Mavericks Install DVD

Thank you Kurt and CSound1. The serial number confirms it as mid 2009 and it's the 2.53ghz model which according to the apple Tech Specs means it shipped with 10.5 - I don't see that for sale on the Apple website, though it is available on eBay. Would I have to install 10.5 first then 10.6 or could I just load 10.6 straight off?

Also do I have to purchase the 10.6 from Apple or can I do that from eBay, for instance is this the start of a purchasing certificate chain?

Assuming I can succeed in installing 10.5 or 10.6 to the drive is it possible I will retain my other software without going up to Mavericks, or is that going to be wiped at that point?

All my own fault of course: always kept several backup bootable drives and copies of data, very useful for moving it all around and cleaning up or starting from scratch. This is a relatively new purchase and I had not got familiar with 10.9 was a bit uneasy with the simple connectivity to other puters on the network and multiple desktops - perhaps best to wipeaway and begin again if for nothing but security as that has also been troubling me, indeed that is how this happened, by finding the "wheel" and "everyone" user or groups and deleting them or setting to no access, something along those lines has created a non starting drive. Oops.

You can install 10.6 on your Mac without 10.5, I would purchase the disc from Apple if it were my decision.

Your other software is not so simple, you can reinstall it from disks or the App Store, provided it was purchased by your account (just like Mavericks).

Once you have reinstalled everything I would suggest leaving permissions as they are.

Assuming I can succeed in installing 10.5 or 10.6 to the drive is it possible I will retain my other software without going up to Mavericks, or is that going to be wiped at that point?

As Csound1 noted, there's no reason to install 10.5 first. Just get a retail Snow Leopard disk from Apple. It's $20.

Since you have a copy of Mavericks on your Mac now you can't reistall, the only way to set up the Mac correctly for yourself is to start back at Snow Leopard. That disk will be 10.6.3. After installing SL, update it to 10.6.8 to get the App Store on the drive. Then upgrade to Mavericks through the App Store on your account.

To do this, you must erase the drive. There is no choice in the matter. So yes, everything will be wiped. Purchase an external drive and backup your data first.

Don't play with permissions. They're set as Apple intends to protect the system as well as it can be as Unix is designed.

Once you get as far as having Mavericks installed under your own account, you can then restore your data and reinstall your third party apps. Create a clone of that to your external drive.

Ok thanks guys - I will start with a new box of 10.6.3 and take it from there and or put in a new hard drive if necesary.

Post back if you need to

Ok will do - have just ordered new 10.6.3

There is no need to lose your apps and settings. Go out and buy that external disk if you haven't done that yet.

Initialise and partition it like the internal disk.

Then, grab a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner. Use it to make a clone of your internal disk on the external.

You can then boot from the external as if it were the internal (hold donw the Option key while booting)

Whatever method of upgrading you follow hereafter, you'll have the possibility to migrate your stuff as if it eere from an old Mac. The installer will give you the option but you can also do it manually, later.

I'd advise you to create an admin account that will not be your main account, first.

Then you have Mail that won't open (as it has been opened in a later version of mail) among other things.

Did you try this method or read about it?

I never tried this to downgrade (and I keep all my mail archived on a local imap server anyway).

But your point is moot: the goal here is not to downgrade but to do a new 10.9 install, which apparently requires a transitional 10.6 install. There's no need to launch any o launch any apps between the migration step under 10.6 and the 10.9 install. And if you create a separate admin account, there's no need even to log in as a migrated/imported user.

I guess we'll see.

I usually test things before suggesting that others try them out.

Between losing everything because of a virgin reinstall, or maybe some thing because someone's instructions weren't fully tested ... I know which option I'd take.

I've tested Migration from 10.4 to 10.6 (off the internal extracted from my dead ppc Powerbook), and I know the procedure has become even better. And I've been cloning with CCC since 2004; that just works.

Thanks worked great. What is the difference with making a bootable installer USB/HDD as Apple suggests here? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718
It states "Your storage device must have at least 13 GB available (after formatting) to install OS X Lion or later and a Recovery partition."
I made my USB Mavericks Installer with 8GB USB as you have indicated. Are there any added benefits to the Apple procedure?

Thanks, Bob

Are you installing Lion or Mavericks?

BYOH wrote:

Thanks worked great. What is the difference with making a bootable installer USB/HDD as Apple suggests here?

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Don't understand why you posted this link, it has nothing to do with makimg a bootable installer.

What is it you are trying to do.

I am installing Mavericks from Lion. For some reason the link goes to the

page containing

The hyperlink I intended you yo see.

Copied info below.

OS X: Installing OS X on an external volume

Some disk partition configurations may result in the OS X installer reporting that it could not create a Recovery System. If this happens, and you are unable to install or upgrade OS X, you may need to backup and erase your hard disk first. You can use Internet Recovery, or Recovery Disk Assistant to do this. You can also install OS X on an external volume.

Installing OS X on an external storage device

Use these steps to install OS X from your Mac to an external USB, FireWire, SDHC or SDXC card, or a Thunderbolt storage device.

Note: Normally you should not need to erase your drive to install, upgrade, or reinstall OS X. These steps are designed to help you create an external volume that includes a Recovery system.

Important: These steps erase the storage device. A storage device that is already formatted to support Windows (formatted for FAT or NTFS file systems) will be reformatted. You should back up any important files that are on the device to a different drive.

Attach a USB, FireWire, or Thunderbolt storage device to your computer, or insert an SDHC or SDXC card into the SD card slot if your Mac has one.

Launch Disk Utility, from the /Applications/Utilities folder, then click Continue.

Erase and reformat the storage device

Click the attached storage device where it indicates its size in GB.

Click the Partition tab.

Select "1 Partition" from the Partition Layout pop-up menu.

Click Options. Note: Do not select more than one partition.

Click the GUID Partition Table radio button, then click OK.

In the format field, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Click Apply.

Enter a name for the drive in the Name field.

Verify that you wish to erase and reformat the selected drive by clicking Partition.

After the reformatting process is finished, choose Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility menu.

Install OS X

Open the Mac App Store application from the Apple () menu. The Mac App Store normally displays OS X as being "Installed" in the purchases pane. This prevents you from downloading it when your computer already has the same version of OS X installed.

To re-download the installer, press and hold the Option key as you click the Purchases tab. The button to the right of the item you want to download should change to say "Install". If it does not, use Spotlight to search for "Install OS X" on your computer. It's likely you already have a copy of the same OS X installer on a connected drive. (It's normally located in the Applications folder.)

Once you have downloaded and located the installer, use these steps to install OS X on the external volume:

Launch the OS X installer you downloaded from Mac App Store. The installer is normally located in the Applications folder.

Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the OS X installation.

When you are asked to select a drive for installation, click the button "Show All Drives". Be sure you select the external storage device you've connected for this purpose, not your computer's normal startup drive.

Once installation to your external device is complete, you can use it to start up your computer. You can then use Disk Utility, the Mac App Store and the OS X installer to install, or erase and install OS X on the normal startup drive of your computer. Even if you cannot create a Recovery System on your normal startup drive, you can reinstall or repair it at a later date if needed by connecting the external drive you just prepared. Simply hold down the Command and R keys (Command-R) while restarting your computer to start up from the external Recovery System.

Additional Information

The steps in this article erase and reformat the storage device.

Your storage device must have at least 13 GB available (after formatting) to install OS X Lion or later and a Recovery partition.

This article instructs you on setting up a storage device to use the GUID partition scheme and the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format, which are required to install OS X and a Recovery partition on your external storage device.

You should back up any important files that are on the external storage device to a different drive.

This procedure installs a version of OS X that is compatible with the Mac it was created with. Using this OS X system with a different Mac model may produce unpredictable results.

Your computer's serial number is sent to Apple as part of this process to help authenticate your request to download and install OS X.

Last Modified: Oct 22, 2013

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