This non technie needs help upgrading from 10.5.8 to 10.6.0!

[Mapper]

I know virtually nothing about computers...barely even know what plug goes where. My husband knows a lot, but he knows about PCs and not Macs so he is of no help with my current dilemma.

I have had an iMac for about 4 years now. It's version 10.5.8 with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core. I work from home as a graphic designer and currently use Adobe CS4 but need to upgrade to Adobe CS6 for future work. However, in order to do that I need to upgrade my version to 10.6 or higher. I believe I currently operate with Leopard, but know that there is Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion above that.

I am at a total loss on what I need to do or where I need to go to get this version. Also I've read that I need to back up everything from my computer before doing the upgrade to be sure I won't lose anything. My hard drive currently uses 110G. Where on earth would I back that up to? I obviously will not back it up to a bunch of CDs!

Any help is appreciated!

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You are indeed running the latest version of Leopard. From there you have Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7) and the latest Mountain Lion (10.8).

Lion and Mountain Lion were made available as downloads through the Mac App Store that came into existence with Snow Leopard.

As long as your iMac's year is newer than 2007, you can upgrade to the Mountain Lion instead of going just to Snow Leopard.

However, since you don't have access to the App Store, you will either need to find someone who has a Mac with at least Snow Leopard so that you can download it on their Mac, or perhaps visit the Apple Store near you to try to upgrade.

You can also call Apple and see what they would suggest that you do.

Can you also provide more detailed specs on your iMac by clicking on About This Mac after you click on the Apple logo in the menubar. I want to make sure that you have enough RAM to keep Mountain Lion happy..

If, however, you JUST want to stick with Snow Leopard. You will have to call Apple and then buy the $29 SL disc from them.

As far as backup goes, the fastest thing is to buy an external HD and then enable Time Machine and point it at the external HD. That's the fastest way to get some backup scheme going if you don't have one already..

 

[pigoo3]

Just so you know:

10.5 = Leopard
10.6 = Snow Leopard
10.7 = Lion
10.8 = Mountain Lion

Some other things you need to know:

* Check the system requirements forCS6…to make sure your computer can run it…AND what Macintosh OS version you minimally need to run it.

* We probably need better specs on your computer…since there's a good chance with the info you gave so far…that it may not be able to run Lion (10.7) or Mountain Lion (10.8)…it will run Snow Leopard (10.6).

* When you upgrade a computers OS (especially Macintosh computers)…you need to be very careful. Because in the process of upgrading the OS…you may make other applications currently on your computer obsolete (not compatible with the newer OS version).

* Even if your computer can run OS 10.7 (Lion) or 10.8 (Mountain Lion)…you do need to upgrade to Snow Leopard (10.6) first. Snow Leopard is no longer available for sale. You need to call Apple directly (800 number)…NOT an Apple Store.

* Where would you back things up to. Well…you REALLY should already have a backup…since a hard drive can fail at any time. But as to where…you need to purchase an external hard drive for a backup.

- Nick

 

[Mapper]

Yes I would like to upgrade as much as possible so going all the way to Mountain Lion is great. However I read, or at least thought I read, that you have to upgrade to 10.6 before you can upgrade to Mountain Lion?

My memory says 1 GB 800 MHZ DDR2 SDRAM

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Yes, as Nick and I said..you must already have Snow Leopard installed to get Mountain Lion through the Mac App Store..

Also, you really should upgrade the memory to the max that your machine supports (probably 4GB)..

 

[Mapper]

Yes, as Nick and I said..you must already have Snow Leopard installed to get Mountain Lion through the Mac App Store..

Also, you really should upgrade the memory to the max that your machine supports (probably 4GB)..

Lots of questions coming to light.

1) How do I upgrade memory?

2) Is there a certain hard drive I need to buy or will any do?

3) You say I need to call the Apple to upgrade to Snow Leopard. What will they do for me and how much will it cost?

 

[pigoo3]

Lots of questions coming to light.

1) How do I upgrade memory?

2) Is there a certain hard drive I need to buy or will any do?

3) You say I need to call the Apple to upgrade to Snow Leopard. What will they do for me and how much will it cost?

Yes…it does sound like your going to have a lot of questions! It would help you and us both if you carefully absorbed every detail in the previous postings.

* The cost of Snow Leopard was already mentioned ($29 bucks).
* If by memory you mean "ram"…you NEED to tell us exactly what model Macintosh computer you have (as requested above)…so we know exactly what computer we are dealing with. Then we can answer the "How do I upgrade memory?" question.
* When you call Apple…I think that they will send you an OS 10.6 install disk.

- Nick

 

[Mapper]

Yes…it does sound like your going to have a lot of questions! It would help you and us both if you carefully absorbed every detail in the previous postings.

* The cost of Snow Leopard was already mentioned ($29 bucks).
* If by memory you mean "ram"…you NEED to tell us exactly what model Macintosh computer you have (as requested above)…so we know exactly what computer we are dealing with. Then we can answer the "How do I upgrade memory?" question.
* When you call Apple…I think that they will send you an OS 10.6 install disk.

- Nick

Here's the overview on my Mac:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 6 MB
Memory: 1 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.29f1
Serial Number (system): YD91633JZE2
Hardware UUID: 7DAE39C0-1B39-500A-AE51-71E14DD4EFF3

 

[pigoo3]

Here's the overview on my Mac:

Hardware Overview:

Model Name: iMac
Model Identifier: iMac8,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Great…that hardware info helps a lot!

Your computer maxes out at 4gig of ram officially from Apple…but you actually can upgrade it to 6gig of ram. AND (luckily)…your iMac is capable of being upgraded all the way to OS 10.8 Mountain Lion.

To purchase ram & an external hard drive for backing stuff up…these guys are a great places:

- OWC

As far as the hard drive. You need an external SATA hard drive…that connects via your computers USB port. Most external hard drives sold today are SATA & connect via USB…so don't let the technical terms be a concern.

- Nick

p.s. As far as installing the ram. OWC (the link above has install videos)…and you can also go to this website:

- www.ifixit.com

…which also has step by step directions on how to do it (VERY EASY)…with photos!

 

[Mapper]

Great…that hardware info helps a lot!

Your computer maxes out at 4gig of ram officially from Apple…but you actually can upgrade it to 6gig of ram. AND (luckily)…your iMac is capable of being upgraded all the way to OS 10.8 Mountain Lion.

To purchase ram & an external hard drive for backing stuff up…these guys are a great places:

- OWC

As far as the hard drive. You need an external SATA hard drive…that connects via your computers USB port. Most external hard drives sold today are SATA & connect via USB…so don't let the technical terms be a concern.

- Nick

Great that helps a lot!

So what I should do first is call Apple and tell them I want to upgrade to to Version 10.8. They will most likely send me a disc to upgrade to 10.6 and then can other upgrades be done online? After I get that sorted out then buy a hard drive to back up everything to before upgrading? Thanks for the link to hard drives. I don't want to spend a lot of money and just want something basic. Can you recommend one from that website?

 

[pigoo3]

Great that helps a lot!

So what I should do first is call Apple and tell them I want to upgrade to to Version 10.8. They will most likely send me a disc to upgrade to 10.6 and then can other upgrades be done online?

Yes. 10.6 is an install disk…then 10.8 is purchased & downloaded online.

After I get that sorted out then buy a hard drive to back up everything to before upgrading?

Probably a good idea.

Thanks for the link to hard drives. I don't want to spend a lot of money and just want something basic. Can you recommend one from that website?

The basic idea is…smaller capacity is going to be less expensive overall…but more capacity is cheaper by the gigabyte of storage. Also…if cost is a super important concern…you may be able to get a better price on an external HD somewhere other than OWC. But OWC is a great place to get the ram upgrade…so for convenience you could get the external HD there as well.

- Nick

 

[Raz0rEdge]

That would work. You pay the $29 for Snow Leopard. Install it over Leopard you currently have and update it the latest (10.6.3 I believe) available..then you can use the Mac App Store to buy Mountain Lion for $19.99 and upgrade to Mountain Lion and then update to the latest (10.8.2) update..

As far as external HD, you don't have to get it from OWC, you can buy any reputable one from Amazon or Newegg or any other online vendor. Check out the reviews and buy one that fits your budget and has a good overall review..

 

[dtravis7]

For sure upgrade the Ram to at least 4GB if you want Mountain Lion to perform well. For the RAM OWC is the best.

 

[Krzykat]

Installing RAM is very easy. There are several videos of it online, and the Apple site also explains how to do it. Just a warning, you have to push the memory in hard--- harder than you think. Think it took my 15 minutes tops to add RAM.

You can also get hard drives at stores like Target, WalMart, Best Buy, Staples, etc

 

[bobtomay]

One item of note - the very first thing you should do:

Before you upgrade the RAM...

Before you upgrade to Snow Leopard...

Get an external hard drive and get any data you care about data backed up.
If you have nothing on your existing drive that you care about losing, then go about it in pretty much any order you wish (or can afford).