Safe Space (imekon) Mac OS

Downloads Folder. The Downloads folder is the default location on Mac that stores all the content. Save disk space with OneDrive Files On-Demand for Mac OneDrive (work or school) OneDrive (home or personal) OneDrive for Mac Any file, anywhere, always protected Get Word, Excel, and PowerPoint plus 1 TB of OneDrive storage to back up and protect your files. You can use Mac Spaces to keep your programs and windows organized in one dedicated location. Then you can use a few key moves to navigate your Mac Spaces: To view all your spaces at once, press the F8 key on your keyboard. Just click on a space to enter. You can drag spaces around. The Apple experts at Stack Exchange provide tips on staying safe. Does your computer have a solid-state drive? All new Apple laptops come with SSDs, and you better be careful what you do if you.

So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0Puma 10.1Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3Tiger 10.4Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6Lion 10.7Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9Yosemite 10.10El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12High Sierra 10.13Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

  • Uninstall large unused apps
  • Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
  • Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store


If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

Safe Space (imekon) Mac Os Download

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
  2. Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
  4. Select external drive as a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.

Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

  1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external drive.
  3. Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.

/Mac Cleaner /How Much Space Does macOS Take - Check & Free up System Storage

Are you curious about how much space does MacOS take? Let’s get a closer look at MacOS High Sierra in this new article! Read along.

Apple macOS 10.14 Mojave was released to the public on September 24, 2018, and you may want to know how much space does macOS Mojave takes. New versions of macOS bring new features and designs that can improve the user experience. However, you must note that it takes a lot of space on your device to run successfully.

Safe Space (imekon) Mac Os Downloads

You cannot download the update unless you have freed some space enough for it. Today we will learn how much space does Mac OS take and what are the best practices to improve the device performance.

How Much Space Does macOS High Sierra Take?

In order to run High Sierra on Mac, you will need at least 8 GB of available disk space. Once you do the upgrade to macOS High Sierra, you’ll get more free disk space because of the new Apple File System and HEVC which is a new encoding standard for videos.

Article GuidePart 1. How Much Space Does MacOS High Sierra Take?Part 2. How to Get More Space on Mac?Part 3. How to Upgrade to Mac OS High Sierra?Part 4. Summary

Part 1. How Much Space Does MacOS High Sierra Take?

If your Mac has been running on macOS 10.12 well it should also run smoothly with macOS 10.13 High Sierra without any issues at all. All Mac models and devices from 2009 like Mac Book, iMac, and Mac Book Retina and 2010 models such as Mac Mini, Mac Pro, Mac Book Air, and Mac Book Pro are compatible with the MacOS High Sierra.

However, if you are unsure which mac os version you’re using, you can find it by going to the device information of your Mac, to do this, open the Apple menu and click on ‘About this Mac’.

How much disk space does macOS use? In order to run High Sierra on your Mac, you will need at least 8 GB of available disk space. I know this space is a lot but once you did the upgrade to macOS High Sierra, you’ll get more free space because of the new Apple File System and HEVC which is a new encoding standard for videos.

Tip: Here recommend a powerful tool named iMyMac PowerMyMac to remove the purgeable space on Mac so that you will have more space to upgrade the macOS High Sierra. Just have a free trial below to save more space now!

By these two newly added features your photos, videos, apps, and other files will consume less space on your Mac. Sound cool? Start the upgrade now.

Part 2. How to Get More Space on Mac?

After knowing how much space does macOS Catalina take, you should get more space on Mac to run macOS. Mac system taking up 300GB? Too much space! How many GB should system take up on Mac? How much storage does Mac have this time? If your Mac is running slowly does not have enough space to accommodate the new macOS then you may see “Your startup disk is almost full” on your screen. It could be clogged with junk files and unimportant files.

The longer we use our devices, the more unneeded and unimportant files we store in it that later on can cause slow performance. Some even affect the way the device boots up because they have a login and startup files included. Especially files in the Other, if you want to know what is Other in Mac storage, just check the provided link.

The best thing to do is to remove these unneeded files permanently so you can get a faster Mac plus more space for the new MacOS update. However, deleting them manually may take time so better use an automatic program to remove the junk files with ease.

There are programs to clean up Mac that can easily erase these junks without too many steps involved. Just like PowerMyMac, offered by iMyMac. It is a powerful program that eliminates all the clutters that affects the performance of the device.

This is an effective and efficient software solution to erase junks, clear browser and system caches, and more. How can PowerMyMac help you in cleaning up the junks from your Mac? First, you need to download PowerMyMac and install it on your Mac.

Next, follow these steps on how to clear system storage on macOS High Sierra effectively use this program.

  1. Once you have successfully installed PowerMyMac, click on Master Scan among the options from the left panel
  2. Click the Scan button and wait until the software completes the scanning
  3. After the scanning, review all the results and carefully select the junk files you wish to remove
  4. Click on the ‘Clean’ button
  5. Cleanup is completed

You may also use other options such as Duplicate Finder and Large & Old Files. These two will also help you free up some space on your Mac and be able to upgrade to the latest Mac OS.

PowerMyMac also helps you scan and analyze the network status of your device. The next time you will experience, latency or apps slowing down, use PowerMyMac to check and determine what is really going on with your device.

Tip: Speaking to apps, you may want to remove some unneeded apps on your Mac to save more space. Here we recommend another tool named PowerMyMac Uninstaller to help you. You can check how it works when uninstalling Anaconda on Mac.

Your Mac has now plenty of space needed to accommodate the new Mac OS. Simply follow the instructions given by Apple on how to proceed with the update or you can follow these steps below.

Part 3. How to Upgrade to Mac OS High Sierra?

Do Mac Updates take up space? Yes it does. But just some, you need to upgrade to the newer version for better Mac performance. Now that you are ready with the upgrade, first create a backup just to make sure your important files are safe and secured.

Time Machine Backups

Setup your Time Machine so that you can easily create a backup with an external drive.

  1. Get an external drive to be used for Time Machine backup
  2. Upon connecting, you will be asked if you want to use the drive and create a backup via Time Machine. Choose Use Backup Disk
  3. Choose your external drive on the list
  4. You can check the ‘Backup Automatically’ if needed
  5. Wait until the backup is finished
Space

Remember that the first time you backup using Time Machine will take a long time to complete. This is normal though. However, after a series of backups, Time Machine will only backup the files that were changed and added for faster process later on.

Download New Mac OS

Right after making sure that you have your own backup, you can download the new Mac OS through the App Store.

  1. Go to the App Store on your Mac
  2. Go directly to the MacOS High Sierra page or you can search for it
  3. Click the download button
  4. Once the download is completed, it automatically installs the new OS
  5. Simply follow the onscreen instructions to finish the upgrade

Remember that during the upgrade, the device will keep on restarting several times, this is normal and some activities might be slow until the upgrade is finished. When the upgrade is fully completed, you may now continue where you left.

Part 4. Summary

Now that you are aware of how much space does Mac OS take, you can be ready at any time there is a new upgrade released. Of course, don’t forget to clean up your entire system and free it from junks and clutters that are often the suspects of space-hogging.

Use iMyMac PowerMyMac to save you from all the hassles of manual deletion. When the latest MacOS Mojave comes out sooner, for sure you are among the firsts to download and try! Share this with your friends and let them know!

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Comment ()

Gerrit2020-01-27 08:36:54

Hi I am thinking of buying a Macbook Air due to my budget but can only afford the 128GB SSD 2017 model. I see it has a SD card slot can I use the transcend SD card and format it in a way so I can install apps or software on it? I do have a home PC so this will be my on the Go device.

Stella2019-11-22 10:00:18

Have saved about more 8GB storage, yeyeyeyye!

Edith2019-06-03 08:49:08

After using 2 years, my system is taking up so much space and that really confuses me, now I know how to get more space on my Mac, thanks!

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