Backup USB Bootdrives

[At_Op45]

Hi there. I recently installed Mojave on my main device and attempted to create a boot drive for my older iMac which is in need of repair. Like most of you known, Mojave no longer shows previously purchased macOS in the app store. Apple has even come out and said to use devices with High Sierra and before to make bootable USBs the traditional way.

I kept my older MacBook Pro with the intention of a project but now I simply want to use it make several USBs of prior macOS and have them ready just in case apple removes all macOS from the app store. I don't know if this is rational or not but, I 'd rather just be safe being that I'm new to all this.

My question is how to best go about downloading and formatting several OS to different USBs per os. Should I just repeat the traditional steps several times, or is there a faster way for multiple USBs?

Please reply with any comments or suggestions on specific steps and methods. Thanks.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try here for El Cap:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1&mt=12

Try here for Low Sierra:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?ls=1&mt=12

Try here for High Sierra:
https://itunes.apple.com/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12

Get 3 USB flashdrives 8gb or larger.

I suggest using DiskMaker X to create the bootable flashdrives.

 

[At_Op45]

May you please recommend a link for snow leopard, mountain lion, and mavericks? Thank you.

 

[Fishrrman]

"May you please recommend a link for snow leopard, mountain lion, and mavericks?"

I don't believe that they exist.
I could be wrong.

 

[CoastalOR]

May you please recommend a link for snow leopard, mountain lion, and mavericks? Thank you.

Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion are paid OS and can be purchased from Apple. Mavericks is no longer available from Apple. There are people that sell bootable USB drives with Mavericks on eBay.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

@At_Op45:
Apples OS X / macOS installers are signed with a certificate, which has a limited validity. This helps:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/216730

 

[At_Op45]

Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion are paid OS and can be purchased from Apple. Mavericks is no longer available from Apple. There are people that sell bootable USB drives with Mavericks on eBay.

I purchased both Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion back in the day but they no longer show in my purchased section in the app store. I'll check out Ebay. Thanks for the response.

 

[CoastalOR]

I purchased both Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion back in the day but they no longer show in my purchased section in the app store. I'll check out Ebay. Thanks for the response.

As a price comparison for your eBay search;
Know that the Snow Leopard install DVD disk can be purchased from Apple for $19.99:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard

Mountain Lion download can be purchased from Apple as a download only (they will send a email with a download code/link) for $19.99. ML can only be downloaded to a computer capable of launching the ML installer and capable of running ML:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...a7dbf78fe3cfb8aebd8493ddc9dc6e6fb6a21e80dfe70
If you have a Mac running an older OS (before Mojave), you could launch the old App Store and probably find ML on the Purchased tab as long as you use the Apple ID used to purchase ML originally.