I’m trying to get this ancient brick to OS X Catalina from Mountain Lion. App Store update returns the error 102 as it tries to download the updates.

I have Disk Utility partitioned erased etc. and it boots to Mountain Lion no problem. I want to get OS X El Capitan then Catalina.

What’s the best course of action?

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
I’m trying to get this ancient brick to OS X Catalina from Mountain Lion. App Store update returns the error 102 as it tries to download the updates.

I have Disk Utility partitioned erased etc. and it boots to Mountain Lion no problem. I want to get OS X El Capitan then Catalina.

What’s the best course of action?

Given that you have confirmed that the OS you want to run is supported on your hardware...if not, check on this page...I'd probably try either creating a bootable thumb drive (or an external USB hard drive) or do a Network install of the OS you want to run (straight to Catalina, skipping ML). Procedures for doing either of these are easily found on the 'net on both Apple and hobbyist sites.

If you are currently doing a network boot (as implied in your post), the boot loader is booting you to the latest supported OS for your hardware, in which case it would be ML. You can do an install from the network boot to your local hard disk. If I am misunderstanding, and you ar using some other boot media, the jury is still out on this. ISTR there are multiple network boot strategies that allow one to boot either the OS that the system was shipped with, or the latest supported OS, search support.apple.com for this information.

Download the full distribution package for the OS you want, the download will be an .app package. Inside the package will be a script called "createinstallmedia" that will prepare the device (thumbie, SSD, etc.) you want to use to install, this page has details.

Some of the pesky little details will depend on your currently-running OS, Apple changed things up in Mojave (e.g. using System Preferences for OS updates rather than the App Store application) so read the instructions carefully. Here is relevant language from Apple's network boot page

quote:

When you install macOS from Recovery, you get the current version of the most recently installed macOS, with some exceptions:
On an Intel-based Mac, if you use Shift-Option-Command-R during startup, you're offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. If you use Option-Command-R during startup, in most cases you're offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Otherwise you're offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
If the Mac logic board was just replaced, you might be offered only the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. If you just erased your entire startup disk, you might be offered only the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
You can also use these methods to install macOS, if the macOS is compatible with your Mac:
Use the App Store to download and install the latest macOS.
Use the App Store or a web browser to download and install an earlier macOS.
Use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume to create a bootable installer.

And if you have more ambitious goals, e.g. setting up multiple disks in a RAID, or disk+SSD cache (Apple calls this a Fusion drive), the time to do this is before you begin the OS install as you will, generally, not be able to include the media you booted from in your complicated disk array.

What architect says. 4MUL8R, you state that it is a "Mid 2012" Mac mini. Apple support site says that Catalina requires a "Late 2012" mini.

Architect's suggestion, "Option-Command-R during startup," will show the latest (most current) version of Mac OS that is compatible with your hardware.

I misinformed the SF. It is a "late 2012." Now attempting a command option R to see what will happen.

Catalina OS X installed and functional. Nice to see a late model OS X on this nearly 10-year old machine. Not the latest, but at least usable.

Apple products are amazingly long-lived.

2.3 GHz Core i7 processor. 8 GB RAM. 1TB Apple Fusion Drive. This drive has a SSD for the OS X and a conventional drive for storage. It ought to do about anything I need it to do.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: 4MUL8R,

Want to make it even better? Install a SSD hard drive in it, cheap and not that dificult to do.

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
Want to make it even better? Install a SSD hard drive in it, cheap and not that dificult to do.

Permit me to disagree.

The Fusion drive is actually two drive units, a HDD combined with a smallish SSD which is configured to act as a cache to the larger hard drive. It is not partitioned into OS/data as suggested above, but appears to the OS as a single volume. Replacing this combo with a single larger SSD will add little perceived speed with typical workloads.