Install a clean copy of the OS and "start over"...
 
wel... this is what i was searching for but... from what i have found... i cannot format the SSD as HFS+ and install. does not do it.

i will try the dvd option at last... until then, i will try to burn on usb bootable with the apple HS downloaded on my disk and with some freebie s/w for this and fingers crossed...
 
You DID download the full HS install, correct? It would be more than 5.2 GB.
The little 199 MB stub file that you mentioned earlier won't create a bootable USB installer.

I forgot that you have a 2009 MBPro. That one cannot use the Internet recovery boot, too old. Internet recovery is not available for Macs older than 2010 models
 
hi again. i dont have pro model just white late 2009 macbook - plastic white...
Well, i was lucky to find out that after i swaped hdds and put back the hdd, i managed to install osx
with a bootable usb burned with bootbudy ! the rest did not load for a reason and diskmaker x was not working at
all with the osx download...

so after that, i re-burned with bootbuddy another usb 8GB in size from 32gb i used in the past and i made another
installer. then replaced the hdd with ssd and started over and bingo ! the bootbudy usb loaded ok and installed everything
including allowed me to format the SSD which was a big problem as i could not do it...

then i checked the hs patcher bootable usb and then it also loaded.
so all are ok now ! Finally i have an osx on the disk... i kept the hdd though for space issues at the moment
and i will try to buy the dvd to ssd bay/ tray to mount the ssd on it and use it for secondary apps and scratch.
I will now see how photoshop and finalcut will behave on the hdd, and if they are slow, i might boot from the ssd
with this software installed on ssd....
 
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