- Installation notes for macOS Catalina (v10.15) This document specifically refers to upgrades from previous versions of macOS to Catalina (10.15). It should be removed from the source repository when Catalina ceases to be the latest macOS version or when future Catalina versions no longer raise these issues.
- After the installation is complete, shut down your Mac and then restart it using the USB drive again. The reason for this is that you can apply an installed patch to ensure that Catalina works properly on your system. After returning to the macOS recovery environment, click on the option that says 'macOS Post Install.'
- Speciality level out of ten: 1. Apr 2, 2020 12:29 PM in response to tball7. In response to tball7. MacOS High Sierra to macOS Catalina is a direct upgrade, on a supported Mac. No intermediate upgrade (to macOS Mojave) is needed. Here is How to upgrade to macOS Catalina - Apple Support.
- DosDude Catalina Patcher is a popular third-party tool that allows users to patch the MacOS Catalina installer on otherwise unsupported Macs. Of course, just because you can do this, doesn't mean.
Download and install the VMware Fusion application. These instructions were tested using 'VMware Fusion Player' version 12.1.0. Choose a version of macOS to install. For example, a virtual machine can be installed by using an Install macOS application or macOS Recovery partition compatible.
Can you install macOS Catalina on an external SSD connected to your Mac? Yes, it's definitely possible. However, since Apple initiated a relatively new partition scheme (APFS) with macOS High Sierra, the process is slightly different than with older versions of macOS. This article shows you how to set up a new SSD with macOS Catalina that you can boot from.
Why Installing macOS Catalina on External SSD?
macOS can be installed on an external storage device by default, such as HDD, SSD or USB flash drive. And this priciple also applies to macOS Catalina. For permance consideration, external SSD is much better becaus of faster reading and writing speed. The good news is that external SSD is much cheaper than before and the price gap is much smaller.
Now, the big question is why you don't want to install macOS Catalina on your main hard drive. After all, if you're upgrading to macOS Catalina, you want your Mac to boot to it all the time, don't you? Not necessarily. There are several reasons why you might not want to disturb your current installation, whether it's Catalina or an older version of macOS. Here are some possible reasons.
● You might want to try macOS Catalina without having to uninstall and roll back to Mojave or High Sierra if you change your mind. Uninstalling and rolling back to an older version of macOS is time-consuming and a tedious process that is prone to errors, so you may not want the hassles that come with it.
● Your Mac (Mostly Mac Mini or iMac) is built upon on a HDD and it runs slowly. You are looking for a way to boost the performance without untouching the internal drive.
● Since there are bound to be bugs in early versions of any new OS, you might want to avoid the hassle of having it as your default OS. This way, you can update it as new versions are released, then install it as your main OS when you're happy with the stability of the software.
● You may want to have the SSD run macOS Catalina on more than one machine. Since your SSD is essentially an external drive that is portable, you may want to switch it between one Mac and the other. Instead of installing Catalina on both, you have the flexibility of simply connecting the SSD to one of the Macs when you want to boot from it.
● It's also possible that you want to run a different set of apps and, therefore, need more memory. If you use a larger-capacity SSD, this will allow you to load a ton of heavy apps like Photoshop and so on, which might not be possible with your current hard drive because it is already full of data.
How to Pick up the Right External SSD for Catalina
Mac computers are made different from PCs. It has its own hardware port and unique standards. So not all external SSDs are suitable for Macs. To maximize the performance of SSD, it should be USB 3.0 compatible, if you have enough budget, ThunderBolt port is more welcome as it has much faster reading and writing speed. Besides, the volume should be 128 GB or larger. Below is a list of best external SSDs for Mac:
Further reading: How to check hardware port on your Mac
- Adata SD600Q External SSD 240GB (USB 3.2, $39.16)
- SanDisk 500GB Extreme Portable External SSD (USB-C, $84.99)
- Samsung X5 Portable SSD 500GB (Thunderbolt 3, $199.99)
- LaCie Portable SSD STHK1000800 1TB (USB-C, $178.31 )
- G-Technology 0G06053 Portable External SSD 1TB (USB 3.0, $189.95)
- WD 500GB My Passport Go SSD (USB 3.0, $69.99)
- Seagate One Touch SSD External 1TB (USB 3.0, $144.99)
Notice: The SSD you are going to use or purchase should be compatible with your Mac.
Preparation before Getting Started
To instal Catalina on external SSD, there are quite a few things you should set up previously. The preparatory steps are very important because if you don't get them right, the time spent on the rest of the process will be completely wasted and you'll have to do it all over again. For that reason, make sure you follow the steps exactly as outlined. macOS Catalina is built on a different drive partition scheme, the APFS file system. This was introduced in Catalina for Mac but it's been in iOS for quite some time. In an effort to unify its desktop and mobile operating systems, Apple has now rolled out the new system to both branches of its core OS.
1. Download Catalina DMG File: For macOS installation, you have to create a bootable Catalina USB first. To do this, you need to get a copy of the Catalina dmg file.
Download link: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ /macOS_Catalina_DMG.rar
2. Format External SSD to APFS: APFS is the file system that holds macOS Catalina installation. The SSD is formatted to exFAT when it is shipped. You can format the external drive to APFS with Disk Utility app.
Connect the SSD to your Mac and launch Disk Utility. Select the external drive in the left-side panel and click Erase. In the pop-up, name your drive, select APFS, and GUID Partition Map.
3. Backup important data on your Mac: To avid data loss, it is highly recommended backing up your important data on internal SSD with Time Machine or Cloud Drive.
How to Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB Installer
After completing the above preparation, it is time to get into the part for creating a bootable Catalina USB installer. This can be done easily with the help of UUByte DMG Editor, a cross-platform program for making bootable USB drive from macOS dmg file.
Step 1: Please download UUByte DMG Editor on a PC or Mac and follow the on-screen tips to install this utility on your computer..
Step 2: Plug in an external USB flash drive and eject other USB devices at the same time. Now, open UUByte DMG Editor and click Burn tab.
Step 3: In Burn page, click Browse button to add macOS dmg file you downloaded to the program. After a few seconds, you can see the USB drive in secord field.
Step 4: Set a name for the new volume and click Burn button to start writing Catalina DMG file to USB drive. The file is around 8GB so it takes about 10 minutes to finish the task. Please be patient!
Creating macOS Big Sur install USB on Windows 10 is simple with the help of UUByte DMG Editor. It is one of the best tools for managing DMG file on a Windows PC.
How to Install Catalina on External SSD
You have done all the crucial steps in above part and the final step is how to install macOS Catalina on External SSD. This process is quite simple.
First, connect the SSD to your Mac. Then restart your Mac and hold the Option key until you see the Apple logo. In the Startup Disk, click the external drive name.
When the boot resumes, you should boot into macOS Catalina installation wizard. At this stage, you should pick up the external SSD to install Catalina.
Another way to boot Catalina is from System Preferences. Here, go to the Startup Disk section, select your external SSD, and then hit Restart. Do not hold the Option or Alt key down if you're using this method.
Troubleshooting If Catalina Installation Failed
USB not bootable: If the USB drive is not showing up in Startup Manager, this means the USB drive is not recognized as a bootable device. Please download Catalina DMG file from another source and burn it again with UUByte DMG Editor. Sometimes, the partition table is missing in corrupted or damaged dmg file.
Can not boot into Catalina partition after installation: On latest T2 chip, Mac does not allow booting from external storage device by default. You have to enable 'Allow booting from external media' in Startup Security Utility, where you can launch it in macOS Recovery by pressing and holding Command + R immediately at startup.
Conclusion
Once you have macOS Big Sur installer USB ready, you can insert it into any Mac and run the program to install Apple's latest desktop operating system. Big Sur is officially coming in the fall and has a ton of updated features on nearly all fronts, including the OS interface, Safari, Siri, Messages for desktop, etc. But you should also know that since the currently available DMG is only a public beta tester version, it is bound to have bugs and other issues. If you're on the beta program, you can use the feedback app to let Apple know what the issue is. Unfortunately, that also means that there's nothing you can do about it if you're not on the beta program.
macOS Catalina 10.15 is the latest operating system that runs on Apple Mac laptops and desktops. However, it is still in beta test and only available for part of Mac computers with high profile or enrolled in Apple Beta Program. Is there any way to upgrade the macOS to Catalina manually or install Catalina on Mac from scratch? The answer is Yes. But you have to download macOS Cataina DMG or the installer app.
If you are looking for the easiest way to download macOS Catalina DMG on a Macand but don't know how? Well, there are three ways by which you can instantly get the latest macOS installer without a hassle.
Part 1. Get MacOS Catalina DMG Via Direct Download Link
Many people prefer the direct download link of macOS Catalina as it is more flexible. You can unpack the DMG file and make a bootable Catalina installer USB, which can be used to install macOS on other computers. However, it is not easy to find the direct download link because Apple wants you to upgrade from Mac App Store. Fortunately, there are a few good websites that host the direct download link of macOS Catalina DMG. After that, you can burn the macOS dmg to USB to make it bootable for installation.
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 1: https://themacgo.com/macdownload/ (Wait a few seconds and the download starts automatically.)
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 2: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ELQXMuuVWddamLPG0RHjyvaNW4r628CM (Password: Geekrar.com)
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 3: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wazr84baudhi27h/macOS_Catalina_DMG_by_Geekrar.rar/file
macOS Catalina 10.15 DMG Download Link 4: https://sundryfiles.com/G54 (Premium account required for download!)
macOS Catalina 10.15 InstallESDDmg PKG Download Link : http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/61/56/041-83630-A_8RCIBB415Y/7jqh3nh97ood2mjej7hdgpx7fgh5c3fi9g/InstallESDDmg.pkg
macOS Catalina 10.15 VMware Image Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yrd1py7od5911zt/Catalina_Virtual_Disk_Image_by_Techsviewer.rar/file
macOS Catalina 10.15 VirtualBox Image Download Link: https://www.mediafire.com/file/yrd1py7od5911zt/Catalina_Virtual_Disk_Image_by_Techsviewer.rar/file
Tips: After downloading macOS Catalina .dmg file, it is time to make a macOS bootable USB from it. For this purpose, you can give a try on UUByte DMG Editor, one of the most popular software to create a Catalina USB installer on both Windows PC and Mac.
Part 2. Download macOS Catalina From Mac App Store
Apple always recommends its users downloading macOS install file from Mac App Store for security reasons. It is safe and easy. But the actual downloaded file is not an dmg file. Instead, it is an app called Install macOS Catalina, which is used to make the upgrade from current macOS to Catalina. For a clean install, it is better to download the dmg file and make an installer USB.
Note: Make sure to back up your Mac prior to installing macOS Catalina.
Step 1: Go to Mac App Store and search macOS Catalina. Then hit on 'Get' to download page.
Step 2: Doing this will open System Preferences followed by the section of Software Update, where you will find MacOS Catalina ready to download. Hit the option saying 'Upgrade Now' and download MacOS Catalina on your Mac.
Step 3: Next, macOS Catalina upgrade will ask for system reboot. Complete the process and install macOS Catalina on that computer.
Downloading macOS Catalina Install app works fine on my of newly devices but it could be problems for old Macs even it is officially supported by Catalina. If this is the case, then you have to patch the OS and install Catalina again. However, you need find a third-party app to do the dirty work. We will talk about this in Part 3.
Part 3. Download macOS Catalina 10.15 Installer with macOS Catalina Patcher
Although it may appear easy to try out the conventional approach of downloading macOS update in Software Update, there are a few known issues on old Macs shipped in 2013 or earlier, meaning the download progress can not be completed successfully. That's why macOS Catalina Patcher tool comes into help. This patching tool makes the job even simpler for installing macOS Catalina on unsupported Mac models.
However, the file size of these updates differs depending on the Mac device you are using. That means the downloaded update might not necessarily be the full installer version. For instance, if you wish to keep the installer file as archive for further application, or use it to generate bootable flash drive, this file size won't be sufficient.
Fortunately, with macOS Catalina Patcher tool, you can simply download the entire update of macOS setup from Apple's servers. Let's check out the stepwise instructions of how to use this software tool to download the macOS Catalina DMG.
Step 1: Download a copy of macOS Catalina Patcher from this link.
Step 2: After downloading and attempting to install, an error notification will be prompted. It is due to the unavailability of developer verification credential for macOS. Now, go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy. Then find the button saying 'Open Anyway' to let the app run.
Step 3: Open macOS Catalina Patcher app and from the main menu, navigate to Options to uncheck the box saying 'Auto-apply Post Install Patches'. As you are done with the previous step and move to the screen as in the link below, hit Download a Copy.
Step 4: The following screen will notify the file size of macOS Catalina you are to download. The resolution is around 7GB and after the download, it will automatically get stored in the Downloads folder. Then hit Continue to initiate the process of download.
How To Do A Fresh Install Of Macos Catalina
Step 5: The download time of the file will depend upon the internet connection and its speed. So, you might have to wait for some while for the process to complete. Eventually, the entire macOS Catalina setup file will be available on your device.
Macos Post Install Catalina Os
Closing Words
How To Do A Fresh Install Of Mac Catalina
Well, that is all for the day. Hopefully, the above methods were helpful in guiding you on how to download macOS Catalina for both supported and unsupported Macs. When the download is finished, the next step is to burn the DMG file to USB. Then boot macOS from USB and starts the installation wizard.