Install El Capitan On External Drive

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  1. Download El Capitan installation from the App store. It might complain that you already have it installed but download it anyway. It will be downloaded to /Applications and be named Install OS X El Capitan.app
  2. Create a bootable image from the El Capitan installer on a USB stick larger than 6GB. In a terminal run:
  1. Create El Capitan Install Usb

where MyVolume is the name of your USB stick. Change this to match the name of your USB stick.

Nov 23, 2015 I've installed EL CAPITAN on an external SSD without any problem and without using TRIM because my SSD is connected on USB3 plug. ( TRIM doesn't run with USB3 connected SSD). I'm on Imac end 2013. My internal HD is now used to save automatically all my datas with CCC ( but I've also a backup with Time Machine). I'm on EL CAPITAN 10.11.4 ( Beta ). You may install the New OS X 10.11 El Capitan on an External Drive instead on your main drive, thus you take no risk erasing and re installing again the old. Oct 16, 2020 Article: how to install os x el capitan on external drive Thinking How To Install Os X El Capitan On External Drive to Eat? We've got you covered. These easy recipes are all you need for making a delicious meal. Find the How To Install Os X El Capitan On External Drive, including hundreds of ways to cook meals to eat. Don't f.ck it up.

  1. Physically install SSD into the target laptop.
  2. Insert the El Capitan USB stick into the target laptop and power up. (This might take a while.)
  3. When the menu finally turns up, choose Disk Utility and format the SSD as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with a unique name.
  4. Once complete, exit from Disk Utility and return the main menu.
  5. Choose to Install OS X on the formatted SSD.
  6. Follow the prompts until El Capitan is installed.

Here’s link to a video on how to physically install the SSD as well as run the software installation.

If you’d rather install Yosemite on the SSD then follow the How to Install Yosemite on a New SSD guide.

Contents

2. El Capitan Features
3. El Capitan Download & Install
4. OS X 10.11 Problems
5. Mac OS X 10.11 Tips
6. Software for OS X 10.11
7. Compare OS

Mac OS X El Capitan can be downloaded directly from the Apple website. The Beta version of the OS is available but the final version will be made available towards the Autumn season of 2015 as speculated by many Apple users. You can use your older Mac OS with the new El Capitan, all you have to do is to create a different partition for the new El Capitan if you have the Yosemite already installed. There are few steps you should consider in downloading the latest El Capitan and these are as follow.

Part 1. Preparing Mac Device for the Installation of Mac OS X El Capitan

Both Mavericks and Yosemite are easier to download and install on Mac devices, however, this is not the case with Mac OS X El Capitan. Just before you install the new Mac OS X El Capitan, you must perform few tasks to ensure that your Mac will be ready for the installation of the software:

Check Hard Drive Space - Make sure you have sufficient hard drive space for the installation of Mac OS X El Capitan. Yosemite will normally require a Hard drive space of up to 5GB, but the new El Capitan will require between 15g and 20gb of space on your hard drive for successful download and installation. Make sure you have Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Application Folder 2. Select 'On an external drive' on the main MCPF window. Then, choose the disk you want to install the El Capitan installer on. Click install and prompt your password. Boot the computer you want to install El Capitan on with 'alt' held and select.

  • Check Your Mac - Check whether your Mac will be able to run the new OS X 10.11. Apple has provided a list of the Mac supported by the new Mac OS X El Capitan and if you are already running the Mavericks or Yosemite, the same lists may also apply to the El Capitan. You can also check this list on the “Will your Mac run Mac OS X” article on Apple website.
  • Create Enough Space - Check that your Mac has sufficient RAM to run the software. You wouldn’t run into any hitches if your Mac device is listed on the acceptable Mac devices for Mac OS X El Capitan. Apple recommend that you have a minimum RAM of 2G, however, a minimum of 4G space of RAM is highly recommended. You will also need to delete some unnecessary files to create more space for the installation of El Capitan.
  • Check Hard Drive Space - Make sure you have sufficient hard drive space for the installation of Mac OS X El Capitan. Yosemite will normally require a Hard drive space of up to 5GB , but the new El Capitan will require between 15g and 20gb of space on your hard drive for successful download and installation.
  • Register - Register to access the Mac Apple store. You need to upgrade your Mac and get access to Mac Apple store for a small fee in order to get the most out of your Mac OS X El Capitan.
  • Updates - Make sure your third party Apps are updated before installing Mac OS X El Capitan. You can simply launch App store and click on “Updates” on the tool bar if you want to update the apps you bought from Apple store. For other third party apps, you may need some manual updates from manufacturer websites to complete such updates.
  • Backup Your Mac - Perform a backup before downloading and installing Mac OS X El Capitan- you need to protect your important documents and files, thus you may have to back them up somewhere before starting the download and installation process.
Capitan

Part 2. Installing Mac OS X El Capitan Safely on Your Mac Device

You can install or upgrade to Mac OS X El Capitan as a dual boot partition. You may be able to download a test version if you register for the OS X Seed program from Apple, and you can also provide a feedback to Apple in order for the company to update the software before it is finally released. You can follow these instructions to install the Beta version of Mac OS X El Capitan. It is strictly recommended that you perform a backup before you begin this process. It is important you keep in mind that Mac OS X El Capitan is still in a Beta format, thus , not all your apps or programs will work on it.

  1. Visit the Apple Beta software program page and log unto the page using your Apple ID. Simply click on “Enroll your Mac”.
  2. Click on the download link that shows up, and enter the personal redemption code given to you.
  3. Open the downloaded Mac OS X El Capitan software and preview the file in the Applications folder. Click “Continue” and then select “Agree”.
  4. Click on “Install” and then enter your admin password. You're all set!

Part 3. Installing Mac OS X El Capitan Safely on an External Drive

Install Mac Os X El Capitan On New Hard Drive

You don’t have to install Mac OS X El Capitan on your Mac device, you can also install it on an external hard drive, most especially when you want to access the OS quickly. You can consider Thunderbolt drives which are similar to the internal drives on Mac, or you can simply use the USB 3.0 external drive if you don’t have the Thunderbolt on your Mac. You will have to format an external drive before installing Mac OS X El Capitan, this will help to install the Mac OS X El Capitan safely on the hard drive and at the same time the configuration of your device will not be changed.

Step 1. Launch Disk Utility

Install Os X El Capitan On New Hard Drive

Connect the external drive to your Mac device and make sure it is detected. Launch the Disk Utility tool ( go to “Utilities” and you will find it there). Choose the drive- it is located at the side bar.

Step 2. Partition

Simply click on “Partition”. Make sure the partition layout reads “1 partition”. Name the partition. You can use a name like “Mac OS X El Capitan”. Click on “Options” and ensure that the Guide partition table is chosen, and then click on “Ok”.

Step 3. Options

Click “Apply'. Open the preview file from your Mac’s application folder. Click on “Continue”. Click on the “Agree” button.

Step 4. Open

Click on “Show all disks”. Simply highlight the “External Hard Drive” on which you have just install the Mac OS X El Capitan

Step 5. Install

Click on “Install”, and enter the admin password.

My MacBook Air is running a 120GB SSD drive so I don’t want my hard drive full of excess things I don’t need. I just noticed after El Capitan that I lost a lot of space. I only had 10GB free. To run well a mac hard disk needs at least 20% free. Here’s how I freed up some more space.

I ran Disc Inventory X to see where the excess space was taken.

1. Remove old iPhoto library.

Look at this screenshot from Disk Inventory X: The pink section surrounded by the yellow line is my old ‘iphoto’ library. The large turquoise section to the left is the new ‘Photos’ library. El Capitan came with a new app called ‘Photos.’ The new Photos app imported my old iPhoto library, but it didn’t delete it! They are the same photos, the entire library has been duplicated. Deleting my old iPhoto library released almost 7 G of space!

To find the file just right click on the box and select ‘reveal in finder’:

This took me to the following folder:

I just dragged this to the trash and saved 6.6GB.

While I was at it I went to my ‘Applications’ folder and deleted the old ‘iphoto’ app which took up 1.7GB.

I could do this pretty confidently because my macbook air is my second machine, all my photo’s are only home computer if anything goes wrong.

2. Gmail ‘All Mail’

This huge multicoloured box turns out to be the Gmail ‘All Mail’

I discovered 15GB of gmail data in Apple Mail. Yes Apple mail now by default seems to download the gmail ‘All Mail’ folder which included every email you’ve ever deleted on gmail. The ‘All mail’ folder had over 17,000 emails in it. No wonder my internet usage was high last month – my laptop must have downloaded the entire 15GB of emails from gmail.

Fraps 2.7.2 crack. Thankfully it was a simple fix.

Here’s how to disable the ‘All mail’ folder from being downloaded to your Macintosh.

Go into Gmail.com, then go to Settings on the top right menu, then under the ‘Labels’ tab I changed ‘All Mail’ to ‘Hide’

I still needed to delete the files from the hard disk manually.

I am using OSX El Capitan, and Mail version 9.1. I am not sure what other versions of mail have this problem.

Other items…

Create El Capitan Install Usb

The were some other files I found with Disk Inventory X, (Old installers, old apps, some movies) and when I deleted them all in total I recovered 30GB!