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Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 12:35 pm
by dix
Is there any way to upgrade to Mavericks still? I'm in SL now, but need to join the modern world. I'd prefer to wait for the paint to dry on Yosemite before upgrading to that. Neither the internet nor the Apple Store dude were able to show me a way to NOT upgrade all the way to Yosemite. ....it's for a new old Mac Pro btw. The MP in my sig is an unupgradable 2,1 Mac.

Thx

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 2:02 pm
by mikehalloran
If you had ever downloaded Mavericks, it would be a piece of cake as 10.7, 10.8 and 10.9 show up in my Purchases list. I can still download any of those older OS through the App Store.

OS 10.9.5 will be the version if anyone downloads it for you now. Older versions will not be available.

Other than getting a copy from someone who has downloaded it, I don't know how. It's a 5.33G download so you need that much room or more to transfer it through Dropbox, a USB stick or DVD-DL. Unfortunately, new Dropbox accounts are only 2G but, if someone who has downloaded it before has 6G to spare, they could give you a temporary link and upload it for you.

Edited - I just realized that you aren't on Yosemite. Installing is easy enough. Copy the installer to your desktop, open and follow the instructions. Verify it through your App Store / iTunes Account (it will tell you when) and you're all set. The iWork and iLife applications, likewise, will be free after you upgradeā€“those will show up in the App Store afterwards.

Repair Disk Permissions after the initial install and again after you run all of the subsequent updates.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 3:26 pm
by dix
Thanks! Getting a downloaded version on a drive might be possible actually, but I don't understand this:
Installing is easy enough. You can restore to earlier OS through Boot Repair on startup or burn a bootable DVD DL-R using Terminal commands and Disk Utility.
Why would I want to restore an earlier version?

Also, my plan is to avoid Migration Assistant (which has never worked well for me) and simply move the drive from my old MP to the newer one and upgrading from there - as suggested here: http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtop ... 60#p492760

But, that seems optimistic. I'm not sure if the OS installed on the old MP will work on the newer one. Any thoughts on whether I'll be able to swap those drives successfully'd be appreciated.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 4:14 pm
by MIDI Life Crisis
dix wrote:Why would I want to restore an earlier version?
If you installed Yosemite, you might well want to go back to Mavericks. I was wondering if I could just apply the Mavericks installer to the Yosemite boot disk and downgrade, but I really doubt Apple would allow that. So I'm looking at a clean install to revert. Maybe.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:16 pm
by adriano
MIDI Life Crisis wrote:
dix wrote:Why would I want to restore an earlier version?
If you installed Yosemite, you might well want to go back to Mavericks. I was wondering if I could just apply the Mavericks installer to the Yosemite boot disk and downgrade, but I really doubt Apple would allow that. So I'm looking at a clean install to revert. Maybe.
I don't think you can downgrade MLC, unless you erase the Y boot drive and do a clean install of Mavericks.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 5:21 pm
by dix
But I can't go back to Mavericks if I never had it. Mike edited his post above. Makes more sense to me now. ...seems like 10.0 is okay for many DP users. I might just give it whirl on a seperate partition.

Thx

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:40 pm
by mikehalloran
You can go back but you have to do it through Time Machine, Boot Restore or a clean install.

Time Machine is by far the easiest way to go back. I recently restored my iMac to someone else's OS 10.7.3 backup to try to solve a problem she was having. When I was done, I restored from my own 10.9.5 backup. Anyway, have the old backup available, option-boot and restore from Time Machine.

I was distracted the first time I read the post which is why I edited.

You must be running 10.6.8 or later to install Mavericks.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 8:44 pm
by MIDI Life Crisis
I may give Yosemite a few more days. I like to live on the edge and in the belief that an upgrade to fix crap is only a day away... As long as DP behaves I can make a living. Otherwise I'm up $hits creak.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:23 pm
by dix
You can go back but you have to do it through Time Machine, Boot Restore or a clean install.
?! So even though I never installed Mavericks I can still go back to it once I install Yosemite? Does the Yosemite install include Mavericks?

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 9:24 pm
by MIDI Life Crisis
dix wrote:Does the Yosemite install include Mavericks?
Two completely different beasts.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Mon Oct 20, 2014 11:10 pm
by cuttime
Or, you can find someone who created a bootable installer on a jump drive. A quick search will show how to do this, and I'm sure there is someone out there with Mavericks on a stick who would like to help.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:18 am
by dix
Turns out you can still buy Mountain Lion, but not Mavericks!

So now the question is should I bother tracking down Mavericks or go to ML? Any clear reason to go to Mavericks? Is ML more solid or less solid with DP than Mavericks? There doesn't seem to be a consensus. Thx

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:27 am
by mikehalloran
cuttime wrote:Or, you can find someone who created a bootable installer on a jump drive. A quick search will show how to do this, and I'm sure there is someone out there with Mavericks on a stick who would like to help.
Not necessary if Mavericks or Yosemite was never installed.
I don't think you can downgrade MLC, unless you erase the Y boot drive and do a clean install of Mavericks.
You can restore from a Time Machine backup. Select a date when Mavericks was installed.
So even though I never installed Mavericks I can still go back to it once I install Yosemite... dix wrote:
Does the Yosemite install include Mavericks?
Two completely different beasts.
You can do a complete Mavericks install, let Time Machine do a backup (or two or three or...). Next day, install Yosemite.

Otherwise, you must use Boot Recovery or do a new install of Mavericks from a different drive (hard drive, thumb drive or bootable DVD-DL). Setting up a bootable drive or DVD-DL requires the 5.33G Installer file and a few Terminal commands.

There is a bug in Mavericks 10.9.4 that may prevent a complete restore from a Time Machine backup. This bug was fixed in 10.9.5. I don't want to go into why I know this but it was not fun. Nosir! If you are on Mavericks, update to 10.9.5 first, let Time Machine back up a few times, then update to Yosemite.

Oh yea, I found a minor bug in Yosemite that affects Time Machine. Yosemite may let your Mac go to sleep during a TM backup and you get an error message. The workaround is to make sure that a TM backup isn't in process when putting your Mac to sleep. I haven't seen this one since 10.5.2.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 11:34 am
by mikehalloran
cuttime wrote:Or, you can find someone who created a bootable installer on a jump drive. A quick search will show how to do this, and I'm sure there is someone out there with Mavericks on a stick who would like to help.

Who knows... ML 10.8.2 crashes easily if it encounters many extensions that hadn't worked since 10.6.x or earlier. Yosemite will not load this crap - that's what the kext signing and checking is all about. The old apps still won't work but they shouldn't crash your machine in 10.10.

The only thing I can tell you is that, having just purchased or installed a new OS (free or paid), you qualify for one of the exceptions that allow you to receive a support call from AppleCare for free.

They can examine crash reports in real time and tell you what is causing such problems. They can also install tracers that examine your boot routine.

Re: Any way to install Mavericks still?

Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2014 12:53 pm
by dix
The only thing I can tell you is that, having just purchased or installed a new OS (free or paid), you qualify for one of the exceptions that allow you to receive a support call from AppleCare for free.
Well, that's good to know! I wonder how they define "just".

Since I'm on SL, and never got Time Machine working reliably, I got a lot to learn. I had to google "Boot Recovery". It wasn't yet born the last time I upgraded.