El Capitan bootable usb

NewToMac · 16-05-2019 3:45pm #1

Hi guys,

I have a Mac Mini Early 2009 and it looks like the HDD went out of business because after boot all I see is a folder with a question mark on it.
How am I going to install OS X after buying a new disk, because I wasn't smart enough to create the bootable USB when the Mac was running fine?
Apple Support told me that I cannot download an installation kit online, but I can create it from another Mac running El Capitan or an earlier OSX.

Can you help? Would you have (know somebody with) such an old OS X?

Thanks!

Doodah7 · 16-05-2019 4:08pm

Do you have a Time Machine (or something similar) backup?

NewToMac · 16-05-2019 4:14pm

@Doodah7
Nothing whatsoever

MHP · 16-05-2019 5:36pm

NewToMac wrote: »

Hi guys,

Apple Support told me that I cannot download an installation kit online

You should be able to download El Capitan here:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1&mt=12

melchior1951 · 16-05-2019 5:39pm

You can create a USB flash drive installer with any Mac. I created one myself for El Capitan recently on a Mac running Mojave.

See: https://www.macworld.com/article/2981585/how-to-make-a-bootable-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-installer-drive.html

NewToMac · 21-05-2019 12:08pm

Thank you both MHP and melchior1951
I got access to a new Mac today and tried to download El Capitan.
No luck, the message from Mac Store was that the purchase cannot be completed because El Capitan cannot be installed over a newer OS X version.

@melchior1951
How did you download El Capitan when running Mojave?

PaddyFagan · 21-05-2019 12:41pm

I don't _think_ it works from the app store, I think this link should work - https://support.apple.com/downloads/macos

El Capitan bootable usb

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