Sorry, but I am so skittish about erasing anything until I get what I want on my external and internal drives and I just don't want to do it. It was going to Disk Utility and erasing my HD the first time that caused me a problem. I just can't. Perhaps if I had an Apple Store close by I might take a chance but....I don't.

I really dislike dealing with d/l of OS's. It's been so long since I partitioned my external drive and put something on it that I can't remember how. I think I just want Sierra on it and Sierra on my internal drive for now.

I looked under "Purchased" again and there is Mt. Lion and Mavericks but Sierra isn't there. I can only find it on the App Store.

Originally Posted By: artie505
Originally Posted By: plantsower
So, when you say erase the HDD you mean my boot volume only, right? Because if I erase the HDD, I'm in the same pickle I was before with no way to get to the internet.

I don't particularly want to erase my external drive, just maybe get Lion and Mt. Lion off. Keep Mavericks on just I case.

I looked under Purchased Items in the App Store and Mavericks is still there. I may or may not download that. I didn't realize I couldn't get Yosemite or El Capitan unless I had it before. That's weird to me.

You can always get to the internet...even if you erase your entire drive or replace it; it's part of the apparatus Apple has provided in lieu of install discs. If the boot process can't find a volume to boot into it defaults to the internet. Your problem was that your MBPs were unable to join a network, which had nothing to do with what was or wasn't on their drives.

Thinking about it, it doesn't matter if you erase your entire drive or just your boot volume; a complete erasure will take your recovery partition with it, but you'll get a new one along with whichever OS you d/l.

You ought to give some thought to what you want on your external, i.e. how many partitions you'll need and how big each one should be, so you won't get caught short down the road. Once you set your scheme, changing it isn't easy and may even be impossible without erasing your entire drive. You've got a golden opportunity to start from scratch without losing any data; I suggest that you take advantage of it.

As for keeping Mavericks, you've complained about the state of your current installation, so if you really want it, why not erase it after you get all your data off of it, and then install a fresh d/l from the App Store?

The App Store doesn't offer interim upgrades because Apple wants everyone to be current; that's part of why there's a thriving market for installers on eBay.

More: If you d/l Sierra, log in to the App Store first, so it gets to your "Purchased" tab (not that I had any luck).

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