I quit “Disk Utility” and launch the Terminal. I try to erase again but end up with the same MediaKit error.įrom past experience, I know that when “Disk Utility” fails, the diskutil command line will more than likely succeed.
Note: Strangely, even after failing, “Disk Utility” changes the internal SSD to “Mac OS Extended” format and renames it “disk0s3”. The error message is “MediaKit reports not enough space on device for requested operation”. I run the “Disk Utility” application, select the internal SSD, and erase the drive, selecting “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” as the file system format. The 2011 Macbook Pro only has USB 2.0 ports so the macOS High Sierra installer takes longer than expected to load. (The instructions for Catalina are the same for High Sierra and Mojave.)
I follow the instructions from Install macOS 10.15 Catalina Using Bootable USB Flash Drive to create a bootable USB flash drive containing the macOS High Sierra installer. Running the “createinstallmedia” command to create a bootable USB flash drive resulted in an error. One would need to run it in order to download the rest of High Sierra inline. Unfortunately, the macOS High Sierra package is only 20MB in size. Note: I borrowed another sister’s Macbook running macOS 10.9 Maverick and was able to download macOS High Sierra using the App Store. I successfully download macOS 10.13 High Sierra. Thankfully, I find a website, The Mac Go which hosts all the macOS installers for download. Research reveals that starting in the latest macOS 10.14.6 Mojave, Apple has disallowed downloading older macOS versions. Clicking on the Get button to download redirects to “Software Update” with an error message, “The requested version of macOS is not available”. Clicking on it redirects me to the App Store page for High Sierra.
I find a support page, How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra which has a link named “Get macOS High Sierra”. Evidently, Apple has decided to make it more difficult to see older versions of macOS. Worst, the App Store search returns no results. The App Store doesn’t allow me to look at my past purchases, which would have listed High Sierra. I go to my Mac mini running macOS 10.14 Mojave to download macOS High Sierra like normal. I need to create a bootable USB drive containing the macOS 10.13 High Sierra installer because High Sierra is the last macOS version supported by the 2011 Macbook Pro. I remove the slowpoke mechanical drive from and install the SSD into the 2011 Macbook Pro. I decide to upgrade the performance of my sister’s Late 2011 Macbook Pro by repurposing a 240GB SSD (Solid State Drive).