Hi, I would like to know how to install Yosemite on a MacBook Pro mid 2009 that I replaced the original hard drive for a higher capacity (not supplied by Apple). I assume this HD is not formatted for an OS X install and if I turn my Mac on with the new HD installed, it would do nothing.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
Clean Install of Snow Leopard
1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came
with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.
After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see
a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.
2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue
button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive
size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of
partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button
and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended
(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.
3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed
with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.
4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup
Assistant. After you finish Setup Assistant will complete the installation after which
you will be running a fresh install of OS X. You can now begin the update process
by opening Software Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your
installation current.
Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1. From here you can access the App Store to download Yosemite.
Upgrading to Yosemite
To upgrade to Yosemite you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Download Yosemite from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. Yosemite is free. The file is quite large, over 5 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.
OS X Mavericks/Yosemite- System Requirements
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Yosemite
1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later
2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later
3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later
5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later
To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.
Are my applications compatible?
Your 2009 does not support Internet Recovery. That featured started with the 2010 models.
If you have a Time Machine back up, restart with the Alt/Option key and select your Time Machine back up to boot from. You should see the OS X Utilities menu. From there you can use Disk Utility to format your new drive (Mac OS Extended-Journaled and the GUID partition table). And you might be able to Reinstall OS X if it shows up as Yosemite or you can Restore.
You'll need to boot from the original OS X installer disk that came with your Mac, or a retail Snow Leopard disk, whichever is higher version number.
You can then Partition the disk as GUID (under Options button) with a volume format of Mac OS Extended (Journaled) using Disk utility.
Then, quit Disk Utility and install Snow Leopard.
Update to 10.6.8, then use App Store to install Yosemite. .
Hi, thanks for your help! Another thing I forgot to mention is that my optical drive is not working. Every CD I insert is ejected after failing to read it. Is there another way of doing the installation without the DVD? I don't know if my Mac supports the Internet recovery since its a pre 2010 Mac.
To be clear, creating a bootable installer on a flash drive to do a clean install of Yosemite on a replacement drive will not work (I've tried this and got "corrupted file" errors), I need the install disks from a previous version of OS X? Thanks much
You must first install Snow Leopard. If your optical drive is not working, then you could have it repaired or buy an external optical drive. If you have access to another Mac with a working optical drive, then you can clone the Snow Leopard disc to an 8 GB USB flash drive, boot from the flash drive as you would a DVD using OPTION booting:
Boot Using OPTION key:
1. Restart the computer.
2. Immediately after the chime press and hold down the
"OPTION" key.
3. Release the key when the boot manager appears.
4. Select the desired disk icon from which you want to boot.
5. Click on the arrow button below the icon.
How to install Yosemite on a new internal hard drive?
