updating from OS X 10.4.11

Hi,

Im new and wanted to ask a question. My MAC BOOK PRO is running OS X 10.4.11, I brought it back in 2007. I was wondering if I could upgrade the op system or if I needed to buy a whole new laptop. I cant download any up to date broswers because my system is so old. I no longer can open my gmail, etc... any advice would help...thanks

Welcome to Mac-Forums..

If your Macbook Pro is Intel-based, which I believe it is, you can upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, but that's as high as you can go. Depending on the specs, that's probably best anyway..

You can purchase OS X Snow Leopard for $19.99 from Apple and do the upgrade.

The upgrade will likely give the MBP a bit of life, but it's now 7 years old, so you might want to start thinking and saving up for an upgrade..

HI,

I recently went thru this with my 2007 MacBook also. I upgraded to Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6.8) and found that alot of nagging problems, for me, disappeared. I also had some problems with mail programs. I think Snow Leopard is a good and useful upgrade and will probably buy you a few more years with this machine, probably worthwhile considering it's only $20. Just my .02.

Bob M.

Thank you Raz0rEdge and Bob M. I will look into upgrading to Snow Leopard. I'm scared to do it myself because I don't want to mess up anything but I will try. I have to figure out how to back everything up...do I even need to back everything up first?

Also, will I need my Apple ID to do the upgrade? I can't remember what it is...

You should absolutely back everything up before doing an upgrade and also have a good backup strategy in general anyway.

The easiest, of course, starting with Leopard is Time Machine which you can make use of once you upgrade. But until then you will just have to grab all of your important data and copy it to an external drive or online storage depending on what you have and how much data you want to save.

The other option is do use a program like SuperDuper or something to clone your entire drive and its contents..

As far as the upgrade is concerned, it's quite seamless. You buy the disc, plug it in and it will ask you if you want to upgrade, you say yes and let it go about its business and it'll reboot and you'll be on Snow Leopard, no fuss no mess..

You do not need the Apple ID for the upgrade itself, but once you upgrade to Snow Leopard, you should update to the newest version which is 10.6.8. At that point in time you will get the Mac App Store as a new application. Downloading anything from the Mac App Store WILL require an Apple ID. If you have forgotten what your old one is and there isn't anything of value on that account, you can always create a new Apple ID for all future transactions and try to remember it..

Hi, I'm several months late in trying to actually update. It's been a long busy couple of months.However, I am going to try this upgrade. Thanks for all of the helpful info from before. I feel lost but I have started to look for ways to back up everything so that I can do this upgrade. I am going to attempt to download SuperDuper on my laptop. Not sure if it will work since it's so old. I am not sure of any other ways to back up like you suggested. Are there any free ones or will I have to pay for the backup program? I have CS3 Adobe programs that I really, really, want to keep, yes, I know my PS is so old,lol! It will have to do for now and I don't want to lose it and can't find the old disc or serial numbers for it. I have 1700 pics/videos that i don't want to lose and will like to keep them at their full resolution, if possible. Any thoughts...def would appreciate it...

lanicha said:

I feel lost but I have started to look for ways to back up everything so that I can do this upgrade. I am going to attempt to download SuperDuper on my laptop. Not sure if it will work since it's so old. I am not sure of any other ways to back up like you suggested.

I have 1700 pics/videos that i don't want to lose and will like to keep them at their full resolution, if possible. Any thoughts...def would appreciate it...

Click to expand...

Technically you don't need a backup program at all. You could simply copy them to a separate storage device. BAMM…those 1700 photos & videos are backed up!

- Nick

pigoo3 said:

Technically you don't need a backup program at all. You could simply copy them to a separate storage device. BAMM…those 1700 photos & videos are backed up!

- Nick

Click to expand...

Nick, thanks for replying! I have no idea of what other storage devices there are...are you talking about buying an external device or is this something I can download, with a fee or free? Idk.. but that would solve only part of the equation...I still need to backup for the programs I already have on my computer that I want to save, right? So that they will still be there and usable after the upgrade to OS X 10.6 Snow leopard...

lanicha said:

I have no idea of what other storage devices there are...are you talking about buying an external device or is this something I can download, with a fee or free?

Click to expand...

Is there some sort of confusion what is meant by a secondary storage device?? A secondary storage device is a second place to backup/copy these files.

You cannot backup or copy your files to the same storage device you currently have them on…otherwise…it's really not a backup. You need a second/secondary storage device.

This can be an:

- external hard drive
- USB stick or sticks
- "cloud storage" on the internet
- etc.

Most commonly this would be an external HD.

No…a secondary storage device is NOT something you can download for free. A secondary storage device is not something that can be downloaded.

lanicha said:

Idk.. but that would solve only part of the equation...I still need to backup for the programs I already have on my computer that I want to save, right?

Click to expand...

I was mostly trying to address your 1700 photos & videos. As far as the programs/applications. You should have all of the original disks for these when you purchased the programs. So reinstalling them should be easy. But…you of course could use a program like Super Duper or Carbon Copy Cloner.

- Nick