Created a bootable USB with El Capitan installer
booted from it, erased my MBP (mid 2009), clean install from USB installer
To install El Capitan, make sure the USB drive is inserted into the computer, then restart the computer while holding the Option (alt) key on your keyboard. Wait until the Startup Manager pops up, then select the 'OS X Base System' volume. Alternatively, you can just hold down the C key while starting up to boot directly into the USB drive. Clean installing or restoring a Mac offline with USB pen drive. As said earlier, you could use the macOS USB installer to do a clean install or restore it upon a boot failure. Just connect the USB disk and press the Option/Alt Key when you hear the boot sound. The Mac will then display all the startup disks available.
decided to use migration assistant, most apps not working plus all the clutter from pre clean install

decided to do another clean install but MBP won't boot from USB and uses the recovery version instead.
tried to get Maverick back and basically ended up with a non-working MBP that went into a boot loop
did a reinstall from MAS, ended up DLing the entire Installer again, went to bed and in the morning and 'working'
MBP again, plus all the clutter and non working apps.
How To Install Mac Os El Capitan From Usb

Made a new bootable USB key using terminal and yes it finished and yes it said bootable at the end as well as in Disk Utilities.
However when trying to boot from USB, start+Option, or start+cmd+r still no sign of the USB stick, which i guess would leave me
with a non clean install again.
Any help, suggestions.....?
Cheers


Install Mac Os X 10.11 From Usb
Ralf
MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2009), OS X El Capitan (10.11)
Mac Os El Capitan Wikipedia
Posted on Oct 4, 2015 7:57 AM