MacOS Sierra Fails to install on mid-2011 Mac Mini

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MacOS Sierra Fails to install on mid-2011 Mac Mini

Downloaded "Install macOS Sierra.app" to a USB drive, then used that install file to update a 2015 Retina Macbook from El Capitan to Sierra.

Executed the same USB drive based "Install macOS Sierra.app" file from my mid-2011 Mac mini (8gb RAM, 740 gb fusion drive, El Capitan) USB port. The helper file executed for a system estimated "7 minutes", actual time more like 20 minutes. The system rebooted, and El Capitan resumed. Just to make sure I didn't miss anything, I repeated the upgrade procedure with the same result.

My Mac mini has a DIY fusion drive derived from a purchased 240 gb SSD and the original 500 gb hard drive. The fusion drive has worked perfectly so far, having been upgraded from Mountain Lion to Mavericks to Yosemite to El Capitan. Does anyone know if the DIY fusion drive might be the culprit? Is there a simple workaround? Otherwise I am planning to leave the system at El Capitan.

Mac mini, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Sep 22, 2016 7:33 PM

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Answer 1

CarRider70 Author

Level 1

15 points

Sep 23, 2016 4:19 PM in response to CarRider70

The subject Mac mini now has macOS Sierra installed. I made the following changes relative to the first attempts:

ejected the USB drive that was being used for Time Machine,

ejected the flash drive that contained the installation app,

downloaded the installation app directly from the App store (the download only took about an hour on the afternoon of 9/23/16).

The helper file executed quickly (system estimated time for initial execution was one minute). The install took less than an hour.

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