Updating O/S

I plan to up date from leopard to lion. What do I have to back up. I stuff in my document folder, and lots of programs.

It would be good to know what computer you have...just to be sure what it's OS upgrade limits are...and if it meets the system requirements. Plus...getting a copy of Lion is more difficult than may you think.

- Nick

p.s. Thread moved to more appropriate sub-forum.

I'm going to purchase it from apple online. This is what I have.

Version 10.6.8

Model Name: MacBook
Model Identifier: MacBook6,1
Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed: 2.26 GHz
Number Of Processors: 1
Total Number Of Cores: 2
L2 Cache: 3 MB
Memory: 4 GB
Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MB61.00C8.B00
SMC Version (system): 1.51f53
Serial Number (system):
Hardware UUID: 4BA5FACE-5672-5897-BB8B-A54979CFC81C
Sudden Motion Sensor:
State: Enabled

charisma said:

I'm going to purchase it from apple online. This is what I have.

Click to expand...

Just in case there's some confusion. Lion is OS 10.7. Lion is no longer available for purchase online...and hasn't been for approximately a year.

This is why I mentioned that Lion is not as easy to acquire as one would like.

- Nick

Then I'm mistaken. I'm referring to the latest O'S out there then.

It looks like you've got a late 2009 MacBook so you should be okay for ML. As for your question, only you can answer that. You likely store everything in your home directory so make sure to back up anything there. If you have any software that is licensed (you put in a key), see if there is a deactivation option (some Adobe software has this option) which will prevent any potential reactivation issues.

charisma said:

Then I'm mistaken. I'm referring to the latest O'S out there then.

Click to expand...

Latest OS is 10.8 (Mountain Lion). You mentioned that you currently have OS 10.5 (Leopard) installed. Which I'm not sure is correct...since this model MacBook shipped with Snow Leopard (OS 10.6).

To upgrade to Mountain Lion you need to:

- first install OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard) $19...from the Apple online store (Apple.com).
- Make sure it's at least version 10.6.6 to have access to the "Mac App Store"
- Then pay for, download, and install Mac OS 10.8 $19.99.

* Nick

I have 10.6.8 Does that mean I have to download and pay for two up dates?

charisma said:

I have 10.6.8 Does that mean I have to download and pay for two up dates?

Click to expand...

10.6.8 is Snow Leopard (you mentioned you had Leopard currently installed in post #1).

So if you currently have 10.6.8...no you don't have to pay for two upgrades. You just need to pay for, download, and install Mountain Lion (OS 10.8).

- Nick

Thank you very much for all your help