If you’re thinking of using your Mac as a computer with multiple operating systems, in this post we’ll review how many versions you can have (and which ones are compatible) so that We can access them from the same Mac. In the same way, we are also going to see how to create a disk partition and what features it should have in order to be able to install a different version of macOS.
So you can install more than one version of macOS on your Mac
The first thing to know is that there must be an installed version of the macOS operating system we will need a memory space where we can store it, Thus, we will need to create hard drive partition or create partition volume. It will be more or less limited depending on the local storage space of our Mac (in case we don’t want to use external hard drives), or, how much external memory we are willing to use to make those hard drives.
Once we take this factor into account, a very important thing to keep in mind is the format system with which we are going to create these volumes to host the macOS operating system. This is very important, because in this way we are going to ensure 100% compatibility, not only of the system itself, but also of the data and files it needs to function. the file format we require Installing Multiple Versions of macOS on a Volume That Has APFS (Apple File System), This file system is proprietary to Apple, and is the successor to the older Mac OS Extended Format.
How to create a volume to install macOS
Once we’ve defined the bases, it’s time to make room for the operating system to be installed. In this case, we will have to go to the Disk Utility application, and we will have to select the hard disk volume in APFS format that we have by default. From the factory, our Mac’s hard drives appear to be one volume. For this, We have to press the Add (+) button.
When we press it, we will be asked to put a name for the created volume. To select the format, we need to click on the APFS option. We can also configure how much space we want to reserve for that virtual hard drive. To do this, we can go to the Size option.
When we have selected all the parameters, then we have to click on Add and then click on OK button. Once we have created all this, we need to see which versions of macOS are going to be compatible with our computer. Depending on our model and system version requirements, we can find these limits:
- Operating systems that support only 64-bit processor architecture (macOS Catalina onwards,
- Older operating systems that do not support Apple Silicon processors (macOS Beyond Big Sur,
In addition to these limits, you must also take into account the weight of each operating system. To do this, once you have the version you want to install, you need to check that it fits within the space you’ve specified on the volume you created.
