Hello, I dont have mavericks on a back up or cd disc and I need to install a fresh install of Mavericks I would rather download Mavericks but I cant find it so I have seen Mavericks on ebay selling on USB sticks are these safe to use and will they work? I cant re-download Mavericks as my imac when I got it had no OS or apple ID account with it, thanks all.
iMac
It is unlikely to be safe, it will be connected to another account which will cause problems for you in the future, it could also be infected with malware. In light of that I do not recommend it.
How old is your iMac?
If you have previously downloaded Mavericks, on another Mac, sign into the App Store using your Apple ID, then go to the Purchases tab, and download it.
Well that sounds bad for ebay, do you know where a safe place is to buy it from perhaps from an apple store (not online)? Im looking to buy it so its not connected to another account. Its an iMac 24 inch I dont know the year sorry.
gabrielknight1 wrote:
Well that sounds bad for ebay, do you know where a safe place is to buy it from perhaps from an apple store (not online)? Im looking to buy it so its not connected to another account. Its an iMac 24 inch I dont know the year sorry.
You can only get it from The Mac App store online, no other source is legitimate.
If you had previously got it from the App Store you can download it for free.
It would be illegal to buy it from eBay, as Apple never offered it for sale in any way except via a download from the App Store. The eBay version would be digitally Signed by the person that downloaded it. You need their Apple ID to perform updates.
As others have been trying to say, if you ever used the Applications -> App Store to download Mavericks, then if you look in the App Store -> Purchases tab, you should be able to download it again.
If you never downloaded Mavericks, then it is no longer available for sale.
You could try making a Genius Bar appointment at an Apple store and see if they will install Mavericks. This may or may not work.
In the future, I suggest you always download, and then "Quit" the install of every Major OS X (soon to be macOS) release, if you wish to have the option to install that release in the future. You should do that "Now" for El Capitan, as there is a very good changed we are just days a way from the release of Sierra, and history says at that point, El Capitan will be removed from the App Store. Again, if you have downloaded an OS release from the App Store, it will be in your App Store -> Purchases tab going forward. Keep you options open, by doing a download for each Major OS X release..
You must acquire an OS X installer from what is available in the online Apple Store, or the OS X App Store. Any other OS X installer source is living in the danger zone, with considerable opportunity for regret.
Your iMac may support internet recovery mode…
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314
If it boots when you hold cmd+alt+r at startup, connect it to an internet connection it can download the 'original OS'. It really depends on what model you have & what the original OS was. Use an ethernet connection if possible - wifi can be slow & unreliable with the large installer download. It may download Mavericks if that was the original OS.
Once that is installed you can sign in to the app store & purchase a newer compatible OS X version.
Internet recovery is built into the Mac's firmware on newer models, so it can work without a working OS.
You should probably identify the model if you want better help…
is it safe to buy mavericks on usb from ebay
