How to download Mavericks

In simple words: you cannot create a bootable USB drive with the OS X Mavericks installer for Late 2013 MacBook Pro and Mac Pro.

Those Macs come with a special OS X Mavericks build which is different than the OS X Mavericks build available in the Mac App Store, so you cannot download OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store and you cannot create a bootable USB drive with the installer until your Mac uses the same version as all other Macs.

What you can do instead is to make a clone of your hard drive in the USB drive or install OS X in the USB drive, but nothing else. You can reinstall OS X through OS X Recovery, by holding down Command and R keys while your computer is starting.

There are two ways to download Mavericks on pre-installed systems.

1. Restart using Command+R to boot into the Recovery HD. From the OS X Utilities Menu, select Reinstall OS X.

2. Restart using Command+Option+R to boot into Internet Recovery which boots into Apple's servers and their Recovery HD. From the OS X Utilities Menu, select Reinstall OS X.

The above 2 methods will download AND install Mavericks to the target drive.

What you might try is the following to extract the necessary file(s) to create a USB thumb drive installer:

• Plug in a formated USB external drive (not a USB thumb drive unless its 32GB) and point to that drive to install to.
• You will have to watch the download and when your Mac restarts after the download and at the black screen, unplug your external drive. You should boot to your normal Desktop.
• Plug your USB external drive back in and look for an InstallESD.dmg file. It might be in a folder named something like "OS X Install Files". Copy it some where like your ~/Downloads folder or your ~/Desktop.
• Download DiskMaker X 3.0.3. When prompted for the Install OS X Mavericks.app file, point to the InstallESD.dmg file from the above step. Point to a USB thumb drive (8GB) as the destination drive.

I don't know if the above steps will work as I don't have a Mac with Mavericks pre-installed. But I got that last step from the DiskMaker X FAQ under the question of "I got my version of OS X pre-installed with my Mac. How can I get the OS X installer ?"

My last post won't work or at least it didn't for me. DiskMaker X errors out when trying to use the InstallESD.dmg file I pulled from the Install OS X Mavericks.app file (App Store).

So CanoeHull, your best solution is what mende1 suggested in his last paragraph. With OS X Lion and Mountain Lion the InstallESD.dmg file could be used but Mavericks is a different story.

That is what was mentioned to you in the first and second answers to your post, though if your Hard Drive dies, so too does your ability to access that option.

Cheers

Pete

petermac87 wrote:

though if your Hard Drive dies, so too does your ability to access that option.

Actually the OS X Recovery Disk assistant clones/copies the Recovery HD (not a full installer) onto a USB thumb drive. So, if the hard drive's Recovery HD gets corrupted or becomes missing or the hard drive dies one can boot from the thumb drive and reinstall OS X via the internet. It's definitely not the same as having a local full installer on a thumb drive but it's a good thing to have handy. Booting to Internet Recovery will do the same if the hard drive dies.

To make a full installer that doesn't need to download it you could follow this: http://www.macworld.com/article/2151706/create-a-bootable-mavericks-install-driv e-for-newer-macs.html