How do I install macOS Sierra on a blank hard drive?

[BenchFox]

I've recently got my hands on a unibody iMac from 2010. It already had Sierra installed on it, but the hard drive was partitioned frankly stupidly. The hard drive had a capacity of 1TB, but only about 17GB was usable as the boot partition. That partition couldn't be edited in any useful way, so I tried to format it using the command prompt on a Windows 10 install disk on my desktop.

I'd tried to make a bootable USB of Sierra using TransMac (I don't have another Mac computer) but I can't see it on the startup options menu. I also can't see my hard drive (it's entirely possible it didn't format as exFAT).

How do I get macOS installed with a USB on a blank hard drive?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

It sounds like you're embarking into the Mac world from the Windows world and the just so you know the partitioning doesn't work the same. There is indeed a small partition on the drive starting with macOS Lion I believe when Apple added the recovery console so that you could always get back into the machine for re-installation..

Was the machine running a fresh installation of Sierra? That machine can go up to High Sierra, but that's it.

This is quite a number of versions of the OS behind and most recent versions of applications you'll want to run will ask for at least Mojave or Catalina as the minimum version of the OS. So you're going to face some issues there.

So assuming you haven't messed up the existing drive with Sierra on it, power down the iMac and then power it back up while holding CMD+r on it. This will take you to the recovery console. From there, go to Disk Utility and choose the drive and hit Erase (don't try to partition or do anything fancy). Then go back to the main menu and click re-install macOS which will get you a new installation of Sierra.

Once the installation is done, boot into it and set it up. Then use this link to get a copy of High Sierra and do the upgrade.

 

[pm-r]

I've recently got my hands on a unibody iMac from 2010. It already had Sierra installed on it,

I guess my first question would be, does that 2010 iMac that you just received actually boot up as it is???



- Patrick
=======

 

[BenchFox]

It sounds like you're embarking into the Mac world from the Windows world and the just so you know the partitioning doesn't work the same. There is indeed a small partition on the drive starting with macOS Lion I believe when Apple added the recovery console so that you could always get back into the machine for re-installation..

Was the machine running a fresh installation of Sierra? That machine can go up to High Sierra, but that's it.

This is quite a number of versions of the OS behind and most recent versions of applications you'll want to run will ask for at least Mojave or Catalina as the minimum version of the OS. So you're going to face some issues there.

So assuming you haven't messed up the existing drive with Sierra on it, power down the iMac and then power it back up while holding CMD+r on it. This will take you to the recovery console. From there, go to Disk Utility and choose the drive and hit Erase (don't try to partition or do anything fancy). Then go back to the main menu and click re-install macOS which will get you a new installation of Sierra.

Once the installation is done, boot into it and set it up. Then use this link to get a copy of High Sierra and do the upgrade.

There was a small partition for recovery, but I'm saying the main partition (Macintosh HD) was only 17GB.

As far as I can tell, it wasn't a fresh install. It would only boot up to recovery mode though.

I am aware this won't run the latest macOS. High Sierra is new enough for me.

I formatted the drive. That install of Sierra is gone. I'd tried using the terminal to edit partition sizes already. It does not work (apparently because it's the boot partition or something). How do I reinstall Sierra (or any compatible version of macOS for that matter) on my blank, formatted hard drive?

 

[Raz0rEdge]

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

As I mentioned, use Disk Utility to erase the drive. Then on the main page you'll see Re-Install macOS Sierra there, click on it and let it do it's job.

If you've indeed formatted the drive such that it won't get back into the Recovery Console, then you'll have to create a bootable USB drive with the installer which ideally requires another Mac.

 

[ferrarr]

You could buy a Snow Leopard DVD, then upgrade to Sierra/High Sierra after.

You can get Mac OS X/OS X/macOS versions here, but the retail version of Snow Leopard DVD will be harder to find.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

 

[BenchFox]

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

You can use macOS Recovery, your computer's built-in recovery system, to reinstall the Mac operating system. Reinstalling macOS doesn't remove your personal data.

support.apple.com

As I mentioned, use Disk Utility to erase the drive. Then on the main page you'll see Re-Install macOS Sierra there, click on it and let it do it's job.

If you've indeed formatted the drive such that it won't get back into the Recovery Console, then you'll have to create a bootable USB drive with the installer which ideally requires another Mac.

Yes, I've been trying to make a bootable USB. The problem is it won't show up in the Startup options menu.

The reason I formatted is because Disk Utility wouldn't erase or enlarge the partition. Neither that nor the Terminal did anything.

 

[BenchFox]

You could buy a Snow Leopard DVD, then upgrade to Sierra/High Sierra after.

You can get Mac OS X/OS X/macOS versions here, but the retail version of Snow Leopard DVD will be harder to find.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

I've tried using TransMac to make a bootable USB with the Sierra .dmg file I downloaded here. I'd rather not spend money until I make sure bootable USBs don't work.

 

[Rod]

From the very start what you needed to do was Boot into the Recovery partition and using Disk Utility from there Erase and Reformat the Macintosh HD as MacOS Extended (Journalled) (you cannot format a Mac HD as ExFAT). Then choose the option to Reinstal MacOS.
TransMac has unreliable outcomes when creating bootable installers for MacOS you are, after all dealing with a completely different filing system.
Ideally a MacOS installer needs to be downloaded from a Mac specific source (like the Apple App Store) then converted to a bootable installer on a USB stick using Terminal or one of a number of free third party apps.
Booting from the USB installer is just a matter of holding down the Option Key on Start Up (boot) you will see the installer as a bootable option.
You then use Disk Utility on the USB drive (it looks the same as the Recovery partition window) to erase the Macintosh HD. Then install the version of MacOS you have loaded on the USB drive).
When complete it should restart to the "Welcome" screen which will walk you through the setup process.

PS. As I seem to have said to about three OP's this week if the previous owner had followed the simple easily obtained instructions,

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac​

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

None of this would have been necessary.

As for removing the partition the instructions are easy to find;

How to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac

Do you need to get back that extra space you gave up to partition your Mac's hard drive?

www.imore.com

 

[BenchFox]

From the very start what you needed to do was Boot into the Recovery partition and using Disk Utility from there Erase and Reformat the Macintosh HD as MacOS Extended (Journalled) (you cannot format a Mac HD as ExFAT). Then choose the option to Reinstal MacOS.
TransMac has unreliable outcomes when creating bootable installers for MacOS you are, after all dealing with a completely different filing system.
Ideally a MacOS installer needs to be downloaded from a Mac specific source (like the Apple App Store) then converted to a bootable installer on a USB stick using Terminal or one of a number of free third party apps.
Booting from the USB installer is just a matter of holding down the Option Key on Start Up (boot) you will see the installer as a bootable option.
You then use Disk Utility on the USB drive (it looks the same as the Recovery partition window) to erase the Macintosh HD. Then install the version of MacOS you have loaded on the USB drive).
When complete it should restart to the "Welcome" screen which will walk you through the setup process.

PS. As I seem to have said to about three OP's this week if the previous owner had followed the simple easily obtained instructions,

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac​

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

None of this would have been necessary.

As for removing the partition the instructions are easy to find;

How to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac

Do you need to get back that extra space you gave up to partition your Mac's hard drive?

www.imore.com

Do you mean by "boot into the recovery partition" that I needed to boot into recovery mode? Because that's what I did, and Disk Utility didn't help me there. I'm not very familiar with Macs, so if what you described was something else, I'd unfortunately missed that step before formatting the hard drive.

I am aware that the different file systems may cause issues in making a bootable USB on Windows. I don't have a Mac at my disposal (aside from my old eMac) so I don't really have a choice. Is there a more reliable alternative to TransMac? I've heard of a program called gibMacOS, would that work?

The steps you provided to delete a partition didn't work. The OS detected that I had a 1TB hard drive, but I couldn't delete the Macintosh HD partition because it was the "boot partition" and when I tried using Disk Utility to try and edit the size of my partition, it wouldn't let me increase it, as if my hard drive only had 17GB (even though in the properties it correctly said that it was a 1TB hard drive).

 

[BenchFox]

From the very start what you needed to do was Boot into the Recovery partition and using Disk Utility from there Erase and Reformat the Macintosh HD as MacOS Extended (Journalled) (you cannot format a Mac HD as ExFAT). Then choose the option to Reinstal MacOS.
TransMac has unreliable outcomes when creating bootable installers for MacOS you are, after all dealing with a completely different filing system.
Ideally a MacOS installer needs to be downloaded from a Mac specific source (like the Apple App Store) then converted to a bootable installer on a USB stick using Terminal or one of a number of free third party apps.
Booting from the USB installer is just a matter of holding down the Option Key on Start Up (boot) you will see the installer as a bootable option.
You then use Disk Utility on the USB drive (it looks the same as the Recovery partition window) to erase the Macintosh HD. Then install the version of MacOS you have loaded on the USB drive).
When complete it should restart to the "Welcome" screen which will walk you through the setup process.

PS. As I seem to have said to about three OP's this week if the previous owner had followed the simple easily obtained instructions,

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac​

What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac

None of this would have been necessary.

As for removing the partition the instructions are easy to find;

How to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac

Do you need to get back that extra space you gave up to partition your Mac's hard drive?

www.imore.com

I just learned that a recovery partition and recovery mode are different. However, I also learned from the last person who tried to fix it that the recovery partition was corrupt anyways.

 

[BenchFox]

BIG UPDATE: I made a bootable USB of High Sierra using gibMacOS AND IT WORKS!

I am now in the macOS Utilities.

Unfortunately, we're still not out of the weeds. Despite it detecting the 1TB hard drive, it tells me that there's only 2GB of storage, of which about 800MB is usable. It won't allow me to install High Sierra (as long as the version is officially supported, I'm fine with it).

Is the hard drive a lost cause? Or is this a software issue?

 

[Rod]

Gosh BenchFox, its really hard to say. If I have this right you are now booted from the USB drive and have opened Disk Utility.
In the sidebar menu ensure you are displaying ALL Devices. At the top of that list you should see a "Media" device. This is the internal drive itself. It should have a manufacturers name. Mine says Apple SSD APO512R Media, this is what you want to erase and Format, NOT Macintosh HD
You should then name it Macintosh HD, Format should be APFS and Partition Map GUID.
You should then have one completely empty volume called Macintosh HD under the Media title. All things being equal you should then be able to instal High Sierra successfully.
I just wonder if you have been confusing Partitions with Volumes, an easy mistake to make if you are not familiar with the Apple file structure and terminology.

 

[ferrarr]

When in Disk Utility, go to the View Menu and make sure "Show all Devices" has been enabled.

 

[BenchFox]

IT WORKS NOW!

I just had to erase the hard drive. I got the full TB of capacity. After that installing High Sierra was a walk in the park.

It's all set up now.

Moral of the story: Use gibMacOS instead of TransMac to make a bootable macOS USB.

Thank you very much for your help!