If you troubleshoot Macs on a regular basis, sooner or later, you’re going to need an old Mac OS X install CD or DVD. Only the truly organized will be able to locate that Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard DVD they last used two moves ago. For those of you looking to find a way to replace your old Mac OS X install discs, we’d like to offer the following suggestions.
There are two methods to see how much storage space your Mac has available before it’ll be completely full. The first is to simply check the About When you do this, a new window showing your Mac’s hardware specs opens up. Click on the Storage tab, and you’ll get to see a breakdown of all the. I am using a Mac Mini (Late 2012) that is running macOS 10.9.5 (Mavericks). I avoided upgrading to macOS 10.10 (Yosemite) when it was first released because of all of the stability issues surrounding it.
eBay
You’ll find it all on eBay, albeit not at the best possible prices. Like any commodity that’s not being produced anymore, original Mac OS X installation CDs and DVDs are being kept, hoarded, and sold at impressive profits. Remember when Apple routinely insisted that $129 was a reasonable amount to jump from Mac OS X 10.3 to 10.4? Well, the person who kept their boxed installation disc would like to see their money back—and it’s going to come out of your pocket.
Still, eBay is the place where the selection is the most optimal, the price competition remains fierce, and odds are you can find exactly what you need and have it on your doorstep in a few days’ time. Check that the seller has a reputation around or close to 100 percent before you order what you need.
Craigslist
If it’s for sale and local, you’ll find it on Craigslist. Log in, check the local computer equipment listings and you should be able to find what you need, or at least someone who has a good lead on the Mac OS X CD or DVD that you suddenly found yourself needing for a project.
Unlike eBay, there’s a little wiggle room for negotiation once you’ve contacted the seller via phone or email, so use this to your advantage and with any luck, they’ll come to you with the product.
Like anything else with Craigslist, be on the lookout for scams, deals that seem too good to be true, and the like. Contact the seller, see how you get along and with any luck, you can have the install disc you need by the end of the day.
Techie yard sales/Macintosh user groups
You’ll have to dig around and pen them into your calendar, but you’ll find what you need here plus Mac-based advice and camaraderie to boot. Growing up in the 1990s, Macintosh User Group techie yard sales were among the greatest things on Earth and allowed you to find almost any piece of hardware or software that you might need. This tradition continues and Apple still keeps a list of physical Macintosh User Groups as well as online-only Apple User Groups, so see what’s near you.
Once your older Mac OS X CD or DVD is in your hand, set aside some time with Disk Utility and some blank CD-Rs, DVD-Rs, or, in the case of the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard operating systems, dual layer DVD-Rs. These are your property now, they’re yours to back up and there’s always the chance that someone will be happy to buy your original disc somewhere down the road.
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Does your Mac’s battery not last as long as when it was new? Users experiencing noticeably shorter battery life on a MacBook, MacBook Pro, or MacBook Air can take a few steps to determine it’s health and overall condition.
It’s completely normal for notebook batteries to gradually become less effective at holding a charge as time goes on. It’s all about the age of the battery, how often it is used, and other conditions like temperature. Battery usage is measured in cycles, which represents the number of times it has been fully discharged. That doesn’t necessarily mean going from 100% down to 0% all on one charge. It can be broken up across a number of charges. For example, going from 100% down to 60% (-40%), then back up to 100% and down to 50% (-50%), then from 100% again to 90% (-10%). Combined, these 3 make up a complete -100% discharge cycle.
Apple’s latest Mac notebook batteries are designed to maintain about 80% of their original charging capacity after 1000 cycles or 5 years. That means a battery that lasted for 5 hours when it was new should last around 4 hours by the time it gets to 1000 cycles. For comparison, PC makers like HP only expect their batteries to hold 80% of their capacity after 300 cycles or 1 year.
Of course, how you treat your battery can influence it’s lifespan. Always keeping your MacBook plugged in to the power adapter and never using the battery can kill it faster than using it every day. That’s why it’s always a good idea to run the battery down completely at least once a month. Extreme temperatures – hot or cold – can damage a battery too. Finally, storing a Mac and its battery for long periods of time when it’s completely empty or full can lessen its ability to hold a charge.
How to tell if you need a new battery
The quickest way to check if your MacBook’s battery is in need of a replacement is to open System Profiler. This is located in Applications > Utilities and can also be accessed by going to the Apple menu > About This Mac > More Info. Click on the Power section in the list and you’ll find information like the cycle count and condition rating. “Normal,” “Replace Soon,” “Replace Now,” and “Service Battery” are the categories Mac OS X displays to communicate the battery’s condition.
For those looking for a bit more information, a free Mac utility called coconutBattery is available for download. It shows the battery’s original capacity and compares it to its current capacity, along with a numerical health rating. Anything above 80% is considered normal, but your battery is likely on its way out if it is somewhere in the 70s or lower. It will still work, of course, but not nearly as long as when it was new. Depending on how often you use the battery and how long you need it to last on a single charge, purchasing a replacement might be a worthwhile investment.