Creating Bootable USB OSX El Capitan or Sierra from OSX 10.6

[tortillasoup]

I'm using an older computer that has OSX 10.6 and I plan on doing a fresh install of OSX El Capitan or Sierra onto a new SSD. Problem is, all the utilities I have come across want me to use OSX 10.7 at a minimum. I have tried to create a bootable USB drive from a windows computer as well but it was a failed effort and now I'm sort of at a loss on how to proceed. I can't do an upgrade to a newer version of OSX on this drive with 10.6 because I want to preserve the drive and not make any changes to it.

 

[Kaido]

Try using UniBeast on your older Mac:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/resources/unibeast-7-1-0.332/

Even though it's for Hackintosh, it will still install a copy of macOS Sierra on a real Mac normally (I've done it...easier to carry around one USB stick than multiple). Not sure the Tonymac app will work on 10.6, but worth a shot! You'll need the Sierra image to make it happen.

 

[vailr]

First, the "older computer" should be checked for which exact latest version of OSX/macOS is capable of being installed.
Sierra may not even be supported by the hardware.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Did you already try the "easy" way - download the 10.11 or 10.12 installer, view package contents, find the .img file, and use Disk Utility to write it back to a properly formatted thumb drive? (GPT format, etc.)

 

[tortillasoup]

I had a friend with a mac who had a newer version of the OS and I downloaded/did the procedure off that computer to make the bootable flash drive.