MacBook Pro A1278

[robertorossi@62]

Hello everybody.
my first post is asking for help/advice.
I'm about to buy a MacBook Pro 5.5/A1278/13" of course not out of necessity.
what holds me back is that the owner of the Mac installed Windows 10 as an operating system (I don't understand why buy a Mac and convert it to Windows!).
help request: is it possible to roll back/reinstall a MacOS system?
alternatively: I have a Creative SSD with Big Sur installed at home: is it possible to mount the Creative instead of the original HD?
in the sense that the MacBook will be able to "read" the OS?

thanks in advance for any suggestion.

Rob

 

[AlixSPQR]

1. Yes, it is possible to reinstall macOS and erase Windows. Just erase the whole disk before installing.

Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

You can also create a bootable installer. The process is more durable, so to speak.

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

2. Maybe, if you can attach the SSD to another mac and write OCLP's code to the EFI partition. It's worth a try.

GitHub - dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher: Experience macOS just like before

Experience macOS just like before. Contribute to dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[Fishrrman]

I think this is a 2012 MacBook Pro, right?
(in the future, use THE YEAR it was made, not "A1278")

You want to use INTERNET recovery.
This is NOT THE SAME as "recovery" or "the recovery partition".
You need to use internet recovery in order to erase the entire drive. You CAN'T DO IT with ordinary "recovery".

Press the power-on button and hold down the following key combination:
Command-OPTION-R
KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the MacBook asks for your wifi password.

Enter your wifi password.
The internet utilities take a while to load, be patient.

When the utilities are loaded, open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT -- go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices". You MUST do this or you may not be able to see the internal drive.

Now, look at the "list on the left".
The topmost line should be the physical drive inside.
Click it ONE time to select it, then click the Erase button.

Erase to "APFS, GUID partition format".
When the erase is done, quit disk utility and open the OS installer.
I believe the installer will offer you 10.15 "Catalina".
Catalina is the last supported OS on this one, I think (not Big Sur).

Start clicking through.
The Mac will reboot one or more times, and the screen will go dark for a minute or more, with no other indication of activity.
Be patient.

When done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
Start "clicking through".
You can either set up a brand-new account, or connect a backup and use that when setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive.

I suggest you print out this post and save it for reference.
Good luck.

 

[avz]

Buying a 2009 MacBook Pro in 2023 might not be a good idea even though my Late 2008 13 inch MacBook still does what I want it to do quite well.

 

[swamprock]

Buying a 2009 MacBook Pro in 2023 might not be a good idea even though my Late 2008 13 inch MacBook still does what I want it to do quite well.

My 2010 running Catalina is a daily driver, so there's that...

 

[B S Magnet]

My 2010 running Catalina is a daily driver, so there's that...

 

[avz]

My 2010 running Catalina is a daily driver, so there's that...

How about the AirDrop function? This is one of the reasons I keep my Late 2008 running Mojave. I will admit that even with HDD it is still a solid daily driver and I sometimes forget which one I am using: Mid 2012 or Late 2008(both on Mojave).

It seems to me that the OP is new to Mac as it is not clear that he understood that pre-installed Windows or Linux usually indicates that the previous owner was trying hard to stretch the limitations of the older hardware and that he will be faced with the same dilemma.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

"It seems to me that the OP is new to Mac as it is not clear that he understood that pre-installed Windows or Linux usually indicates that the previous owner was trying hard to stretch the limitations of the older hardware and that he will be faced with the same dilemma."

Smart Genius GIF – Smart Genius Think – discover and share GIFs

Click to view the GIF

tenor.com

 

[robertorossi@62]

thank you all.

 

[bobesch]

That 2009 13" MBP can still cope with most everyday stuff.
Latest supported OSX is 10.11 ElCapitan, but you can install patched Mojave or even Catalina, except Mojave is the last macOS that allows you to run 32bit-applications and keep the SSD formatted in HFS+ file system.

You'll have to max it out with SSD and 8GB Ram (and hopefully it's the 2,53GHz model) to have fun with it.

If you have another Mac at hands, you can download and install MojavePatcher, which allows you to download Apple's MojaveInstaller and build an InstallerBootStick (USB-Stick, 16GB).
Then you can boot the 13" MBP from that USB-stick (hold ALT-key on booting), run DiskUtily before installation, erase the internal harddrive (GUID/HFS+ = Mac OS Extended (Journaled) instead of APFS) and install Mojave.
After the installation boot again from the USB-Stick and run the PostInstall-Routine to patch macOS and make it ready to run on that unsupported MBP.
I regularly create a tiny 16GB partition at the very end of my SSD to install the patched MojaveInstaller onto it, so I don't need the USB-Installer-BootStick and always have a kind of recovery on board.
If Win10 is still running/activated, you may also replace the optical drive with a drive-caddy plus SSD an make the 13"MBP a DualBoot-machine. Windows runs quite decent on Macs. In the office I have 8 Win10MBP-workstations (partially equipped with external 24" monitors) connected to a WinServer and I'm pretty happy with the hardware.

About maintainance of elder Macbook(Pro)s: When you open the bottom plate e.g. to add RAM and/or an SSD (iFixit gives you advice) don't forget to blow out the dust from the inside - especially the the fan!
In most cases there's a lot of lint catched in the grid of the fan's outlet. To remove it, you have remove the the screws, lift up the fan and blow out the dust. You don't need to unplug the fan's cable for that.
And make sure to prevent electrostatic discharge (I use to touch the Mac's metal case with one hand and the grounded metal lamp over our kitchen table with the other)

 

[bobesch]

I think this is a 2012 MacBook Pro, right?
(in the future, use THE YEAR it was made, not "A1278")

You want to use INTERNET recovery.
This is NOT THE SAME as "recovery" or "the recovery partition".
You need to use internet recovery in order to erase the entire drive. You CAN'T DO IT with ordinary "recovery".

Press the power-on button and hold down the following key combination:
Command-OPTION-R
KEEP HOLDING IT DOWN until the MacBook asks for your wifi password.

Enter your wifi password.
The internet utilities take a while to load, be patient.

When the utilities are loaded, open disk utility.
VERY IMPORTANT -- go to the "view" menu and choose "show all devices". You MUST do this or you may not be able to see the internal drive.

Now, look at the "list on the left".
The topmost line should be the physical drive inside.
Click it ONE time to select it, then click the Erase button.

Erase to "APFS, GUID partition format".
When the erase is done, quit disk utility and open the OS installer.
I believe the installer will offer you 10.15 "Catalina".
Catalina is the last supported OS on this one, I think (not Big Sur).

Start clicking through.
The Mac will reboot one or more times, and the screen will go dark for a minute or more, with no other indication of activity.
Be patient.

When done, you should see the initial setup screen (choose your language).
Start "clicking through".
You can either set up a brand-new account, or connect a backup and use that when setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate from another drive.

I suggest you print out this post and save it for reference.
Good luck.

Perfect guidance for a 2012 machine!
But it's a 2009 Core2Duo 2,2 or 2,5GHz MBP. I'm not sure, if Internet Recovery will work at all.
I'd recommend MojavePatch (because of 32bit-support) and HFS+ (instead of APFS).
With the help of MojavePatcher.App downloading the MojaveInstaller and creating a 16GB USB-Installer-Stick is a snap, but it requires another Mac to run the MojavePatcher.App.
If he has to replace an internal spinning drive with an SSD he can even install the MovaveInstaller onto a small 16GB partition at the very end of the SSD before he's going to swap the spinning drive for the SSD. Since the MBP sports only USB2 this method will be much faster and provides you also with a "PatchInstaller-Recovery"
I have several C2Duo MB(P) with that very same configuration and can confess, they are rock-solid machines.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

Perfect guidance for a 2012 machine!
But it's a 2009 Core2Duo 2,2 or 2,5GHz MBP. I'm not sure, if Internet Recovery will work at all.
I'd recommend MojavePatch (because of 32bit-support) and HFS+ (instead of APFS).
With the help of MojavePatcher.App downloading the MojaveInstaller and creating a 16GB USB-Installer-Stick is a snap, but it requires another Mac to run the MojavePatcher.App.
If he has to replace an internal spinning drive with an SSD he can even install the MovaveInstaller onto a small 16GB partition at the very end of the SSD before he's going to swap the spinning drive for the SSD. Since the MBP sports only USB2 this method will be much faster and provides you also with a "PatchInstaller-Recovery"
I have several C2Duo MB(P) with that very same configuration and can confess, they are rock-solid machines.

Is there a way to install mac os mojave or other unsupported os on my MBP mid 2010, which does not require another mac or having to buy a usb installer with mac os on it?
Thanks in advance.

 

[bobesch]

Is there a way to install mac os mojave or other unsupported os on my MBP mid 2010, which does not require another mac or having to buy a usb installer with mac os on it?
Thanks in advance.

@HawkTheHusky1902: You may add a tiny 16GB partition to the very end of the harddrive of your Mac that will hold the patched macOS-installer. The Mac then is going to have the current macOS/OSX-installation on the first partition and the patched-macOS installer on that 16GB tiny last partition.
Then download and install @dosdude1 's MojavePatcher.App on your running macOS/OSX.
The MojavePatcher.App provides you with the GUI-guided options of downloading MojaveInstaller from Apple and then build and install the macOS-Installer. You may either use a 16GB-USB-bootstick OR that tiny 16GB partition of your Mac for installation of the patched MojaveInstaller. (The 16GB-USB-stick or that tiny 16GB partion will be erased before installation of the patched MojaveInstaller starts).
After that being done, you can reboot you Mac holding the [ALT] key to launch the boot-picker. Choose the MojaveInstaller and install patched Mojave over the existing macOS/OSX-installation to perform a Mojave-upgrade.
If file-system is HFS+ you better keep it that way and do not convert to APFS (HFS+ still allows uncomplicated clone-backups with CCC or SuperDuper!, while APFS has some major issues.)
When the installation is complete reboot a last time into the Mojave-installer on the tiny 16GB partition and perform the PostInstall procedure.
Now you're able to reboot into the first partition and newly installed Mojave.
Make sure to have a pair of bootable clone-backups of your Mac before you start with partitioning and installing patched MojaveInstaller or Mojave-Upgrade.
You may delete the 16GB partition after the installation is complete, but I'd rather keep it for maintainance/recovery!

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

@HawkTheHusky1902: You may add a tiny 16GB partition to the very end of the harddrive of your Mac that will hold the patched macOS-installer. The Mac then is going to have the current macOS/OSX-installation on the first partition and the patched-macOS installer on that 16GB tiny last partition.
Then download and install @dosdude1 's MojavePatcher.App on your running macOS/OSX.
The MojavePatcher.App provides you with the GUI-guided options of downloading MojaveInstaller from Apple and then build and install the macOS-Installer. You may either use a 16GB-USB-bootstick OR that tiny 16GB partition of your Mac for installation of the patched MojaveInstaller. (The 16GB-USB-stick or that tiny 16GB partion will be erased before installation of the patched MojaveInstaller starts).
After that being done, you can reboot you Mac holding the [ALT] key to launch the boot-picker. Choose the MojaveInstaller and install patched Mojave over the existing macOS/OSX-installation to perform a Mojave-upgrade.
If file-system is HFS+ you better keep it that way and do not convert to APFS (HFS+ still allows uncomplicated clone-backups with CCC or SuperDuper!, while APFS has some major issues.)
When the installation is complete reboot a last time into the Mojave-installer on the tiny 16GB partition and perform the PostInstall procedure.
Now you're able to reboot into the first partition and newly installed Mojave.
Make sure to have a pair of bootable clone-backups of your Mac before you start with partitioning and installing patched MojaveInstaller or Mojave-Upgrade.
You may delete the 16GB partition after the installation is complete, but I'd rather keep it for maintainance/recovery!

Thank you so much!!!
I am running High sierra 10.13.6. I got my 15" MBP from a friend for 10 bucks (I know, insane deal) almkst maxed out: SSD instead of slow HDD, maximum of 8gb 1066mhz ram, 2.53ghz i5. It was crashing non stop because of the infamous mid 2010 15" GPU issue, but then i ran MBPMid2010GPU_Fix by Julian Poidevin and it now works flawlessly. I then installed all of my favorite apps on it, and its good to go.
The only reason i want to install a higher version of mac os on is becuse a lot of apps i want to run are not compatible with 10.13, and require something like 10.14 or 10.15 or higher....But my mac wont allow me to run that on it, so, thats why i am turning to patching.
I want to run ideally a OSx on it, since i think running 11 or higher is not what it is designed for, and it is most stable running OSx i think. However, running 11 or higher would be even better since i can then run most newer apps on it.
I will decide later though, for now i need to know how to install a newer OS on my mac.
I do not have another computer at all, dont want to spend money on a usb stick with an OS on it, and only have one drive in my mac, since i removed the optical drive because i didnt need it. Should i maybe reinstall the optical drive, maybe it is required or can help somehow in instslling a newer os? Also, is my SSD gonna have enough storage for a new os and everything as you mentioned in your reply? It is 180GB. Logically yes....
So with all of that said, can you please tell me if the way you mentioned in your reply to install the new os on my mac would still work with my system specs? Or if there is a better/other way of doing this?
Also, do i have to use DosDude's patchers for some special reason or would OCLP work too?
Which version of mac os woild you run on this mac via a patcher, os x or would 11 or later be stable enough for use?

Thanks in advance!

 

[B S Magnet]

Also, is my SSD gonna have enough storage for a new os and everything as you mentioned in your reply? It is 180GB. Logically yes....
So with all of that said, can you please tell me if the way you mentioned in your reply to install the new os on my mac would still work with my system specs?

The method @bobesch described, to use the dosdude1 patcher for whichever OS you want to install (High Sierra Mojave, Catalina), will work with the specs you have. You will be able to reserve the last 16GB partition for the patched installer (which you’ll want to keep around as a recovery partition should anything later on go south).

That said, at 180GB, your SSD will have limited space left for things you download or install later on. If the only thing you expect to install are the latest version of your preferred web browser, you ought to be fine. If you plan to collect larger files, like large, gigabyte-plus video files, then you will be running out of space in a hurry. Having a second hard drive handy (whether as a second, internal drive, whether HDD or SSD, or an external USB or FireWire drive) will help with your download capacity.

Not too long ago, I used dosdude1’s patcher for High Sierra on my older, early 2008 MBP (with a max RAM of 6GB) to successfully install on a 240GB partition. When all was done and configured the way I use the system, I found High Sierra, with all the software I installed (mostly browsers, Signal, ad some open-source utilities), occupied probably 90GB of storage, maybe a bit more. So this ought to give you a sense of how much a base install will consume on your 180GB 164GB (remember that 16GB install/recovery partition!) SSD.

Or if there is a better/other way of doing this?

The dosdude1 patch for 10.13, 10.14, and 10.15 are the way to upgrade your unsupported system to run any of these versions of OS X/macOS. And if you have aspirations of going even later in the macOS line, such as macOS 11 Big Sur or macOS 12 Monterey, the Open Core Legacy Project (OCLP for short) is the means you will need to install those on your system. Those too will need a 16GB partition to install.

Also, do i have to use DosDude's patchers for some special reason or would OCLP work too?
Which version of mac os woild you run on this mac via a patcher, os x or would 11 or later be stable enough for use?

Thanks in advance!

Again, your Mac’s core specs — a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (either an i5 or i7) running on 1066MHz RAM, up to 8GB max capacity — far and beyond exceed what I have in my early 2008 MacBook Pro (a 2.6 GHz C2D) running on 667MHz RAM, at 6GB max capacity. At the very minimum, you’ll be fine with High Sierra, and quite likely also Mojave or Catalina. Later than that, vis-à-vis OCLP, and there will be more patches/kludges to account for smoother operation of the OS on your unsupported system.

I hope this helps to answer the questions you’re having.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

The method @bobesch described, to use the dosdude1 patcher for whichever OS you want to install (High Sierra Mojave, Catalina), will work with the specs you have. You will be able to reserve the last 16GB partition for the patched installer (which you’ll want to keep around as a recovery partition should anything later on go south).

That said, at 180GB, your SSD will have limited space left for things you download or install later on. If the only thing you expect to install are the latest version of your preferred web browser, you ought to be fine. If you plan to collect larger files, like large, gigabyte-plus video files, then you will be running out of space in a hurry. Having a second hard drive handy (whether as a second, internal drive, whether HDD or SSD, or an external USB or FireWire drive) will help with your download capacity.

Not too long ago, I used dosdude1’s patcher for High Sierra on my older, early 2008 MBP (with a max RAM of 6GB) to successfully install on a 240GB partition. When all was done and configured the way I use the system, I found High Sierra, with all the software I installed (mostly browsers, Signal, ad some open-source utilities), occupied probably 90GB of storage, maybe a bit more. So this ought to give you a sense of how much a base install will consume on your 180GB 164GB (remember that 16GB install/recovery partition!) SSD.



The dosdude1 patch for 10.13, 10.14, and 10.15 are the way to upgrade your unsupported system to run any of these versions of OS X/macOS. And if you have aspirations of going even later in the macOS line, such as macOS 11 Big Sur or macOS 12 Monterey, the Open Core Legacy Project (OCLP for short) is the means you will need to install those on your system. Those too will need a 16GB partition to install.



Again, your Mac’s core specs — a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (either an i5 or i7) running on 1066MHz RAM, up to 8GB max capacity — far and beyond exceed what I have in my early 2008 MacBook Pro (a 2.6 GHz C2D) running on 667MHz RAM, at 6GB max capacity. At the very minimum, you’ll be fine with High Sierra, and quite likely also Mojave or Catalina. Later than that, vis-à-vis OCLP, and there will be more patches/kludges to account for smoother operation of the OS on your unsupported system.

I hope this helps to answer the questions you’re having.

Yes, it did. Thank you so much!
So i could run Mojave or Catalina on it, but could i run 11 or higher on it too pretty stable? Or is that pushing what the system architecture is made for or something? I plan on upgrading to a higher capacity ssd later on anyway, but for now it is plenty for me, because i mainly use more lightweight apps and store all of my files and data on an external usb anyway. So, capacity is not an issue for now.
This might sound silly, but I would like to know again if there is a difference between the DosDude patchers and OCLP in terms of stability or performance. I think you already told me, but i just wanted to clearify and make sure.
I am currently running High Sierra as i described in my previous post, and it is running fine without issues on my mac, albeit some bugs that High Sierra teends to have from time to time anyways. However, that is because it is officially supported on my mac, but anything hugher than that, like Mojave or Catalina, or even higher than that has to be patched to run on my system, as you all described.
What OS would you recommend to run on my mac which is stable enough but still has good app compatibility?
Catalina, Mojave, or would 11 or higher run stable enough too?
Another important thing is: Do i have to download and install all of the apps i have on the current os i am running now again when the patched newer os is installed, or is there any way at all to import all of my apps to the new operating system, because if possible that would save me a ton of time, hassle and data since my internet is limited where i live and cant afford to download too much stuff, and would have to go to my friends house which has 1gb/s internet....
However, a larger capacity drive seems very tasty now....
But, for now i really am fine because all of my larger files are going to be stored on my usb drive anyway, and i just checked and apparently my system now has 291 apps on it (i know i know, who needs that? but they are great and useful) and i am not going to install any more apps i think, which take up about a quarter of my drive, and with the os installed, it is pretty much half. Not bad for now.
But again, thank you so much for helping!

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

Al

The method @bobesch described, to use the dosdude1 patcher for whichever OS you want to install (High Sierra Mojave, Catalina), will work with the specs you have. You will be able to reserve the last 16GB partition for the patched installer (which you’ll want to keep around as a recovery partition should anything later on go south).

That said, at 180GB, your SSD will have limited space left for things you download or install later on. If the only thing you expect to install are the latest version of your preferred web browser, you ought to be fine. If you plan to collect larger files, like large, gigabyte-plus video files, then you will be running out of space in a hurry. Having a second hard drive handy (whether as a second, internal drive, whether HDD or SSD, or an external USB or FireWire drive) will help with your download capacity.

Not too long ago, I used dosdude1’s patcher for High Sierra on my older, early 2008 MBP (with a max RAM of 6GB) to successfully install on a 240GB partition. When all was done and configured the way I use the system, I found High Sierra, with all the software I installed (mostly browsers, Signal, ad some open-source utilities), occupied probably 90GB of storage, maybe a bit more. So this ought to give you a sense of how much a base install will consume on your 180GB 164GB (remember that 16GB install/recovery partition!) SSD.



The dosdude1 patch for 10.13, 10.14, and 10.15 are the way to upgrade your unsupported system to run any of these versions of OS X/macOS. And if you have aspirations of going even later in the macOS line, such as macOS 11 Big Sur or macOS 12 Monterey, the Open Core Legacy Project (OCLP for short) is the means you will need to install those on your system. Those too will need a 16GB partition to install.



Again, your Mac’s core specs — a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (either an i5 or i7) running on 1066MHz RAM, up to 8GB max capacity — far and beyond exceed what I have in my early 2008 MacBook Pro (a 2.6 GHz C2D) running on 667MHz RAM, at 6GB max capacity. At the very minimum, you’ll be fine with High Sierra, and quite likely also Mojave or Catalina. Later than that, vis-à-vis OCLP, and there will be more patches/kludges to account for smoother operation of the OS on your unsupported system.

I hope this helps to answer the questions you’re having.

Also, could you please make a list for me of steps for me to do in order to install an unsupported OS via a patcher on my mac? If you have time of course. Would help a lot since i am new to Macs and computers overall and dont know for example where to download stuff, etc.
I know there are guides online, but this would be much better and straightforward.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

Yes, it did. Thank you so much!
So i could run Mojave or Catalina on it, but could i run 11 or higher on it too pretty stable? Or is that pushing what the system architecture is made for or something? I plan on upgrading to a higher capacity ssd later on anyway, but for now it is plenty for me, because i mainly use more lightweight apps and store all of my files and data on an external usb anyway. So, capacity is not an issue for now.
This might sound silly, but I would like to know again if there is a difference between the DosDude patchers and OCLP in terms of stability or performance. I think you already told me, but i just wanted to clearify and make sure.
I am currently running High Sierra as i described in my previous post, and it is running fine without issues on my mac, albeit some bugs that High Sierra teends to have from time to time anyways. However, that is because it is officially supported on my mac, but anything hugher than that, like Mojave or Catalina, or even higher than that has to be patched to run on my system, as you all described.
What OS would you recommend to run on my mac which is stable enough but still has good app compatibility?
Catalina, Mojave, or would 11 or higher run stable enough too?
Another important thing is: Do i have to download and install all of the apps i have on the current os i am running now again when the patched newer os is installed, or is there any way at all to import all of my apps to the new operating system, because if possible that would save me a ton of time, hassle and data since my internet is limited where i live and cant afford to download too much stuff, and would have to go to my friends house which has 1gb/s internet....
However, a larger capacity drive seems very tasty now....
But, for now i really am fine because all of my larger files are going to be stored on my usb drive anyway, and i just checked and apparently my system now has 291 apps on it (i know i know, who needs that? but they are great and useful) and i am not going to install any more apps i think, which take up about a quarter of my drive, and with the os installed, it is pretty much half. Not bad for now.
But again, thank you so much for helping!

The method @bobesch described, to use the dosdude1 patcher for whichever OS you want to install (High Sierra Mojave, Catalina), will work with the specs you have. You will be able to reserve the last 16GB partition for the patched installer (which you’ll want to keep around as a recovery partition should anything later on go south).

That said, at 180GB, your SSD will have limited space left for things you download or install later on. If the only thing you expect to install are the latest version of your preferred web browser, you ought to be fine. If you plan to collect larger files, like large, gigabyte-plus video files, then you will be running out of space in a hurry. Having a second hard drive handy (whether as a second, internal drive, whether HDD or SSD, or an external USB or FireWire drive) will help with your download capacity.

Not too long ago, I used dosdude1’s patcher for High Sierra on my older, early 2008 MBP (with a max RAM of 6GB) to successfully install on a 240GB partition. When all was done and configured the way I use the system, I found High Sierra, with all the software I installed (mostly browsers, Signal, ad some open-source utilities), occupied probably 90GB of storage, maybe a bit more. So this ought to give you a sense of how much a base install will consume on your 180GB 164GB (remember that 16GB install/recovery partition!) SSD.



The dosdude1 patch for 10.13, 10.14, and 10.15 are the way to upgrade your unsupported system to run any of these versions of OS X/macOS. And if you have aspirations of going even later in the macOS line, such as macOS 11 Big Sur or macOS 12 Monterey, the Open Core Legacy Project (OCLP for short) is the means you will need to install those on your system. Those too will need a 16GB partition to install.



Again, your Mac’s core specs — a mid-2010 MacBook Pro (either an i5 or i7) running on 1066MHz RAM, up to 8GB max capacity — far and beyond exceed what I have in my early 2008 MacBook Pro (a 2.6 GHz C2D) running on 667MHz RAM, at 6GB max capacity. At the very minimum, you’ll be fine with High Sierra, and quite likely also Mojave or Catalina. Later than that, vis-à-vis OCLP, and there will be more patches/kludges to account for smoother operation of the OS on your unsupported system.

I hope this helps to answer the questions you’re having.

Regarding the apps, i assume i could just move their .DMG files onto my half full 256gb usb stick, and after the installation of the newer OS is complete, i can move the dmg files from the usb stick back onto the computer for installation in the new OS. That way, i dont use up any extra data, and it solves the app issue, I am not concerned about app updates.

 

[theMarble]

Also, could you please make a list for me of steps for me to do in order to install an unsupported OS via a patcher on my mac?

This is assuming you want to use OpenCore Legacy Patcher, which allows for macOS Big Sur-Ventura.

Step 1 - Download OCLP
Go to this link, scroll down to assets and download "OpenCore-Patcher-GUI.app.zip". You will want the latest release, 0.6.7.

Step 2 - Create a bootable macOS installer using OCLP

Note that I'm running a newer "nightly" release of OCLP, however it will look the same for you.
1. Click on "Create macOS Installer".
2. Click on "Download macOS Installer".
3. Choose the release that you want to install. 11 is Big Sur, 12 is Monterey and 13 is Ventura. I would choose Monterey, as that is still updated and is faster than Ventura on machines that don't support Metal.
4. Wait for the download to finish. While waiting, insert the USB drive that you want to use. If possible, use a USB 3 drive as a USB 2 drive will be painfully slow to flash and install from.
5. Once the download has finished, a prompt will come up asking you to select a drive. Make sure to click the correct option as it lists all drives, including the OS drive you are booted of. It will be the option which is the same capacity as your flash drive, eg: 16GB, 32GB...
6. Once it has flashed the installer to the flash drive, it will ask if you want to build OpenCore to your newly flashed USB installer. Select "Yes", and wait for that to complete.
7. Once that is done, it is time to install macOS!

Step 3 - Installing macOS
1. Shut down your computer. Make sure that you have a Time Machine backup of your system in case something goes wrong. It's highly improbable that anything will fail, but you don't want to be stuck with a broken Mac.
2. Hold "Option" as soon as you press the power button. Select the option with the OpenCore logo (a blue square). It should also say something along the lines of "EFI Boot".
3. Once the installer has loaded, go into the Utilites menu at the top of the screen and click on Disk Utility.
4. Go into the View menu at the top and click on "Show All Devices".
5. Click on your SSD in the sidebar. It should look something like this, but with a different drive name:

6. Click on the "Erase" button on the top right. This will erase your drive, giving you a clean slate to install macOS on. Make sure that the drive settings are "APFS" and "GUID Partition Map". They should be the default choices.
7. Exit Disk Utility.
8. Follow along with the prompts to Install macOS. From this point on, everything is simple.

Step 4 - Post-Installation
1. Once macOS has been installed, you may feel that things are a tad slow. Don't worry, that is normal. Hop into Safari and download OpenCore Legacy Patcher (the same link as in Step 1).
2. This time, once opened, you are going to select "Build and Install OpenCore". This will make it so you don't have plug in your USB stick every single time you boot your Mac up. Without OpenCore, macOS will simply not boot.
3. Once the build has finished (should only take a few seconds), select "Install to disk" and click on the SSD that you've just installed macOS on. This typically is highlighted.
4. Typically on first install, "post-install patches" should be installed by default. Among many things, this is what gives you graphics acceleration. However, after each macOS update, it will prompt you automatically to reinstall the root patches. Make sure to click OK.

This is what the prompt looks like. Your patches may be different.

That's it. macOS is now installed with OpenCore.

I highly suggest also reading the official OCLP guide, it is layed out really well and has lots of helpful info for troubleshooting.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

This is assuming you want to use OpenCore Legacy Patcher, which allows for macOS Big Sur-Ventura.

Step 1 - Download OCLP
Go to this link, scroll down to assets and download "OpenCore-Patcher-GUI.app.zip". You will want the latest release, 0.6.7.

Step 2 - Create a bootable macOS installer using OCLP
View attachment 2230107
Note that I'm running a newer "nightly" release of OCLP, however it will look the same for you.
1. Click on "Create macOS Installer".
2. Click on "Download macOS Installer".
3. Choose the release that you want to install. 11 is Big Sur, 12 is Monterey and 13 is Ventura. I would choose Monterey, as that is still updated and is faster than Ventura on machines that don't support Metal.
4. Wait for the download to finish. While waiting, insert the USB drive that you want to use. If possible, use a USB 3 drive as a USB 2 drive will be painfully slow to flash and install from.
5. Once the download has finished, a prompt will come up asking you to select a drive. Make sure to click the correct option as it lists all drives, including the OS drive you are booted of. It will be the option which is the same capacity as your flash drive, eg: 16GB, 32GB...
6. Once it has flashed the installer to the flash drive, it will ask if you want to build OpenCore to your newly flashed USB installer. Select "Yes", and wait for that to complete.
7. Once that is done, it is time to install macOS!

Step 3 - Installing macOS
1. Shut down your computer. Make sure that you have a Time Machine backup of your system in case something goes wrong. It's highly improbable that anything will fail, but you don't want to be stuck with a broken Mac.
2. Hold "Option" as soon as you press the power button. Select the option with the OpenCore logo (a blue square). It should also say something along the lines of "EFI Boot".
3. Once the installer has loaded, go into the Utilites menu at the top of the screen and click on Disk Utility.
4. Go into the View menu at the top and click on "Show All Devices".
5. Click on your SSD in the sidebar. It should look something like this, but with a different drive name:
View attachment 2230113
6. Click on the "Erase" button on the top right. This will erase your drive, giving you a clean slate to install macOS on. Make sure that the drive settings are "APFS" and "GUID Partition Map". They should be the default choices.
7. Exit Disk Utility.
8. Follow along with the prompts to Install macOS. From this point on, everything is simple.

Step 4 - Post-Installation
1. Once macOS has been installed, you may feel that things are a tad slow. Don't worry, that is normal. Hop into Safari and download OpenCore Legacy Patcher (the same link as in Step 1).
2. This time, once opened, you are going to select "Build and Install OpenCore". This will make it so you don't have plug in your USB stick every single time you boot your Mac up. Without OpenCore, macOS will simply not boot.
3. Once the build has finished (should only take a few seconds), select "Install to disk" and click on the SSD that you've just installed macOS on. This typically is highlighted.
4. Typically on first install, "post-install patches" should be installed by default. Among many things, this is what gives you graphics acceleration. However, after each macOS update, it will prompt you automatically to reinstall the root patches. Make sure to click OK.
View attachment 2230114
This is what the prompt looks like. Your patches may be different.

That's it. macOS is now installed with OpenCore.

I highly suggest also reading the official OCLP guide, it is layed out really well and has lots of helpful info for troubleshooting.

You have no idea how thankful i am for this! I never thought anybody here would do this for me!
Thank you so much!
However, i have a question: Would the steps you outlined above work with DosDude patchers? And would the whole process be the same as with OCLP just instead of using OCLP i could use DosDude patchers? To install Catalina or Mojave. Also, j have not decided yet which os to install, recommendations are very appreciated.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

The

This is assuming you want to use OpenCore Legacy Patcher, which allows for macOS Big Sur-Ventura.

Step 1 - Download OCLP
Go to this link, scroll down to assets and download "OpenCore-Patcher-GUI.app.zip". You will want the latest release, 0.6.7.

Step 2 - Create a bootable macOS installer using OCLP
View attachment 2230107
Note that I'm running a newer "nightly" release of OCLP, however it will look the same for you.
1. Click on "Create macOS Installer".
2. Click on "Download macOS Installer".
3. Choose the release that you want to install. 11 is Big Sur, 12 is Monterey and 13 is Ventura. I would choose Monterey, as that is still updated and is faster than Ventura on machines that don't support Metal.
4. Wait for the download to finish. While waiting, insert the USB drive that you want to use. If possible, use a USB 3 drive as a USB 2 drive will be painfully slow to flash and install from.
5. Once the download has finished, a prompt will come up asking you to select a drive. Make sure to click the correct option as it lists all drives, including the OS drive you are booted of. It will be the option which is the same capacity as your flash drive, eg: 16GB, 32GB...
6. Once it has flashed the installer to the flash drive, it will ask if you want to build OpenCore to your newly flashed USB installer. Select "Yes", and wait for that to complete.
7. Once that is done, it is time to install macOS!

Step 3 - Installing macOS
1. Shut down your computer. Make sure that you have a Time Machine backup of your system in case something goes wrong. It's highly improbable that anything will fail, but you don't want to be stuck with a broken Mac.
2. Hold "Option" as soon as you press the power button. Select the option with the OpenCore logo (a blue square). It should also say something along the lines of "EFI Boot".
3. Once the installer has loaded, go into the Utilites menu at the top of the screen and click on Disk Utility.
4. Go into the View menu at the top and click on "Show All Devices".
5. Click on your SSD in the sidebar. It should look something like this, but with a different drive name:
View attachment 2230113
6. Click on the "Erase" button on the top right. This will erase your drive, giving you a clean slate to install macOS on. Make sure that the drive settings are "APFS" and "GUID Partition Map". They should be the default choices.
7. Exit Disk Utility.
8. Follow along with the prompts to Install macOS. From this point on, everything is simple.

Step 4 - Post-Installation
1. Once macOS has been installed, you may feel that things are a tad slow. Don't worry, that is normal. Hop into Safari and download OpenCore Legacy Patcher (the same link as in Step 1).
2. This time, once opened, you are going to select "Build and Install OpenCore". This will make it so you don't have plug in your USB stick every single time you boot your Mac up. Without OpenCore, macOS will simply not boot.
3. Once the build has finished (should only take a few seconds), select "Install to disk" and click on the SSD that you've just installed macOS on. This typically is highlighted.
4. Typically on first install, "post-install patches" should be installed by default. Among many things, this is what gives you graphics acceleration. However, after each macOS update, it will prompt you automatically to reinstall the root patches. Make sure to click OK.
View attachment 2230114
This is what the prompt looks like. Your patches may be different.

That's it. macOS is now installed with OpenCore.

I highly suggest also reading the official OCLP guide, it is layed out really well and has lots of helpful info for troubleshooting

Theoretically then, i could run Lightroom or any other new app like Final Cut Pro on my mac after the installation of for example Big Sur, right? Or would Lightroom or a similar resource intensive app need more RAM and graphics performance? I have heard though that Lightroom in particular has been optimised recently for lower poeer computers, so it might just work..
Also, please tell me how i could back up all of my apps/dmg files currently installed on my mac, so that after the installation of the newer os is done, i can just move the dmg files back onto the computer and install them again, just on the newer os. Do i use a usb stick, or what? I think that would be the best way... That way i save a bunch of time and data downloading and installing the apps again, for no reason.
Sorry for so many questions, im just relatively new to this stuff and wang to know.

 

[bobesch]

@B S Magnet already brought it to the point.
@theMarble did a good job to explain the quintessence about OCLP-installation.
But sorry, you'll have to forget about OCPL, since your MBP depends on running the MBPMid2010GPU_Fix and that fix is only supported up to macOS 10.14 and makes Mojave the very last macOS you may install on your mid2010 MacBookPro!
If the GPU wouldn't be the problem, then OCLP/Monterey or even Ventura might have been a good option, but under current circumstances you'll have to stay with Mojave.
So you do not have to buy any USB-Stick but just create that 16GB partition at the very end of your MBP's SSD.
The steps how to install Mojave on Your machine are mentioned in #13 - for details look at the instructions, you can find on @dosdude1 's page.
As long as you've got backups of your personal files etc. you may dare to install Mojave OVER your current HighSierra-Installation. It just works like the normal HighSierra-To-Mojave-Upgrade procedure on supported Macs, unless after the upgrade is complete, you'll have to boot from the 16GB patched-macOS-installer-partition a second time in order to perform the PostInstall-routine. After that has been accomplished, you ought to be able to boot directly into Mojave.
If you use the current Firefox-browser your are good for browsing the web, even if Safari will be outdated/out of support.

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

F

@B S Magnet already brought it to the point.
@theMarble did a good job to explain the quintessence about OCLP-installation.
But sorry, you'll have to forget about OCPL, since your MBP depends on running the MBPMid2010GPU_Fix and that fix is only supported up to macOS 10.14 and makes Mojave the very last macOS you may install on your mid2010 MacBookPro!
If the GPU wouldn't be the problem, then OCLP/Monterey or even Ventura might have been a good option, but under current circumstances you'll have to stay with Mojave.
So you do not have to buy any USB-Stick but just create a 16GB partition at the very end of your MBP's SSD.
The steps how to install Mojave on Your machine are mentioned in #13 - for details look at the instructions, you can find on @dosdude1 's page.
As long as you've got backups of your personal files etc. you may dare to install Mojave OVER your current HighSierra-Installation. It just works like the normal HighSierra-To-Mojave-Upgrade procedure on supported Macs, unless after the upgrade is complete, you'll have to boot from the 16GB patched-macOS-installer-partition a second time in order to perform the PostInstall-routine. After that has been accomplished, you ought to be able to boot directly into Mojave.
If you use the current Firefox-browser your are good for browsing the web, even if Safari will be outdated/out of suppor

Thanks, i forgot about the limitation to 10.14 on the MBPMid2010GPUFix
I think 10.14 is better than high sierra though, and still has Dark Mode, which is an important feature to me. Should have enough app support, but not great.
Regarding the browser, i use Firefox. I can use the 2nd latest version of Firefox on 10.14 and High Sierra and earlier, but the latest version of Firefox unfortunately dropped support for 10.14 and earlier, or at least all of the new features in the latest update for Firefox worth upgrading for dont work on 10.14 or earlier.
So, i will have to use the 2nd latest version of Firefox. I must say, the limitation to 10.14 of the MBPMid2010GPUFix is a real bummer
However i think Mojave will be just fine, because even the latest version of Final Cut Pro runs on 10.14!
And Dark Mode seals the deal, bevause at night it works concurrently with f.lux or Iris Mini.

 

[B S Magnet]

Regarding the browser, i use Firefox. I can use the 2nd latest version of Firefox on 10.14 and High Sierra and earlier, but the latest version of Firefox unfortunately dropped support for 10.14 and earlier, or at least all of the new features in the latest update for Firefox worth upgrading for dont work on 10.14 or earlier.

This is not the case: the latest version of Firefox does run on 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14. Mozilla, however, announced plans to drop support for these three iterations of macOS in later 2024. Until then, you will be able to keep Firefox itself current with the Firefox ESR (extended support release) channel of browsers. The ESR channel is what I use anyway, as these tend to be the most stable browsers for a particular version of Firefox:

There’s also no need to worry in the long term about Mozilla moving on from 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14, as Firefox’s code is open source (always has been!) and, thankfully, there are community projects which maintain security and even feature updates for Mozilla-based browsers (i.e., based on the same source code as Firefox), including SeaLion, assembled by this forum’s very own @wicknix .

So, i will have to use the 2nd latest version of Firefox. I must say, the limitation to 10.14 of the MBPMid2010GPUFix is a real bummer

As noted above, the latest version of Firefox to be released for 10.12, 10.13, and 10.1 will be Firefox 115 ESR, which has not yet been released was just released in its first revision just two days ago. (It’s so new that it’s not being offered yet on the above-linked ESR page; one has to go into Mozilla’s FTP directory to find it).

 

[HawkTheHusky1902]

This is not the case: the latest version of Firefox does run on 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14. Mozilla, however, announced plans to drop support for these three iterations of macOS in later 2024. Until then, you will be able to keep Firefox itself current with the Firefox ESR (extended support release) channel of browsers. The ESR channel is what I use anyway, as these tend to be the most stable browsers for a particular version of Firefox:

View attachment 2230324

There’s also no need to worry in the long term about Mozilla moving on from 10.12, 10.13, and 10.14, as Firefox’s code is open source (always has been!) and, thankfully, there are community projects which maintain security and even feature updates for Mozilla-based browsers (i.e., based on the same source code as Firefox), including SeaLion, assembled by this forum’s very own @wicknix .



As noted above, the latest version of Firefox to be released for 10.12, 10.13, and 10.1 will be Firefox 115 ESR, which has not yet been released was just released in its first revision just two days ago. (It’s so new that it’s not being offered yet on the above-linked ESR page; one has to go into Mozilla’s FTP directory to find it).

Thank you for the info. My bad.
That's great then! I love Firefox, dont understand why anybody would use Chrome, its a memory hog, has Spyware, and Google. But that is beside the point.
Since i cant run higher than 10.14 on my mac because of the MBPMid2010GPUFix, i cant run for example Lightroom ofcourse.
I have a question again: How can i get my macbook to not get so hot always, even when doing nothing?
I know pre-Apple Silicon macs have heat problems, but i want to reduceit as much as possible.
I already am running Turbo Boost Switcher to turnoff turbo boost when i don't need it (pretty much always) to reduce heat, have taken off the stock feet and replaced them with thicker and larger homemade feet ( i reallly recommend it, it is great!) out of moldable glue (Tesa Sugru or Pattex Kinsuglue) to increase airflow underneath the body of the laptop to reduce heat and using Macs Fan Control to monitor an control the fans if it gets too hot an the automatic setting is not enough.
Anything else i could do to reduce heat?
Because i usually just am sitting on my sofa with the laptop on my lap browsing in Firefox with 2 tabs open and the computer is melting hot lol. I of course manually then ramp the fans up becuase the automatic system sensors are way off and the fans are at idle when the computer is literally melting in my lap...like now while writing this on the same mac.
This is off topic i know, but i wanted to see if i could reduce the discomfort of using this computer...