a brody
Level 9 (66,876 points)
Classic Mac OS

Q: Making a trimmed copy of Yosemite

I have backed up my Yosemite as a clone to two hard drives, and have space on both on separate partitions to make a trimmed copy of Yosemite that I can use to run software that won't run on El Capitan.  Is there a special software to trim the Library or System back to factory settings for Yosemite?

 

I no longer have a working coly of the original installer, and don't have a Mac that came with Yosemite.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2), * I may get paid from macmaps links

Posted on Jun 28, 2016 6:29 AM

by JimmyCMPIT,Solvedanswer
JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT
Level 5 (7,937 points)
Mac OS X
A:

no, there is no special software to do this other than the Yosemite installer itself.

Otherwise you can refer to this document as to getting close to a factory reset mac has already been configured by a user

What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support

Posted on Jun 28, 2016 7:00 AM

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a brody

Q: Making a trimmed copy of Yosemite

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  • by JimmyCMPIT,Solvedanswer

    JimmyCMPIT JimmyCMPIT Jun 28, 2016 7:00 AM in response to a brody
    Level 5 (7,937 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2016 7:00 AM in response to a brody

    no, there is no special software to do this other than the Yosemite installer itself.

    Otherwise you can refer to this document as to getting close to a factory reset mac has already been configured by a user

    What to do before selling or giving away your Mac - Apple Support

  • by keg55,

    keg55 keg55 Jun 28, 2016 7:56 AM in response to a brody
    Level 6 (8,434 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 28, 2016 7:56 AM in response to a brody

    As long as you downloaded it from the App Store when it was available, you should be able to use the AppleID used to download it and re-download the installer from App Store / Purchases tab.

     

    For any Mac that came preinstalled with Yosemite, a factory reset using Internet Recovery will download/install version 10.10.5 and NOT the original version that shipped (e.g. 10.10-10.10.4).

     

    So that I don't have to go through the install process, I have a partition on an external drive (30GB) that contains a 10.10.5 install without going through Setup. So, whenever I want to install "clean", I boot to that external drive's Recovery HD, erase the drive I want to install to and use Disk Utility / Restore to block-copy from the external to where ever. This "resets back to factory" without having to download/reinstall the OS.

     

    Once you redownload 10.10.5 from the App Store, you can run the installer from /Applications against an external drive (30GB) and Shutdown when you get to the Setup screen. Disconnect the external drive and you have what I mentioned in the above paragraph.

  • by a brody,

    a brody a brody Jun 29, 2016 7:54 PM in response to a brody
    Level 9 (66,876 points)
    Classic Mac OS
    Jun 29, 2016 7:54 PM in response to a brody

    Thank you.  I hadn't noticed that was there before...Cool!