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I am downloading OSX El Capitan through AppStore and it runs already 10 hours. I have downloaded 1,5 GB so far. I fear I can't work next week because of this slow download process. I need it because of the new XCode.

I already tried to download a torrent with this OS, which took me only 30 mins from a Windows System. But I had problems installing it, because it seems to be corrupt.

Is there another way to upgrade without using the AppStore ? I think about the dmg, which could be simply downloaded. Or how can someone upgrade an Apple OS in one day ?

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I added a new speedtest herer, because it seems not to be clear enough.

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  • Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat. – bmike♦ May 29 '16 at 19:25
  • I advise you to check that you are connected through the connection you think. Particularly pay attention to a sluggish Wi-Fi connection when you are on the Automatic configuration. Perhaps add to your question how you are physically connected to the Internet (look at the left part of Network Preferences...). – dan Aug 1 '16 at 6:01
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The short answer is no - Apple does not provide any alternative method. A short analysis is something is massively wrong with your network or your computer since 10 hours to download 6 GB of data is something that would bring Apple's iTunes / App Store / software update service to a crashing halt if it affected everyone.

Now - the answer is also yes. Once you or someone you know has downloaded the Application to install El Capitan, you can install it to USB stick and share it, but this is also how many malware get distributed when people find some random site on the internet and download El Capitan from a site and don't verify checksum.

Apple does allow people to operate a caching server so that when the first person on a network segment downloads a specific app or book , it gets cached locally. If you can VPN to a better network - or one with caching server, you might get a far better download speed to your Mac.

Look in /var/log/commerce.log for an entry like:

May 29 07:54:07 mac storedownloadd[37414]: ProgressObserver: Created a placeholder at /Applications/OS X El Capitan.appdownload to represent download progress
May 29 07:54:08 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.000000% (-1.000000)
May 29 07:54:09 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.002089% (-1.000000)
May 29 07:54:11 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.004216% (1505.469385)
May 29 07:54:13 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.006556% (1382.851770)
May 29 07:54:14 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.009006% (1307.710558)

After a while, if you have good network (this is a MacBook using AirPort WiFi in the US):

May 29 08:00:17 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.548568% (814.645701)
May 29 08:00:18 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.550823% (812.247625)
May 29 08:00:20 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.553163% (809.416475)

At nearly the end, an installClient process runs to finish the installation and the time estimates usually are conservative in that you finish before they predict at that point.

May 29 08:03:19 mac storedownloadd[37414]: installClientDidFinish
May 29 08:03:19 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.967742% (3.000000)
May 29 08:03:19 mac storeassetd[37257]: SoftwareMap: No app was found with bundle ID com.apple.InstallAssistant.ElCapitan to upgrade to 1.7.46
May 29 08:03:19 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 0.967742% (3.000000)
May 29 08:03:20 mac storedownloadd[37414]: sending status (OS X El Capitan): 1.000000% (0.000000)

So, for this computer it was 9m 13s to download and install. I suspect the download was already cached on my OS X server.app running on a Mac Mini - so you might watch your log with a terminal command tail -F /var/log/commerce.log and maybe try a different network or see if a friend you trust has already downloaded the file?

Lastly, be sure you are looking at the correct file. Others have mistaken the name or requirements and had not the issue you report. From your details, you really have a bad service on this one file and not something you could fix yourself.

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  • Thanks. There is no need for a better download speed. I guess I prooved with screenshots that my network is very well fast. By the way I could just complete an ITunes Update (300MB) in 2 minutes. Is this slow ? NO its not. But the EL CAPITAN takes weeks . So where is now the problem logically thinked ? Thanks for the answer. I just have to wait and hope that it ends sometime. – user1344545 May 29 '16 at 13:18
  • @user1344545 Sadly yes - the download you need could be on a slow node. Apple has many distribution points - not all have cached the 10.11.5 so you might have other fast downloads and this one stuck. The good news, is the download resumes itself. You could power down and try again in a bit and maybe draw a faster server. – bmike♦ May 29 '16 at 13:22
  • Thanks, that could be an explanation. Its Apple ! Thanks – user1344545 May 29 '16 at 13:24
  • Try using a different DNS server. howtogeek.com/howto/38793/… – Pierre Bernard May 30 '16 at 7:56
  • @Pierre Bernard: the DNS is used once at the beginning of a transfer. It is working or not. To change a DNS server has no impact in any way on a network transfer speed. – dan Aug 1 '16 at 6:04

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