Problem Downloading Catalina From Apple

[Scoot65]

I'm going to hopefully be creating a bootable Catalina USB stick installer. I've used https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201372 to reach the Catalina download page. The page states that the Catalina file is 4.90GB , but when I download it and see in my Applications folder the size of the 'install macOS Catalina' file is only 19.1MB ...... that can't be right???

Any pointers as to where I can get the Catalina installer from Apple's site? Or, what am I doing wrong?

Thanks

 

[rm5]

So it is DOWNLOADED and it's only 19.1 MB?

I've had this happen a few times - I think it has to download the rest of the files AFTER you launch the installer - when it shows the Catalina logo and a progress bar.

 

[DeltaMac]

That's typical of Apple recently... What you see is what most here call a "stub installer", which is only the initial part of the download. You get the rest when you run that file.
However, you can't make a stick installer from that stub file. You will discover that the full installer is actually about 8.3 GB, and that is how much space you will need to make the stick installer.
I like using the MDS app, which provides a link to download the macOS installer (the full download there!)

MDS – Twocanoes Software

twocanoes.com

It's free to use for macOS installers. The only reason that you would pay anything would be if you need the support options that company provides. Individual users aren't going to need any of that.
But, it is a reliable way to download Apple's installers (which come from Apple's servers, the MDS app just gives you an easy-to-use interface for that)

 

[Scoot65]

Many thanks for the reply.
"So it is DOWNLOADED and it's only 19.1 MB?" Yes, indeed it is! This is why I thought that there must be something not right.

Thanks for the information regarding the "stub installer" I'd never come across this before and also the MDS app. Looks like I'll have to use that to kale my bootable USB.

Why is Apple starting to do this? Any idea what would be their issue about allowing people to download older OS's?

 

[DeltaMac]

I wouldn't say that Apple has just started using a stub installer. I think it began with High Sierra, maybe Sierra.
The stub installer doesn't even appear every time -- sometimes you get the full installer.

"why?" Maybe it is related to network traffic volume at the moment, or maybe the idea that it simply gives access for the full download (has to happen at some point), and the download does not happen until you actually begin the install.
I don't think it's about allowing or preventing download of older OSes, because the stub installer does download all the files needed for the install, just doesn't give you all of that, until you choose to run the installer.

But, as long as you know about that, you can choose a different method to download it for yourself, such as MDS, or the terminal command to find and download directly from Apples macOS servers.

 

[Scoot65]

Thanks for that. I've just Googled the terminal command method and have found that it's only avaialable from Catalona onwards. Anyway thanks to your MDS suggestion, I'm going that route.