Issues installing old OS on seperate partition/volume

[i6leon9i]

Hello,

Firstly thank you to anyone that reads this and provides helpful feedback, i've been searching through many threads trying different things with no success and I can't help but think i'm missing something more simple?! So here is my issue;

I've got a couple of pieces of software I need to use, both however incompatible and unsupported with Catalina, which i'm running. The most recent OS that they are both compatible with is El Capitan so i've downloaded the OS installer file with a view to partitioning my internal SSD and loading it on, then just running this OS upon startup when I need it and returning to Catalina for my normal everyday use, i'm absolutely happy with this solution.

Partitioning my hard drive - went through disk utility and tried to partition but all of the buttons are greyed out, it says "This container can’t be split because the resulting containers would be too small", as you can see below i'm using just over half of a 500GB drive so plenty of space?

After reading through a few threads to try and solve the issue it appeared that creating a New Volume was actually more advisable nowadays? so I gave up with the partitioning and tried creating a new volume which was successful, so i've got a seperate volume now called "Legacy OSX" where i'm looking to install the El Capitan installer.

Next I try the El Capitan install (I'm in Catalina, but assuming I will get a prompt screen where I can select my new volume to install to) but get an error message that my copy of El Capitan OS is "too old to be opened on this version of OS X (i.e. Catalina), note I D/L the install file from the Apple site.

Read a few more threads and decided to make a boot disk on a USB stick, got that all sorted using terminal and an Apple guide online, restarted my mac, held the option key and entered Startup Manager, located my El Capitan Boot Disk (USB) and launched the installer, accepted the licence agreement etc. and get to the window where you select the drive to install to and all I can see is my USB! cant even see my original hard drive or the new volume created either?? Now i'm a bit out of ideas, I could try and install El Capitan to an external HDD (I assume that is a possibility) but I dont think this would be the best option for the audio software I intend to use, i'm hypothesising here but i'd imagine it would slower, less smooth, and possible lag.

Really appreciate your help.

 

[Taz Mangus]

If I am understanding what you have done so far, you will need to split your hard drive into 2 partitions, one formatted to APFS and the other formatted to HFS+. It sounds like your hard drive is APFS format with a separate volume created to install El-Capitan. That won’t work.

 

[LuisN]

Hello,

Firstly thank you to anyone that reads this and provides helpful feedback, i've been searching through many threads trying different things with no success and I can't help but think i'm missing something more simple?! So here is my issue;

I've got a couple of pieces of software I need to use, both however incompatible and unsupported with Catalina, which i'm running. The most recent OS that they are both compatible with is El Capitan so i've downloaded the OS installer file with a view to partitioning my internal SSD and loading it on, then just running this OS upon startup when I need it and returning to Catalina for my normal everyday use, i'm absolutely happy with this solution.

Partitioning my hard drive - went through disk utility and tried to partition but all of the buttons are greyed out, it says "This container can’t be split because the resulting containers would be too small", as you can see below i'm using just over half of a 500GB drive so plenty of space?

View attachment 912611

After reading through a few threads to try and solve the issue it appeared that creating a New Volume was actually more advisable nowadays? so I gave up with the partitioning and tried creating a new volume which was successful, so i've got a seperate volume now called "Legacy OSX" where i'm looking to install the El Capitan installer.

Next I try the El Capitan install (I'm in Catalina, but assuming I will get a prompt screen where I can select my new volume to install to) but get an error message that my copy of El Capitan OS is "too old to be opened on this version of OS X (i.e. Catalina), note I D/L the install file from the Apple site.

View attachment 912614

Read a few more threads and decided to make a boot disk on a USB stick, got that all sorted using terminal and an Apple guide online, restarted my mac, held the option key and entered Startup Manager, located my El Capitan Boot Disk (USB) and launched the installer, accepted the licence agreement etc. and get to the window where you select the drive to install to and all I can see is my USB! cant even see my original hard drive or the new volume created either?? Now i'm a bit out of ideas, I could try and install El Capitan to an external HDD (I assume that is a possibility) but I dont think this would be the best option for the audio software I intend to use, i'm hypothesising here but i'd imagine it would slower, less smooth, and possible lag.

Really appreciate your help.

El Capitan installer won't "see" your new partition unless you format it HFS. Did you do it?

 

[i6leon9i]

Thanks for the replies and note re: HFS, yes everything i've tried so far has been APFS so looks like I need to try HFS.

As per the first image i posted though, I can only seem to create new volumes (which have no option for HFS). When I try to create a partition it says the container can't be split as the resulting containers would be too small and i'm unable to adjust anything in the partition creation screen? any ideas?

 

[Consultant]

You also need a computer that supports the old OS.
El Capitan was released in 2015. That means roughly you need a computer that's a few years old.

 

[hallux]

You can't use the El Capitan installer within Catalina to install to the partition. You'd need to create a bootable installer USB (which CAN be done within Catalina) to then boot to in order to install to the second partition. This is assuming that the machine is old enough to have support in that older OS.

That's what I get for missing part of a post...

 

[LuisN]

Thanks for the replies and note re: HFS, yes everything i've tried so far has been APFS so looks like I need to try HFS.

As per the first image i posted though, I can only seem to create new volumes (which have no option for HFS). When I try to create a partition it says the container can't be split as the resulting containers would be too small and i'm unable to adjust anything in the partition creation screen? any ideas?

The easiest way to do it, if your Mac is compatible with El Capitan, is installing to an external usb disk. If you succeed you can then try to solve the partition problem. By the way, did you try to create a new partition from the usb installer?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks for the replies and note re: HFS, yes everything i've tried so far has been APFS so looks like I need to try HFS.

As per the first image i posted though, I can only seem to create new volumes (which have no option for HFS). When I try to create a partition it says the container can't be split as the resulting containers would be too small and i'm unable to adjust anything in the partition creation screen? any ideas?

You might be able to resize the hard drive by shrinking the APFS partition and create a new partition for HFS+. According to the picture, your APFS is using about 263GB.

 

[i6leon9i]

Thanks, machine is 2013/2014 so old enough and compatible with El Capitan.

By the way, did you try to create a new partition from the usb installer?

Im not familiar with this, how would I go about it?

 

[Taz Mangus]

Thanks, machine is 2013/2014 so old enough and compatible with El Capitan.

Im not familiar with this, how would I go about it?

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.

support.apple.com

 

[MacUser2525]

Thanks, machine is 2013/2014 so old enough and compatible with El Capitan.

Im not familiar with this, how would I go about it?

If it would let you, the same way as with you already have with disk utility. But in my experience using it with a newer version created partition table, it will refuse to do anything as it will be to old of a version to make any changes. You are better off booting the installer with an external drive connected, then use disk utility to partition and format for your install there on the external.