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Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: bazookaman
Date: February 10, 2022 04:59AM
I'm thinking it's around a 2009ish vintage? It's not a unibody. But it does have a disk drive. It's got 5 USB ports, firewire, etc.

Anyway, pretty sure the drive is dead. Disk Utility won't fix it from Recovery mode. I Ran Diskwarrior, it repaired the directory but said SMART status failed. It just sits on the gray apple boot screen with the spinny thingie...forever. I booted into Safe mode and saw the big wave background so I guessed Mavericks. But that didn't work. It kept flipping from the wave to the gray screen to the wave, etc.

So I was going to replace the drive.

But ...
Where do I get Mavericks? I have an old installer, so that might work?
Once I get it (if needed), how do I get the OS onto an external? I tried Diskmaker but it won't run at all in Big Sur.
After that, I'm assuming I just crack the case and swap the drives?
Is there a better way?



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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: Harbourmaster
Date: February 10, 2022 07:15AM
Try this page at Apple for more info.

[support.apple.com]



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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: rich in distress
Date: February 10, 2022 08:14AM
Shift-Option-Cmd-R

[support.apple.com]
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: decay
Date: February 10, 2022 08:58AM
How to get old versions of macOS

If your Mac isn't compatible with the latest macOS, you might be able to upgrade to an earlier macOS, such as macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, or High Sierra.


[support.apple.com]



---
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: RAMd®d
Date: February 10, 2022 10:30AM
Finally, if the/an old installer fails with a notification it's corrupt, you may need to do Get Info and find the date it was created and set the Date/Time back to some point earlier than it.

I had to do this with a 'fresh' installer I had downloaded for some OS, and it worked.

The Mac ended up with the correct Date/Time.

I don't know if that was a result of the install, or it I reset it, but it worked.






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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: jdc
Date: February 10, 2022 10:37AM
Goes without saying the new drive should be a SSD...

Whats the daily use for this mac?





Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: bazookaman
Date: February 10, 2022 02:10PM
Quote
rich in distress
Shift-Option-Cmd-R

[support.apple.com]

Can you use that to reinstall the OS on an external drive or does it need to be internal?



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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: bazookaman
Date: February 10, 2022 02:11PM
Quote
jdc
Goes without saying the new drive should be a SSD...

Whats the daily use for this mac?

I have an old 128gb OWC drive that I barely used that I planned on installing. It's a minimal install only being used as a Plex server. So basically it needs Plex installed and that's it.



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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: rich in distress
Date: February 10, 2022 02:30PM
I’ve only done internal, but I guess it’s possible if the drive is mounted.
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: Fritz
Date: February 10, 2022 04:09PM
I would think you could do at least High Sierra on that.



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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: PeterW
Date: February 10, 2022 04:28PM
Nope, it tops out at El Cap. At least without the dosdude fix.
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: Fritz
Date: February 10, 2022 04:50PM
Darn the Luck ! ! !
I just dosduded my MP3,1.
Went pretty sweet.
I am running it mostly as my Emby and Music (fka iTunes) server.
Occasionally as an adjunct Hadron collider or Illudium PU-36 Space Modulator.



!#$@@$#!

Quod suus via crustulum saxum

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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: rz
Date: February 10, 2022 07:44PM
I am getting ready to leave the country for over a month, but I'm pretty sure I have a Mavericks installer on a thumb drive in my collection. If you're still in need in the end of March, send me a PM.
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Re: Actual Mac question (old Mini)
Posted by: bazookaman
Date: February 11, 2022 05:09AM
I think I'm good. Thanks for the help.

I did the Cmd + Opt + R. And FINALLY got it back to recovery mode. FINALLY. I think it took about 30 minutes.

I was able to use Disk Utility to erase my external. Then I was able to reinstall Mavericks from the interwebs once I connected to wifi. It was installed on the external w/o a hitch. So now, I need to crack it open and make the external the internal. Good thing is, the old drive is still accessible so I can grab stuff off or maybe use MA to transfer settings and user stuff.

It's for my mom so the closer I can get it back to her "normal" the better. Again, thanks to everyone. This seemed like such a simple issue but after sitting down and looking at my available assets it became hard to puzzle out.



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