Can I still download Mavericks?

You may be able to purchase a download code or otherwise directly get a copy of Mavericks full installer

from Apple support, although perhaps not; some computing hardware cannot fully use the newest OS X.

As various users attest, there are issues in certain models where their upgrade is limited in hardware so

the full functionality just isn't there in a newer version. And of course, some costly third-party software

may not have been upgraded to run in the newest OS X; or may require a new major investment to do so.

If you can determine ahead of a visit to an retail Store with a Genius, that they could in fact be of help,

then a trip may be worth the trouble. A support tech may have a means of applying a replacement 10.9

OS X version that does not have an AppleID associated with the file; or may have a 'tech ID' for this use.

{And to get a used computer, such as those I've seen on craigslist, with screenshots of El Capitan running

and a new hard drive installed, have no original Recovery partition to attempt to retrieve Mavericks.}

Some graphics cards and other hardware are marginal past 10.10, or 10.9.5. Among those, Mac Mini

has more than a few issues even with the Late 2012; while a firmware update may help those, none yet.

Without Yosemite available as intermediate step, those going from 10.9.5 to 10.11.x found troubles there.

To be able to purchase a special version flash USB of these older OS X versions to include with an older

Mac when it goes into the used resale market, would be a fair idea; since no telling what may be available

at the Mac App Store in five to seven years. I'd like an offline option to restore an OS X when there are no

system discs, to prepare a Mac for a new owner or reuse. Not everyone has great bandwidth or fair internet.

And once an older computer gets so far along, for some it's better to leave them at a 'standalone' status. 😐

edited 4x due to network issue & interference here

Yep.. this is how I stand with my 2007 mac mini... I have to "upgrade" to Lion and let is stand after this upgrade.

I agree that the secondary market for these computers could use a purchasable OSX flash drive. I will be shopping for a "used" machine shortly... I surely need to upgrade. And having a place to purchase these older OS's could be helpful. You can currently purchase Mountain Lion, so maybe Apple will eventually sell Mavericks, etc.

There are plenty of illegal copies of every version of OS X being sold out there. Trouble is, the buyer has zero assurance unwanted items haven't been added to the OS X installer, such as a keylogger, back door, or other nasty surprises.

msatt wrote:

Yep.. this is how I stand with my 2007 mac mini... I have to "upgrade" to Lion and let is stand after this upgrade.

I agree that the secondary market for these computers could use a purchasable OSX flash drive. I will be shopping for a "used" machine shortly...

I surely need to upgrade.

You could consider an Apple Refurbished unit direct from Apple. Full warranty included, and they can be 15% or even into the 20's% off list price.

<http://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac>

And having a place to purchase these older OS's could be helpful. You can currently purchase Mountain Lion, so maybe Apple will eventually sell Mavericks, etc.

Very very unlikely. Lion and Mountain Lion have remained available. I think partially because they were sold for real money (not much money, but for money). There may be some strange legal reason they need to keep them available for some period of time (wild guess).

But Mavericks and Yosemite, were free, so I'm guessing there was not restriction on how long they needed to remain available (again guessing).

From a software development point of view, it is fabulous, in that the likely hood a developer needs to write software for an older version diminishes very quickly. And we are starting to see that with some software no longer supporting older releases. Snow Leopard is fast moving into that space. Lion will be next, etc...

So I'm personally divided. My developer half likes this. My forum volunteer half wants the version available for people that ask.

But for now. Download every major release to make sure you have them available for the future, even if you do not want to upgrade today.

That's what I do, but passed on Lion and Yosemite.

I have El Capitán and most of the previous OS X versions on external hard drives.

10.7 Lion had some operational and UI issues that got, mostly, worked out in 10.8 Mountan Lion.

I really liked the newer features of OS X 10.9 Mavericks and Apple worked out most of the leftover kinks that 10.8 still had.

I passed on 10.10 Yosemite pretty much because I really, REALLY hated the UI (still do in EL Capitán).

I downloaded El Capitán because, again, I liked the feature set (UI is still PlaySkool uggo) only to fnd out that my older, late 2009 iMac model can't use some of those new and cool features that I really liked and wanted.

So, I have hardly used El Cap at all ( I kept up with all of the updates and other software updates, though) and I don't know if I will or not use this, at some future date, I am contemplating ridding myself of the embarrassing looking OS X, at some point.

I only have one copy of this. I haven't even bothered cloning El Capitán anywhere at this time.

If the feature set keeps getting reduced for older model Macs (just like Apple does with iOS an older iDevces), I may completely pass on the next major OS X release.

If and when the GPU or logic board goes, in my 2009 iMac, I will look for 2011 iMac model that I can stll run my much loved OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard and keep the system setup I have currently.

Interesting; I haven't liked the UI or other features since Lion. I do run the latest on my testing machine - my MBP. On my iMac, I have Mavericks which I need for my movie projects and Yosemite which I use daily; I've found it to be the least objectionable so to speak and if my iMovie and iDVD would work with it, it would be fine. But they don't, hence the Mavericks partition. I still have a bootable SL clone on an external partition - unfortunately, I no longer have a machine that'll boot with it and I'm not even sure it would still boot since it's been copied several times from external to external (and I obviously cannot test it).

I thought you had a 27" mid-2011 iMac? That'll boot with SL. 😎

Nope - it's a late 2012 purchased as a refurb from Apple in early 2015. Sold my mid 2010 at that time. I thought that was kinda cool: a 2012 purchased in 2015 with Applecare to 2018 and it had Mountain Lion installed when I got it, so I can boot with 4 OS versions if I wanted to.

My mistake, then. My refurb's protection plan ends May 22, but I can still boot w/SL. 😎

I"m trying to create a boot disk and it's not possible to re-download Mavericks. I'm looking at my purchases in the App Store and nothing happens if I click on it, the downloaded button is greyed out.

I have the "Install OS X Mavericks.app" on my hard drive (5.35 GB file) but when I try to drag it to my 32 GB flash drive, it says there's not enough room to copy it.

***?

DiskMaker X

<http://diskmakerx.com/>

Should be able to create a bootable USB thumb drive.

If your 32GB flash drive is formatted FAT, there is a 4GB single file limit for FAT file systems.

As an alternative to DiskmakerX use Apple's own instructions…

Create a bootable installer for OS X - Apple Support

Thank you, it is formatted MS-DOS FAT 32 because I needed to use it on my pc as well but I can reformat it.

gillian holroyd wrote:

Thank you, it is formatted MS-DOS FAT 32 because I needed to use it on my pc as well but I can reformat it.

exFAT will support larger files and work on Windows as well.

HOWEVER, to create a bootable installer the file system needs to be "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" (aka HFS+)

I downloaded DiskmakerX and flash drives were on sale last weekend so I'm now working up the courage to wipe my HD and reinstall. (It's been very sluggish since I upgraded to Mav last year.)