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thewall

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 2, 2007
147
37
U.K
I have a Macbook A1181 running 10.8.5 and would like to upgrade to ElL Capitian but i would also like to upgrade to a SSD, i don't have any disc so how can i get the OS on to the new SSD, can i clone or is it a digital download
 

CoastalOR

macrumors 68040
Jan 19, 2015
3,030
1,150
Oregon, USA
El Capitan is a digital download (check the "Download macOS" section for instructions and the El Capitan link).

EDIT:
To get the OS on the new SSD there are many methods, but I will tell you how I would do it. My preferred method is more involved, but it has more flexibility for recovery if there is a problem.
1. Make clone of your current 10.8.5 to a external drive in case recovery is necessary.
2. Attach the new SSD externally. Format it Mac OS Extended (journaled) GUID Partition Map. Clone your internal 10.8.5 internal to the SSD. Boot from the external SSD (it will be slow since external is USB2, be patient). Check the things to see if everything seems to be on the SSD.
3. Install the SSD internally and boot up.
4. Download El Capitan and install it on the internal SSD.
 
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