Installing Yosemite on SSD from Catalina.

I have a late-2012 iMac that has Catalina installed on it. Fresh install no issues. I am trying to create a new SSD to replace the dead HDD in my mid-2009 Macbook Pro. I have downloaded and installed the "install OS X Yosemite" on the iMac, however when i go to run it i get " This copy of the “Install OS X” application is too old to be opened on this version of OS X." This means i can not run it to install it on the SSD. As far as Im aware Yosemite is the latest OS that a mid-2009 Macbook pro can run hence why Im trying to install it on the SSD.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Mar 16, 2023 7:20 PM

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HWTech

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Posted on Mar 19, 2023 5:12 PM

You won't be able to run either the macOS 10.10 or 10.11 installer from within macOS 10.15 since the installer thinks you want to upgrade the current installation which is newer. A mid-2009 laptop can run up to macOS 10.11 so this is the best OS for it.

You need to create a bootable macOS 10.11 El Capitan USB installer. After extracting the real full installer into the Applications folder, then you can use the command line to create the USB installer.

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

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Installing Yosemite on SSD from Catalina.

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