Os X El Capitan No Disk To Install

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Jamie Swearengin

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Aug 3, 2024, 2:27:00 PM8/3/24

to fundefetsva

I just got my macbook pro back from a harddrive repair and it was reported to have been working fine. So, I start it up and it takes me to Mac OS X instalation screen (The Snowlepard disk is in it) and I select a language and then agree to the terms and service. It then takes me to a screen that says "Install Mac OSX" as a title and below it says "Select the disk where you want to install Mac OS X". The only thing is there isn't any thing to select from.

When I came across this I noticed that I didn't have a volume under the main APPLE SSD SM1024G Media. You need create a partition under it. Click on APPLE SSD SM1024G Media, select partition map scheme is GUID Partition Table. Name the volume Macintosh. Select and make sure it is in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Select Apply. Once you see the volume created. Go back to the macOS utility screen and select install MacOS.

Switch over to Disk Utility (IIRC, should be in one of the menus), see if the HDD device is there. Click on it to select, make sure the partition map scheme is GUID Partition Table. If a volume is present (named Macintosh HD?), select and make sure it is in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Erase/repartition if needed, and see if that fixes the MIA disk issue.

Reinstall Mac OX S, when prompt to select disk for installation, there is no disk. Neither Disk Utility showing the drive. I have got my one fixed today, been told because of HDD cable. Try this one whether it fix your.

On my machine (late 2012 27" iMac), the Disk Utility choice was inside the window with the choices as to where to load the OS from. I selected Disk Utility and followed Courcouls's instructions and my problem was solved. Apparently, my new HDD wasn't being recognized by the system yet, but after "fixing" that problem, it came to life, so to speak, and I was able to continue with the installation. I'm now upgrading to the latest version of OS X, thanks to you two! Thank you!

You should be able to upgrade for free to the latest version of OS X after your system is back up and running. Go to the App Store and check for upgrades, or click on the apple logo in the upper left corner of the menu, and select About This Mac, then click Software Update (Upgrade). Hope this helps.

Niel, you are "The MAN!" I have a 2006 MacBook Pro and I just replace the original Toshiba Aries 80GB and 5400 RPM with a new Seagate 500GB SATA,16MB Cache, and 7200 RPM and I had the same issue as "emmingja" I have totally forgot about "Disk Utility". Thanks, just wish I could of installed the "Lion" OS. Anyways, thanks for your response to "emingja's" post. ?

You need to Restart, and this time answer only the "What Language" question, then wait a quarter minute for the MenuBar to be drawn, then choose Disk Utility from the Utilities Menu and follow Courcoul's good directions above.

I am salvaging a mid 2013 MacBook Air 11" that was discarded with a broken screen backlight due to beverage spill and missing its SSD. (I have a very tiny budget right now so I'm only spending on more expensive items when my testing shows the machine might work well.)

I got the Apple Store to test the hardware then tested the computer myself by taking about two days to install OS X from one USB 2.0 flash drive to another USB 2.0 flash drive using an external display.

It seemed to work quite well other than that it ran at about 1% the speed of a normal Mac for anything that required disk access. This made it hard to test in any depth as problems could easily be due to OS X internal timeouts.

I have now purchased a USB 3.0 external hard drive and knowing how slow USB 2.0 flash drives are to install from and to, I'm hoping to use the fast external hard drive for both, but I'm not sure whether this is possible or how.

Can I just copy the contents of the El Capitan bootable installer USB to one of the partitions? I fear I may need to copy it as a drive/partition rather than as a file or folder, since it must be bootable. Does such a copy require special software?

I need to ask the experts here without being able to experiment since I'm unable to justify the purchase price of a magsafe 2 power supply until I'm confident the machine will work well. I am able to borrow a power supply only occasionally from friends.

I realize doing an Internet OS restore via Wi-Fi is another possibility but the Wi-Fi I have access to is both slow and behind a captive portal. So for this question I'm not pursuing that option thank you.

No, you can't just copy the files from one to another drive and assume that the new drive will install El Capitan. There is a special command to create such an install drive, called createinstallmedia which runs in Terminal

I just had the weirdest thing happen. I made a bootable USB drive with the El Capitan installationfor my 2013 13" MacBook Air. When I boot the USB to the El Capitan installation, everything goes through, but for some reason I end up with Yosemite instead of El Capitan... Bizarre! Somehow during the install of El Capitan it decides to switch and install Yosemite instead of El Capitan. Can anyone tell me what's going on here?

I select to install Mac OS X El Capitan to the internal SSD. Again, I am verifying it is in fact installing to the internal SSD, and the screen says "El Capitan" on the screen through the install process.

After 15 mins or so, the MacBook reboots and then automatically starts installing MacOS X again, all automatically, just a progress bar and the Mac OS X logo on the screen. However, this time the screen does not say El Capitan as it did before. It just has a the Mac OS X logo (the big X logo inside the circle). Then it takes about another 15 to 20 mins, and then reboots one more time.

I repeated this process 3 times today just to verify I wasn't going crazy or missing something, and it went exactly as I described. The last time I did it, I had downloaded a new Mac OS X El Capitan installation package from Apple and once again formatted and recreated the USB stick, and still the same bizarre thing happened.

So now that Yosemite is up and running, I then open that same USB drive in Mac OS and start El Capitan installation once again while Yosemite is running, and then it upgrades Yosemite to El Capitan successfully with no problem. However, using the same package, I cannot install El Capitan by booting the USB from scratch.

I have Googled this and it seems I am the only one with this bizarre thing happening. Does anyone have any clue why I can't install El Capitan from scratch? I can only get El Capitan by upgrading Yosemite.

Hi @verasme from experience what i've used to make bootable OS X disks is a tool called DiskMaker X, It uses the "Install OS X El Capitain" from your /Applications folder which you've downloaded from the App Store, and takes about 10-15 minutes to create a bootable disk without the hassle.

But seriously, would it kill Apple (and for that matter any/all installer app makers) to have a version file somewhere and to display during the install on a corner of the screen exactly what version/build is being installed?

I'm sorry I don't have anything intelligent to offer in response to this oddness. You're erasing the whole drive not just the previous OS volume (i.e. from the Partitions tab select a new partition scheme) - because all I can think is you're somehow getting redirected to a Yosemite recovery partition. Make sure you don't have an active internet recovery session on your network!

Hi @verasme I've had this exact same issue happen to me multiple times. I was able to resolve this problem by making a few changes to my OS upgrade process. Below you can find the steps that I take when I upgrade OS X using a USB drive. Let me know if you have any issues.

What is surprising about this, is that during the El Capitan installation, the agreement screen and the setup screen, they all say OS X El Capitan, and I did this multiple times to confirm I wasn't making a mistake. How can this be the Yosemite recover partition or some "renamed" Yosemite install if everything I am looking at clearly says "El Capitan" 10.11 during the install? The only thing I am suspecting is that "El Capitan" package contains a copy of Yosemite built-in as some form of fall-back mechanism for certain devices that are incompatible with El Capitan, and for some odd reason, maybe a bug in the installation, this El Capitan package is reverting to Yosemite. That's only my speculation from knowing how Apple can sometimes pull "secret weapons" out of nowhere. LOL

@Valenzuela , Typically I would boot from the USB by holding the Option key, and then I open Disk Utility from there. I then format the internal SSD and then quit the Disk Utility which brings me back to the main menu. At that time, I select to install Mac OS X without rebooting. Next time, I will try rebooting after formatting.

By the way, if you've used the Disk Utility that comes with El Capitan installation, you'll notice the interface is quite different than the one that comes with Yosemite. So not only do I see the installation says "El Capitan" during the install, it also comes with a newer version of the Disk Utility.

@verasme, Try first booting using control + R and delete the partition. Reboot and hold down option to install El Capitan. What you just mentioned was exactly how I encountered it and it puzzled me because I've always used the previous method of holding down option and never had any issues during upgrades.

After some time researching this I found an article from Apple with the new documented steps and that's what I've been using since then. FYI - I just tried to upgrade a Yosemite Mac Mini to El Capitan with no internet connection using just "Option" and the steps you followed and it brought me back to Yosemite after the upgrade "Completed". The Disk Utility interface was also the El Capitan GUI just like you described.