Sit With Death Mac OS

Here is a funny video where Steve Jobs gives a eulogy and lays to rest Mac OS 9 at its funeral.Sorry for the audio not being synced up. UPDATE, new version: some funny tech videos? Some more educational tech videos?

Sit With Death Mac Os Update
Sit With Death Mac Os Download

One of the problems retro Mac enthousiasts face nowadays is figuring out how to mount old/random disk images in order to access the game or app in it. First of all, you have to know that there were at least a dozen disk image formats back then (altough only a handful of them were widely used) and fortunately for you, there is a very nice disk image mounting tool for classic Mac called Virtual DVD-ROM/CD Utility that mounts just about all of them (tough, NOT ALL of them).

Around the mid 90's, Toast came into play with CD imaging. So if your image is big (e.g. 100MB or more) or ends with .iso, .cdr or if it did not come stuffed (.sit) or encoded (.hqx) then it most probably will mount using Toast. As a matter of fact, if you're unsure and your disk image is bigger than 800KB, Toast will 99% of the time successfully mount it. Try this software if you're stuck with a blank icon that doesn't open with any other application. First, install Toast 5 Titanium if you have Mac OS 8.6 to Mac OS 9.2.2. For Mac OS 8.5 and below (down to Mac OS 7.5.1), install Toast 4.

DiskCopy, bundled with late classic Mac OS versions, opens Apple's own distribution disk images such as file names that end with '.img'. It's worth noting that just because you could once mount a .img file with DiskCopy does not mean that you can mount all of them with it nor with the same version of DiskCopy. Two very important notes about DiskCopy: First, altough DiskCopy will successfully mount 400KB (MFS formated) single sided floppy disk images under Mac OS 7 and older, it will NOT mount them under Mac OS 8.1 to 9.2.2, so if you've got a very old 400KB disk image, the only option is to mount it under Mac OS 7 or older. Second, disk image files created with DiskCopy *CANNOT* be copied/transfered to a non-Macintosh partition. They will get damaged and lose their resource fork, rendering them useless. So, do not unzip or expand DiskCopy images on Windows or Linux. Expand them under Mac OS to be safe. With all of that said, the rule of thumb is: DiskCopy is good to mount small (e.g. floppy or zip) disk images (often ending with .dsk or .img) that you found stuffed (.sit) or encoded (.hqx) on the internet and it's good also for all Apple disk images such as software updates and installers. DiskCopy is also responsible for file names ending with '.smi' (self mounting image) altough they're actually a standalone application and so, they will auto-mount their contents by themselves.

Tough, if you run across a .img file that DiskCopy does not recognize, then it's probably a ShrinkWrap or DiskDup disk image. ShrinkWrap was Aladdin's (the author of Stuffit) proprietary format that DiskCopy could not mount, so make sure you keep a copy of ShrinkWrap handy to mount some of the 90's floppy disk images.

DiskCopy and ShrinkWrap were pretty much the standard in disk imaging from mid 80's to mid 90's, except for some fancy users who made disk images using DiskDoubler so if you have a 90's disk image about the size of a floppy or less and it doesn't mount with aforementioned tools, then try DiskDoubler.

The image mounting quest!

STEP ZERO: Begin by trying to mount your disk image file with Virtual DVD-ROM/CD Utility and if this fails, then proceed with these...

1) Make sure you installed Toast, ShrinkWrap and DiskCopy. Then launch Toast and choose 'Disc Image' in the 'Other' menu.

2) Drag and drop your disk image file onto Toast's window.

3) It's very well possible that Toast does not recognize the file type, in which case it will show a warning message like the following. It's totally fine and 99% of the time it will mount the disk image perfectly fine, so make sure you click 'Continue' on this warning. Next, if you saw the warning message, it will then ask you to define the pregap and postgap. Don't touch any of those numbers and simply click 'OK'.

4) Then click the 'Mount' button on the Toast window and your disk image will mount on the desktop next to your main hard disk volume. If it does not, then Toast will output an error message like this. When you see this, it almost always means this is a ShrinkWrap image or a DiskCopy image. Try ShrinkWrap as it does both.

5) Launch ShrinkWrap and pull the top menu named 'Image' and choose 'Mount Image...' then select your disk image file. If a window very briefly appears and disappears but then nothing else happens, it means that ShrinkWrap cannot mount this disk image. Your only hope is then DiskCopy.

6) Launch DiskCopy, then drag and drop your disk image file onto the DiskCopy window.

7) Success!

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.

Sit With Death Mac Os Update

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

Click the App Store icon.
Click Purchases in the top menu.
Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
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

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

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

Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
Connect the external drive.
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

Sit With Death Mac Os Download

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.