My MacBook Pro broke. Hence, I bought a 2nd hand Mac mini to try, since I always want a Mac mini.... glad to get a 2014 Mac mini with Apple trackpad v2 (always want to try this too, like it) and a magic keyboard. It has the latest MacOS installed BUT I cannot install my old software ...... ummmm. Ideally, I should remove the SSD from my MacBook and buy a PCIe HD case and just boot from that but the quickest may be to install an older version macOS in new partition. So I decided to create another partition and install older version of macOS.... Steps: A. Create new partition In MacBook, it is easy to create new partition. Go to Utilities folder under Applications (use Finder winder) and inside Utilities, there is Disk Utility. Click Partition icon (you will see a pie chart thing that show your total disk space, if you never create any partition before...) Click the + button under the pie. It will automatically cut the pie in half.... On the right hand side, you should see empty field where you can enter new partition name and enter the no of G for your partition under the name field. Make sure not to enter more that what has been used by whatever you are using. It is also wasting time to create a small partition for macOS.... Then Apply and create the Partition. B. Download Mojave Installer Use Safari web browser. Go to here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12 Click View in App Store and Get Then software updates will pop-up. Click Advance to uncheck Check Updates. Enter Admin password. Just let it download and DO NOT continue... Just let the installer downloaded If it is successful, you can find the Install macOS Mojave in Application folder. Note: If something went wrong that you have to remove the Installer and redownload it, you have to go to Finder window, Applications folder and right click the Installer to open up submenu and Move it to bin/trash. Then empty it before you try going into the link again and get it. C. Get USB drive at least 16G Plug the USB drive into your mac mini. Open Disk Utility and format it into macOS Extended (journaled) format first. Open "Terminal" Type in this command (Mojboot is the name of your USB drive, which you can set in disk utility or drag the usb drive to Terminal, it will show you the correct path and name): sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MojbootEnter admin password when prompt and enter Yes to permit access to removable drive and erase the removable disk if it prompts. Then, you shall see it start erase the usb disk and copy files that needed for booting the mac mini.. After successfully completed, you will see its volume name is now called Install macOS Mojave... I encountered a few hurdles: 1. cannot find the Mojave.app - what i did was to rename it into e.g. moj and tried the above command again replace Mojave.app to moj.app and it worked great 2. used a command that has the --applicationpath which caused error, so I just use the command above to create the bootable macos mojave usb drive. Now, you have the bootable disk which allows you to install Mojave macOS on the new partition on your mac mini! Next, I shut down my mac mini and remove the boot usb. Get my formally bluetooth paired keyboard and trackpad ready. And then get a cup of tea. Put the boot usb to the mac mini and switch it on while holding the ALT/Option key down .... wait wait wait until it show 2 icons one is the mac HD and the other is your Install macOS Mojave drive. Select "Install macOS Mojave" - at this stage I had issue of cannot use the trackpad only the keyboard.... SO AVOID USING BLUETOOTH MOUSE USE A WIRED MOUSE. To resolve this issue... I shut the mac mini down and plug the lightning cable to the trackpad v2 and restart the machine. Yeah! Continue..... Select Install macOS Mojave and select your wi-fi network and enter the password.... Then, a list of actions/utilities you can do. Select Install macOS and when ask where to install REMEMBER to select the new partition you have created earlier. It took some time to install so grab a cup of tea, some snacks, enjoy the wait. After all is done. Remove the bootable USB. And switch on the the mac, hold down the ALT/Option key again and select to go into the new partition! My practice will go to the System Preference and Startup Disk and select my new partition with Mojave installed as startup, so next time I do not need to hold down Option key again.... only when I want to go into other macOS.... Enjoy |
Incompatible disk: This disk uses features that are not supported on this version of MacOS. This message came up when logged into Mojave after I partitioned the mac mini 2014 HDD and installed Big Sur. I needed to keep Mojave for my photo editor and other designers' tools. But also I needed to use Office 365 which required macos 11+. So I had to partition the HDD. As most of you may encounter the same issue this incompatible disk message keep poppin up when login to Mojave. Tried all comments and advises found online, e.g. boot up using the bootable mojave install usb, partition the disk with mac journal format and then erase the same partition BUT select APFS, then installed Mojave... msg still came up. After I read this article https://support.apple.com/en-au/HT208050 . Realized it could be due to the shell version, so I followed How to change the default Shell in Users and Group setup. I selected the user name and selected /bin/zsh. Then restart the mac mini. The incompatible di