OS X 10.10, aka Yosemite, sports a more modern look and bridges the gap between Apple's desktop and mobile devices. The new Continuity helps you hand off tasks from iPhone to iPad to Mac, but that. MacBook Air (Mid 2012 or newer) MacBook Pro with Retina display (Mid 2012 or newer) Mac mini (Late 2012 or newer) iMac (Late 2012 or newer) iMac Pro (2017) Mac Pro (Late 2013 or newer) Boot Camp. Allows Boot Camp installations of Windows 10 on supported Mac models. Exchange Support. Get the best deals on Apple MacBook Pro Mac OS X 10.10, Yosemite Laptops and find everything you'll need to improve your home office setup at eBay.com. Fast & Free shipping on many items! On a computer running OS X Yosemite it is possible to see versions of Mac OS X in the Mac App Store. Yosemite, Mavericks and Mountain Lion can all be seen here. If OS X Yosemite came preinstalled on your new Mac, you’ll probably never need this article. In this article, you discover all you need to know to install or reinstall OS X, if you should have to. If you’re thinking about reinstalling because something has gone wrong with your Mac, know that an OS X reinstallation should be your last resort.
Check compatibility
You can upgrade to OS Yosemite on any of the following Mac models. Your Mac also needs at least 2GB of memory and 8GB of available storage space.
MacBook introduced in 2009 or later, plus MacBook (13-inch, Aluminum, Late 2008)
MacBook Air introduced in late 2008 or later
MacBook Pro introduced in mid 2007 or later
Mac mini introduced in early 2009 or later
iMac introduced in mid 2007 or later
Mac Pro introduced in early 2008 or later
Xserve models introduced in early 2009
To find your Mac model, memory, storage space, and macOS version, choose About This Mac from the Apple menu . If your Mac isn't compatible with OS X Yosemite, the installer will let you know.
Make a backup
Before installing any upgrade, it’s a good idea to back up your Mac. Time Machine makes it simple, and other backup methods are also available. Learn how to back up your Mac.
Get connected
It takes time to download and install OS X, so make sure that you have a reliable Internet connection. If you're using a Mac notebook computer, plug it into AC power.
Download OS X Yosemite
For the strongest security and latest features, find out whether you can upgrade to macOS Catalina, the latest version of macOS.
If you still need OS X Yosemite, use this link: Download OS X Yosemite. A file named InstallMacOSX.dmg will download to your Mac.
Install the macOS installer
Double-click the downloaded file to open a window showing its contents. Then double-click the file within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg.
Follow the onscreen instructions, which will guide you through the steps necessary to install.
Begin installation
After installation of the installer is complete, open the Applications folder on your Mac, then double-click the file named Install OS X Yosemite.
Click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. You might find it easiest to begin installation in the evening so that it can complete overnight, if needed.
Allow installation to complete
Please allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart, show a progress bar, or show a blank screen several times as it installs both OS X and related updates to your Mac firmware.
Learn more
- OS X Yosemite won't install on top of a later version of macOS, but you can erase your disk first or install on another disk.
- You can use macOS Recovery to reinstall macOS.
Community member Julius Chan has sent us this handy guide to getting a 2006 Mac Pro to run the lastest Mac OS X Yosemite.
Here is his helpful guide.
Disclaimer
First of all, all of the below are regarded as hacks. If you end up with bricked Mac Pro, then it’s your own silly fault. None of this stuff is qualified. You’re building what I refer to as a “Frankenmac”.
History
Part of my day job is building Pro Tools rigs for high-end customers. They can afford the best, so I get to tinker with the latest Avid qualified hardware and software available: “iAshtray” Mac Pros, tank-like rack mounted Sonnet chassis, HDX or HD Native cards etc. All fully qualified, just the way I like it.
This is all jolly nice for my clients, but my own personal 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 with a Cinema display (purchased from a friend for a pittance) sits there languishing quite a few operating systems behind on OSX Lion 10.7.5 running Pro Tools 10.3.10 HD. Bugger…
I’d read that some very clever folk had managed to persuade an old Mac Pro to run Mountain Lion and then Mavericks, and searching the Interwebs, I did indeed find a number of solutions that seemed to require entering a lot of commands in Terminal, creating boot partitions and generally patting your head and chewing gum at the same time. So I decided to wait a wee while until I found a more elegant solution. The wait seems to have been worth it, as I now have my poor old machine running on OSX Yosemite 10.10.2 and Pro Tools 11.3.1
The main restriction for a 2006/7 Mac Pro is that it was designed to boot into a 32-bit environment, even though a lot of the internal hardware was 64-bit capable. The clever bunnies out there in the Wild World Webby, have managed to fool a Ye Olde Mac Pro to run in 64 bit EFI.
Things that you will need:
- A Mac Pro 1,1 or 2,1 Cheese grater desktop with OSX Lion 10.7.5 system drive
- 8GB USB drive
- A graphics card better than a GT120, I used a Radeon HD 5770, original mac version with its appropriate power cable. There are flashed PC cards out there, but they won’t display a boot screen. I like a boot screen, so I purchased a proper Apple card (2nd hand)
- We are sorry but the pre patched version of OSX Yosemite 10.10 is no longer available. It would appear that Apple have asked for it to be taken down.
- Either boot.efi file downloadable here. Black is a white Apple on a black background and Grey is the traditional Apple boot screen:
- Black: Sorry no longer available
- Grey: Sorry no longer available
- I chose the black screen as I dual boot into OSX Lion 10.8.5 or Yosemite 10.10.2. The black screen tells me instantly that I’m booting into Yosemite.
- A spare hard drive, mechanical or SSD for the new system drive. You could partition your old Lion drive, but I prefer to build on drive that’s minty fresh. If I stuff anything up, I can always boot back to my untouched Lion system drive. Contingency plan…
- A download of Yosemite 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 Combo updaters http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1786?locale=en_US
- A download of Diskmaker X http://liondiskmaker.com/
All of the above cost me around $200 US, I had a spare 1TB 7200 rpm SATA drive, USB drives are cheap and seem to breed like rabbits. They also seem to disappear down the black hole that guitar picks, iLok 2 lids and single socks end up.
Preparation
I’m going to assume that you’re booting from your old Lion system drive, so go ahead and download all the bits and bobs from the links above. Depending on your internet speed, this may take some time, so make a nice pot of tea. If you’re in Australia, as I am, you have plenty of time to make a nice batch of scones with jam and cream, thanks to our advanced network infrastructure.
Once you’ve finished downloading, place the files somewhere safe, it could be on a USB drive etc
I popped the files on one of my media drives temporarily so I could access them from my old system drive or my new system drive. (yet to be created, mwahhahaha)
Hardware Installation
Open up your Mac Pro, take the nasty GT120 graphics card out and pop in the ATI Radeon 5770. This card takes its power from the motherboard, so make sure you’ve got the correct power cable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUh0uvUHn68
Install your new system drive, but leave the Lion drive in for the moment. I usually put new, unformatted drives in bay 4… Just so I know…
Reboot your rig into OSX Lion and make sure the new graphics card is AOK. You could format your new system drive at this stage as well. Call it something like “Yosemite HD” or “Kevin” if you wish.
Double and triple check that you’re formatting the correct drive… (Doh) Bay 4, remember??
Software Installation
Open up Lion Diskmaker X and follow the instructions to create a bootable USB “special” Yosemite installer from the big Yosemite image you download before. This is the patched version of Yosemite.
Don’t install the Apple App store version as this does not have ze patch…
This can take some time, so be patient and do something useful for the planet, like knitting a vest for our wee penguins on Phillip Island.
- Install Yosemite from USB drive to your new “Yosemite HD” system drive. Bay 4, remember?? Hold down the Mac option key to choose your boot drive after start up chime.
- Install the boot.efi patch, I used the black version. Restart the mac, hold down the mac option key to choose your boot drive after start up chime You should now be able to boot into either OSX Lion or Yosemite 10.10 flat. Woo Hoo!
- Install either OSX 10.10.1 or 10.10.2 Combo updater
You’re done. I then optimise OSX Yosemite for Pro Tools, turning off mission control, notifications, silly kitten desktop pictures etc.
Os X Yosemite For Mac Pro Installer
More Hardware Options
This not a job for the faint-hearted, but it’s still pretty easy to do if you like to get your hands dirty.
I replaced the old processors (dual cores) with SLAED Xeon 5355’s. EBay again, cost $80 US each.
This mod doubles the amount of processor cores giving a significant speed bump.
Videos here:
Conclusion
I now have the choice to boot into OSX Lion 10.7.5 with PT10.3.10 HD OR boot into OSX Yosemite 10.10.2 with PT11.3.1. As an added bonus, my processor cores have gone from 4 to 8 at 3GHz.The new graphics card no longer struggles like the old GT120 did.
Both the software and hardware changes, including the processor upgrades were done comfortably in an afternoon. Download times were about 7 days with our advanced Australian Internet speeds.
The main reason why I wanted PT11.x running was for the video engine and faster than real-time bounce as I have recently completed a filum project that required a whole bunch of stems.
I used PT10HD for the editing and mixing, then bumped over to PT11.3.1 for stem creation.
Next thing to do for the ye olde Mac is to find some more RAM and change the Yosemite system drive to an SSD. It seems that I should be able to get quite a few more years of life from a machine that officially could not run a 64 bit OS or applications. For a machine from 2006, this is pretty cool and I’ve managed to spend under $400 US to achieve it.
Thanks
Os X Yosemite Macbook Pro
Don’t forget to offer up some shekels for the shareware products.