Maverick Update Problems

BGC

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I'm running OS 10.9.2 and trying to update to 10.9.4 and eventually to 10.9.5 staying with Maverick for now. The update procedure is telling me that I can't update to my hard drive - Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5. Lots of memory left. Quote: " OS x Update can't be installed on this disk. This volume does not meet the requirements for this update."

What are the requirements? What's the problem?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks folks.

BGC
 
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First thing is, what specific Mac Model do you have?

Secondly, have you been making backups to an external device? And if so, how are you doing that? Time Machine, or a backup/cloning program like SuperSuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner?

Third, what third party software are you using? Hopefully, nothing like MacKeeper or CleanMyMac.

Fourth, have yiu been doing any disk cleanup at all?

Fifth, how much free space is there on your hard drive?

Seems really strange that you are running fine with OS 10.9.2, which would imply that your machine meets the hardware requirements for Mavericks. So, maybe a good place to start is to use Disk Utility (I assume you do not have a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro) to 1) Verify and Repair the volume, and 2) Verify and Repair Permissions. For #1 (also can do a Verify and Repair any visible partitions), you'll need to run Disk Utility "externally". If you are only doing Time Machine backups, you'll need to boot your machine to the Recovery Partition, and run Disk Utility from there. This link discusses that partition:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

You must be making some kind of backup to an external device before doing that.

Once that's done, you could try the OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater, or the OS 10.9.5 Combo Updater. Here are links where you can get them from:

OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1755?locale=en_US

OS 10.9.5 Combo Updater: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1760?locale=en_US

For either of those, you can upgrade from 10.9, 10.9.1, 10.9.2, and 10.9.3.
 
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BGC

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Hi Honestone. Thanks for the swift reply.

First thing is, what specific Mac Model do you have?
Using a Mac Mini. Processor 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5. 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Secondly, have you been making backups to an external device? And if so, how are you doing that? Time Machine, or a backup/cloning program like SuperSuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner?
Regular backups several times a day using Time Machine

Third, what third party software are you using? Hopefully, nothing like MacKeeper or CleanMyMac.
I use Disk Warrior only. No other third party software.

Fourth, have yiu been doing any disk cleanup at all? See above

Fifth, how much free space is there on your hard drive? 389.94 GB

Seems really strange that you are running fine with OS 10.9.2, which would imply that your machine meets the hardware requirements for Mavericks. So, maybe a good place to start is to use Disk Utility (I assume you do not have a more robust disk maintenance/repair program like Disk Warrior or TechTool Pro) to 1) Verify and Repair the volume, and 2) Verify and Repair Permissions. For #1 (also can do a Verify and Repair any visible partitions), you'll need to run Disk Utility "externally". If you are only doing Time Machine backups, you'll need to boot your machine to the Recovery Partition, and run Disk Utility from there. This link discusses that partition:

Your reply here is a bit complicated for me to understand. I have recently run my Disk Warrior and it found no problems. I will run it again to see if anything has developed in the last two weeks. Not sure that I ran Verify and Repair Permissions, thought that may have been automatic, but I will look carefully.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

You must be making some kind of backup to an external device before doing that. My Time Machine backs up to a separate hard drive. If fact it's doing it right now!

Once that's done, you could try the OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater, or the OS 10.9.5 Combo Updater. Here are links where you can get them from: I will try the Combo Updater. Thanks for links.

OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1755?locale=en_US

OS 10.9.5 Combo Updater: https://support.apple.com/kb/DL1760?locale=en_US

For either of those, you can upgrade from 10.9, 10.9.1, 10.9.2, and 10.9.3.
My only other thought is that something, though I cannot guess what, may have gone wrong in downloading the update. I live in the backwoods of New Brunswick and though it is called 'fast', my download speed is slower than city folks, so much so that I cannot use skype successfully. I think I remember getting an error message in the 3 hour (!!) download time for the update, but then it mysteriously completed itself. Who knows.

Thanks for all this information. I will try again and let you know. BGC
 
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Thanks for the detailed reply.

First, I have a Mac Mini also, it is a late 2012, 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 model (I also have a mid 2013 13" Mac Book Air).

Secondly, glad you are making backups to an external device. Myself I use SuperDuper! to back up each of my machines to 2 separate external drives. The main advantage of such a backup is that it is bootable, as it makes an exact backup/clone of your entire system.

Speaking of that, and Disk Warrior, I also have Disk Warrior (and Tech Tool Pro too), but I have Disk Warrior as a disk image. In order to have it repair my internal drive, it must be launched externally, and I can do that via the SuperDuper! backup/clone. (TechTool Pro is somewhat more "ingenious", in that it creates an eDrive on my internal drive, and I can launch Tech Tool Pro from there, and that acts like it is being launched externally). So, how did you run Disk Warrior?

As for repairing permissions, Disk Warrior (not Disk Utility, nor Onyx (I'll describe that software below)) does not automatically repair permissions (Tech Tool Pro has that feature also, but again, it is not automatic). The newest Mac OS, El Capitan, "claims" to repair permissions "automatically", but I use (and have relied on) the excellent freeware program called Onyx to do that. And, that program has other useful features.

Regarding disk cleanup, one needs to do that "on their own". That is, regularly clean off/remove unneeded files/folders, and use some software to perform similar functions also on a regular basis. Myself, besides consistently removing unneeded files/folders, I use Onyx to clean out some stuff (log files, cache files, etc.), and Tech Tool Pro. Disk Warrior can clean stuff also. Again, though, it is best to do that on a regular basis. My use of Onyx and TechTool Pro (and SuperDuper!) is once a week, on a Saturday (I also first go through a procedure to permanently remove deleted EMails in Outlook 2011). In fact, I will begin that process soon, for both of my machines.

With the possible incomplete download, you might have some directory damage, and Disk Warrior (also Tech Tool Pro and Disk Utility) can repair that. If you can, use Disk Warrior to do that first. Then, given that you have a backup, you could try to apply the OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater. If that does not work, then you should consider doing a clean installation of OS 10.9.4, and then use Migration Assistant to "migrate"/copy all the "stuff" from your Time Machine backup. (Make sure to save the OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater on your external drive (unless you first do another Time Machine backup). To do that clean installation, you will need to boot to the Recovery Partition and launch Disk Utility from there to 1) Erase, Format, and Partition your internal drive, and 2) do a clean installation of OS 10.9. You can then boot your machine via OS 10.9, and apply the OS 10.9.4 Combo Updater. Then, use Migration Assistant to get the rest of your stuff. This link has information on that (invisible) Recovery partition:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Good luck!
 
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