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Posted By: Douglas Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 03:38 PM
Currently running El Capitan, 10.11.6. I want to install Sierra on an empty partition on my external HD. I have downloaded Install MacOS Sierra, 12.5.3 and ran that which resulted in a folder, MacOS Install Data, being installed on the empty partition. After that folder installed I got a message to restart my computer to complete installation. I assume that would work if Sierra was installed on my startup disk but it's on a separate partition.

How do I complete the installation of Sierra on the external HD partition?

Thanks.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 03:42 PM
I won't hold out a whole lot of hope, but have you tried to restart into the partition with an option boot?
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 04:25 PM
When I got the message to reboot, I looked at System Preferences-Startup Disk and the only options were my internal HD and the Clone I have on a separate partition of the external HD. There was no way to chose the partition where the MacOS Install Data folder located.

I did reboot but obviously that did nothing to finish the install of Sierra.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 04:28 PM
I don't know what's up, because I've installed Sierra on a volume other than my boot volume with no issues.

If you're not stuck for bandwidth or d/l speed you might try the download again (maybe after erasing the partition).
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 04:35 PM
This is the second time I have downloaded MacOS Sierra app and tried to install on my external HD partition.

Does the MacOsSierra app have to be on the partition I'm trying to install on? I ran it from my computer desktop and then chose to install it on the external HD partition.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 05:05 PM
Originally Posted By: Douglas
Does the MacOsSierra app have to be on the partition I'm trying to install on? I ran it from my computer desktop and then chose to install it on the external HD partition.

If the installer offered you the partition as an option it should have completed the installation.

As I said, I've installed Sierra on a partition other than my boot volume. (It was on my internal drive, not my external, but that shouldn't matter.)

Dunno what's up here. confused

Hmmm... Did you look inside MacOS Install Data to see if there's a clickable option?
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 05:13 PM
There was nothing obviously clickable in the MacOS Install Data folder. There was a DMG file and a couple of PKG files but nothing obviously clickable to continue the installation.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 05:21 PM
A .dmg should be clickable, and you've got nothing to lose by trying.
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 08:15 PM
Opened the .dmg file and there are a number of .PKG files and a couple .plist files. I cannot image the Sierra Install being this complicated. Previous versions installed with almost no effort.
Posted By: joemikeb Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 08:57 PM
Having installed and updated MacOS 10.12 (Sierra) some 30 times I can assure you there is nothing complicated or difficult about it.

Where did you get the "Sierra app" you downloaded and specifically what "app" did you download?
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 08:59 PM
I called Apple Support and was told that you cannot install MacOS Sierra from the MacOSSierra app that you download from the Apple Store. It can only be installed as an upgrade from a current OS. I asked why and he said it's because of software piracy.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/12/17 11:30 PM
Originally Posted By: Douglas
I called Apple Support and was told that you cannot install MacOS Sierra from the MacOSSierra app that you download from the Apple Store. It can only be installed as an upgrade from a current OS. I asked why and he said it's because of software piracy.

That sounds like nonsense!

I f I d/l it and then give it to you while it's still running on my deuced Mac(hina), that's technically piracy, but otherwise...?

I d/l'ed Sierra and installed it as a new installation, NOT an upgrade.

Not everybody even wants to upgrade as opposed to doing a clean install.

More: The d/l should be "Install macOS Sierra.app". (I'll email it to you if you'd like, and it won't be piracy, because I never did an installation with this particular d/l.)
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/13/17 12:54 AM
After chatting with the Apple guy, and I didn't believe him either, I cloned my internal HD to the empty partition on my external HD. Then I ran the Install Mac OS Sierra app that I downloaded and it upgraded that partition to Sierra without problem.

Not the way I wanted to do it but it will do and so far the couple of apps I was unsure of seem to work just fine but I will use them for a day or two just to make sure before I clone that partition to my internal HD.
Posted By: artie505 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/13/17 01:09 AM
Well, I guess all's more or less well that ends more or less well. tongue

If I were in your shoes, after I was satisfied with Sierra I'd upgrade my boot volume. I've never been 100% happy with clones when I"ve booted into them, and you're talking about cloning a clone. (Of course, you'll want to back up your boot volume before you upgrade it.)
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/13/17 05:52 PM
it sounds like it copied the install data properly to the ext hd but is having problems rebooting to it. try selecting it as the startup disk. make sure you're not doing anything odd like having the drive formatted NTFS or using a thunderbolt to firewire to usb adapter or other strangeness.
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/14/17 12:02 AM
I tried to set the new partition with Sierra as the startup disk. It was not available as a choice. The only choices for startup disk are my internal HD and the clone partition that I use for backup. The Sierra partition was not an available choice.
Posted By: Virtual1 Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/14/17 06:04 PM
Originally Posted By: Douglas
I tried to set the new partition with Sierra as the startup disk. It was not available as a choice. The only choices for startup disk are my internal HD and the clone partition that I use for backup. The Sierra partition was not an available choice.

Yeah that one's usually pretty honest, if it won't let you select it, you can't use it. OTOH, the installer may not have been as intelligent as to determine that (for some as yet undiscovered reason) your computer can't boot off that.
Posted By: Douglas Re: Upgrading to Sierra Help - 06/14/17 06:41 PM
There are 2 partitions on the LaCie external HD. I have cloned to both partitions in the past using SuperDuper and have booted into both of them at one point or another. I use 1 partition as a permanent clone backup which I do every week to 10 days. The other partition where I was trying to install Sierra has been booted from in the past although it has been empty for at least the past 6 months. I erased it using Disk Utility and set it up for Mac prior to trying to install Sierra.
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