I need help

[killerbee]

After installing El Capitan I had an unrelated drive failure that required a new hard drive installation. The Apple Authorised repair centre used my time machine back up but restored it to before my installation of the new OSX so I'm running Yosemite 10.10.5

I am now unable to update to the new El Capitan from the App Store as it thinks I have already installed it. When I try to d/l it I get the spinning d/l symbol ( not the rainbow one) and nothing happens.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[honestone]

Time machine does not back up system files, so the repair shop installed OS 10.10.5, then used Migration Assistant to "migrate"/copy all the non-Apple stuff from the Time Machine backup. Too bad you did not make another copy of the Install OS X ElCapitan file somewhere else. As it is, I suspect you did the upgrade from the location of that file in the Applications folder. Unfortunately, after running the upgrade from there, the file goes away.

You should still be able to download it, as I just did it. That is, I downloaded OS 10.11 the day it came out, and also made a copy of the Install OS X El Capitan file in another location. I did not install it, as I still have one application that needs to be upgraded for El Capitan compatibility. I still had the original Install OS X El Capitan file inside my Applications folder. So, I renamed it to "Install OS X El Capitan - Old", went to the App Store, and clicked on Purchased. I saw the Install OS X El Capitan file as one I "purchased" (there were other applications listed also), and I clicked Download. Sure enough, I was able to download it. You should be able to do the same.

 

[killerbee]

Thanks honestone
I tried to do as you suggested but El Capitan shows as "Downloaded" and I'm unable to d/l it again
This is a screen shot of the listing.

 

[honestone]

Really strange, I'll say! In the past, it has been stated that if one needs to download such a file again, that it could be done. And, it did not mention any restrictions on that, ie, whether one had already installed the OS or not. It's for such situations like this why I much prefer to download something myself, without interference from a vendor. But, I know that is not possible with such Apple OS files.

Is there any way you can contact Apple about this? If not, then do you have a friend that has either downloaded it already (and still has the original file and/or a copy of it), or can download it now?

 

[killerbee]

I'll contact Apple.
Thanks very much for your help