Upgrading MBP OS from Snow Leopard to El Capitan

[JHK]

I have a MBP from 2010 that still runs OS X 10.6.8, i.e. Snow Leopard. I have not had the need to upgrade until now, but for instance taking part in some Webinars is not possible as at least OS X 10.9 is required.

There is a possibility to upgrade to El Capitan for free, but I have read many negative reviews about this such as slow performance, programs crashing, WIFI not working, keyboard and mouse not working etc.

I have backed up all data to an external drive and currently have 46 GB free disc space and 8 GB memory so basically I am ready to upgrade, but I am not sure whether to go ahead with it or not.

Has anyone upgraded their MBP from Snow Leopard to El Capitan recently? How did you go? Where there any issues? Would you recommend it?
I do not really use any fancy applications on my MBP, mostly Mail, Safari, Google Chrome, iTunes, iPhoto and Excel/Word/PWP 2011.

App Store is pushing me to upgrade to El Capitan for free, but I assume I could also upgrade to an earlier version like Mavericks or Yosemite, for a fee. Any suggestions which would be better and where I can get the files for Mavericks or Yosemite upgrade. I could only find El Capitan in App Store.

 

[MacInWin]

El Capitan is stable. It's now up to release 10.11.5, five fixes to the early issues. But NO, you cannot get Mavericks or Yosemite. They are no longer available from Apple. Only El Capitan.

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and elcome to the forumns.

Well you really have had the need to update. Snow Leopard has now been unsopported by Apple with Security Updates etc for a number of years with banks and other security businesses disqualifying such an old version of Safari.

As Jake points out only the current version is available. Have used El Capitan as a Beta tester and it has been solid and fast since first and public release. Memory is fine but 46GB free maybe a problem depending on the size pf the hard drive. 15% of capacity is a minimum free space for the drive to work anywhere near peak efficiency. Surprised you have not been noticing slow downs and beack balls.

As you have backed up suggest you download El Capitan, burn it to an 8GB thumb drive via DiskmakerX before running the installer, erase the hard drive, format Mac OS Extended (Journaled) do a clean install and with the external hooked up, use Migration Assistant to transfer everything over,

Be aware any older PowerPC apps will not run, and this includes Office 2004.


http://diskmakerx.com

 

[JHK]

Thanks for your replies.

The Activity Monitor shows the following disc usage:
HD disc size: 319.73 GB
Space utilized: 272.87 GB
Space free: 46.85 GB 14.65%

It has been getting slower and more unstable, so I am now irritated enough to upgrade. Not being that technical I just want to make sure that my MBP meets all the system requirements, what I need to do before the upgrade to ensure that I will not lose any data and what is the best way to upgrade.

In addition to performing regular backups (into two external drives, just to be on the safe side!) I have also copied some folders to the drives so that I can quickly access the files when needed.

So, to proceed...
1. Go to App Store and start to download El Capitan
2. Copy it from the Applications folder to a USB drive
3. Click the Continue button in the installer window
4. Follow instructions to complete the installation

Is it as simple as that?

Harryb, I am not sure if my MBP needs a clean install. It sounds a bit too advanced and techy to me. I guess I can always do it afterwards in case something does not work.

 

[MacInWin]

Step 2 is not sufficient. You need to have the USB drive be bootable so that if the internal drive gets totally hammered and won't boot, you can recover by booting from the USB. Get DiskmakerX from the developer here, then download the installer, cancel the install at the first screen with CMD+Q and then run DiskmakerX to create the bootable drive. The USB drive will be totally erased in the process. Most of us use an 8GB USB Memory stick for the purpose. It will do it's thing and eventually you'll have a bootable USB stick with the installer on it. Now you can either just run the installer (it's in your Applications folder) or boot from and run it from the USB Stick. Either way works.

The reason your four steps won't work is that once downloaded the installer takes over the entire screen so you can't copy it while it is running. You have to quit the installer with CMD+Q to get to where you can copy it over.

Hope that helped.

 

[IWT]

@JHK,

Welcome to Mac-Forums.

May I just throw in my pennyworth, mainly on the back of what Harryb2448 said?

By your own admission, your Mac "has been getting slower and more unstable, so I am now irritated enough to upgrade". I am much inclined to think that part of this slowness and instability, or whatever, is related to the barely minimal storage space left on your Mac's HDD.

Having only 46GB free out of 320GB on a spinning platter HDD (on a 6 year old Mac), suggests, at least to me, that you may have troubles ahead upgrading to El Capitan. Not, I must emphasise, relating to El Capitan itself which I agree is a robust OS; but because you are not giving the new OS enough free space to do its job.

So, first off, a robust backup strategy is essential. You currently "back up all your stuff to an EHD" - how? I mean, simply copying files, folders, photos to the EHD?; or do you mean using Time Machine or something similar? Having a proper & full backup of your Mac's HDD could become critical.

Once you are confident that, should the worst happen, all your HDD contents are secure; then upgrade to El Capitan using the helpful advice in previous posts.

Then; I think you must be prepared to move a fair amount of data from your HDD to another EHD (not the one backing up your system). For example, whatever photo library you have, iTunes library, move them and run these from your Mac.

All of the above is with the intention of helping you achieve a smooth operating Mac running the latest OS. It is a general truism that upgrading because of slowness & instability of your current OS, doesn't usually solve your problems, but adds to them.

I am not trying to be negative; just advising caution and preparedness.

Ian

 

[harryb2448]

And some experienced folk believe that 15% should be as much as 25%!

 

[JHK]

Thanks for all your help so far!

Well, this is what I have been dreading for quite some time. I have been close to running out free space on HDD every now and then, so it does not make sense to install a new operating system until that is solved.

I have been using Time Machine to do the back-ups on my two WD My Passport 1TB drives, but I have also moved there some folders that include files that I do not need to access regularly, but I need to be able to access easily.

But as you said, Ian, the problem is the photos and the videos, which at the moment take up about 196.14 GB - and growing! You recommended moving these to EHD. I could store them on the same WD My Passport drive where I do the backups or is there a reason why it would better to store them on a separate external drive? If I move the iPhoto contents from the Originals folder to EHD, can I still access the photos and videos in iPhoto on MBP even though they are physically no longer stored on HDD? What about the iTunes files?

Many thanks in advance.

 

[IWT]

@JHK

I'm away from my main Mac just now so details are going to be thin — a longer reply later.

But to answer your very relevant concerns.

Yes — you can transfer your Photo/video library to an EHD and, when attached, you can use it in the same way as you would if it were on your Mac's HDD.

Yes — you can move your iTunes to an EHD and, when attached, you can use it in the same way as you would if it were on your Mac's HDD.

NO — it is not a good idea to use the same EHD for your libraries and various documents plus Time Machine. Why? Eggs in basket. EHDs fail as well as internal HDDs and lose the EHD and you lose absolutely everything.

EHDs are cheap. Remember the adage: Data is valuable and disk is cheap. Keep one EHD dedicated to Time Machine and another one or more for your libraries and special documents etc.

As you are running Snow Leopard at the moment, your photos/video are presumably within iPhoto?

When I get the chance later today, I can give you very direct instructions on how to move the iPhoto and iTunes libraries to an EHD and how to run them from there. I have excellent links to give you, but not with me at the moment.

Ian

 

[JHK]

@Ian

Many thanks!

Yes, all photos and videos are within iPhoto.

I have been using WD My Passport 1 TB drives for backups as they are small and easy to transport. I could buy a new one for photos, videos, files etc. but if there are any better EHDs feel free to recommend.

 

[IWT]

@JHK

I'm back at base now.

I'm going to divide the moving of iPhoto & iTunes into 2 posts to avoid an unnecessarily long post.

Moving iPhoto.

First, make sure you have a backup - well you have, in Time Machine.

Next locate your iPhoto library. I can’t remember as far back as Snow Leopard, but almost certainly it will be found in your Home Folder (named after you) > Pictures > and it will be named - iPhoto Library.photolibrary.

With your intended EHD mounted and formatted for Macintosh, I would suggest copying the Library first and deleting it only after proving that is in working order.

To do this: hold down the Option/Alt key and with it held down, Drag the Library to its destination on your EHD. When copied onto the EHD, click to highlight it and change its name to iPhoto Library.photolibrary.2

In other words, the name should remain the same but with .2 added. This is to distinguish it from the original which is still in place on your Mac’s HDD. (Strictly not necessary, but avoids confusion - yours and the Mac’s).

To test the copied library: on your Mac, hold down the option (or alt) key and launch iPhoto.

From the resulting menu select, 'Choose Library' and choose/navigate to the Library on the External Hard Drive. Once you are satisfied that your copied library is working, you can then delete the original on your Mac.

From that point on, this will be your iPhoto Library and all new photos will get put into it.

When you close out of iPhoto, you can then eject/unmount the EHD. The next time you need iPhoto, mount the EHD and click on iPhoto. If, by rare chance, it doesn’t open your moved library, quit iPhoto and reopen it with the Option/Alt key held down and choose the library on the EHD.

Ian

PS If you are really paranoid about your library, you could make a second copy onto another EHD as well and keep it, just in case!

 

[IWT]

@JHK

Here's a Link to moving your iTunes Library. When you open the Link, it will bring up a Google page with numerous posts on how to do this. Unfortunately, I can't find one specific to Snow Leopard, but the method is the same. And, by the way, some of the post talk about moving iTunes to another computer. For computer, read EHD. Read them carefully.

Any residual worries, post back.

Link: https://www.google.co.uk/search?cli...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=COBaV9fQMMWw7QaGqa3QBA
http://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/mac-software/how-to-move-mac-itunes-library-3536383/

Ian

 

[MacInWin]

Ian, you didn't post the link, just the title the link.

 

[IWT]

It's sorted now, Jake.;P

I had to Edit it and that's when you presumably read it. I do get confused easily!

Ian

And thanks for saying anyway, as I might not have tested the link.

 

[JHK]

Thanks to all of you for your excellent advice!

People complain on the Internet about problems they have had since upgrading to El Capitan, but some of these are probably down to not having enough free space on HDD and not the OS itself.

I'm off to buying some EHDs now... Will come back to you if I have any further questions - or will post an update if everything has gone smoothly!

 

[JHK]

Hello gurus,

Just to give a quick update...

Copying of photos and movies to EHD takes ages, but I guess that was expected. I hope that I finally have time to do the upgrade tomorrow.

One more question: emails in Mail. I have two email accounts set up in Mail, a Gmail and a Hotmail account. Do I need to do something before the upgrade to keep the existing emails in Mail? The Mail version I have is 4.6.

I can see that the emails are stored in user/library/Mail folder, so do I need to copy the contents in this folder to EHD and then back to MBP when the upgrade has been completed? I have seen people complaining about lost emails.

 

[chscag]

As always, we advise making a full backup of your data prior to doing any upgrades. A clone is preferable as it provides for a faster recovery and is bootable. As for the question regarding your email accounts, nothing is required and if you make a backup as advised, no email will be lost.

Cloning software: Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper is what we recommend.

 

[JHK]

@MacInWin

I cannot see that DiskmakerX has a version that works on Snow Leopard. Even more reason to upgrade!

Are there any other ways to create a bootable drive than using DiskmakerX?

 

[MacInWin]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The version of DiskmakerX you want is for the version you are trying to INSTALL, so in this case you want DiskmakerX for El Capitan. The app should run in SL and create a bootable El Cap USB drive with the Installer on it. It's been a while, but I do think it will work for you.

 

[pm-r]

I'm coming in a bit late here, but if that were my MBPro, I would seriously consider replacing the original HDD with at least a 500GB-1TB or maybe even a SSD, but for costs I'd suggest going with a WD BLACK 7200RPM HDD.

Much more capacity at a reasonable cost, and waaaayyy faster than the original and they run cool and at low power. And the original HDD is now six years old, not young.