Q: Older Imac upgrade

First you will have to find the EXACT model year of your iMac.  Open System Profiler>Hardware Overview and post back the MODEL IDENTIFIER #.

Ciao.

Espinod06 wrote:

 

I am looking for information about updating my iMac to the new el capitan version. Currently I have os x 10.6.8 and I'm not sure of the year of my iMac. I came across the fact that I cannot update my itunes any longer, so it is not compatible with my new iphone, but I put that on my windows laptop. Now my printer has died and I have not been able to find a printer that is still compatible with my 10.6.8. So I am looking in to upgrading to the new el capitan version. Will this fix that compatibility problem? Is my iMac even able to be updated? I am concerned something may not work after I upgrade, such as my new itunes will not be compatible with my iphone 5c any longer. Or my version of pages, or iphoto. Will I be in danger of losing my pictures? If any of that happens will I be able to revert back to way things were? Should i try to do this on my own, or am I able to take it in and have them do it in the store?

As Oglethorpe pointed out, we can't help you with the compatibility question unless we know what Mac you have. Aside from that, you should never, ever apply a major OS update unless you have made a complete backup of your current system just prior to upgrading.  For this you should have an external hard drive separate from whatever drive you have been using for backups. I'd suggest that you invest in Carbon Copy Cloner to make a complete, bootable backup of your current system to an external drive. I feel that the safest way to proceed is to install the new OS "clean" on the new drive, and test drive it until you see what works and what does not. You may very well want and/or need to keep your Snow Leopard system intact.

Don't rush into this without a proper safety net.

Your iMac is an early 2008 and can run El Capitan OSX.  Since you indicate that you have 10.6.8 installed, all that is required is to access the App store and down load and install El Capitan.  This should eliminate many of your compatibility problems with newer versions of applications.  However there may also be problems with some older applications that you may have to deal with.  Please read this:

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6841

Ciao.

Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you have a good,working backup of your current system to an external connected and Mac formatted Flash drive OR externally connected USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire 800, Mac formatted hard drive. Then, use either OS X Time Machine app to backup your entire system to the external drive OR purchase, install and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make an exact and bootable copy (clone) of your entire Mac's internal hard drive. This step is really needed in case something goes wrong with the install of the new OS or you simply do not like the new OS, you have a very easy way/procedure to return your Mac to its former working state.

Then, determine if your Mac meets ALL minimum system install requirements.

To install the free OS X 10.10.11 El Capitán, you need one of these Macs:

iMac (Mid-2007 or later)

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)

MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later),

MacBook Pro (15-inch or 17-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later)

MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)

Mac mini (Early 2009 or later)

Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)

Xserve (Early 2009)

Your Mac also needs:

OS X Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard v10.6.8 already installed

2 GB or more of memory (I strongly advise, at least, 4 GBs of RAM or more)

8 GB or more of available space

Next,

If you run any older Mac software from the earlier PowerPC Macs, then none of this software will work with the newer OS X versions (10.7 and onward). OS X Snow Leopard had a magical and invisible PowerPC emulation application, called Rosetta, that worked seamlessly in the background that still allowed older PowerPC coded software to still operate in a Intel CPU Mac.

The use of Rosetta ended with OS X Snow Leopard as the Rosetta application was licensed to Apple, from a software company called Transitive, which got bought out, I believe, by IBM and Appe could no longer secure their rights to continue to use Rosetta in later versions of OS X

So, you would need to check to see if you have software on your Mac that maybe older than, say, 2006 or older.

Also, check for app compatibilty here.

http://roaringapps.com/

If you have any commercial antivirus installed and/or hard drive cleaning apps installed on your Mac, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, MacCleanse, etc. now would be a good time to completely uninstall these apps by doing a Google search to learn how to properly uninstall these types of apps.

These types of apps will only cause your Mac issues later after the install of the new OS X version and you will have to completely uninstall these types of apps later.

Once you have determined all of this, you should be able to find the latest versions of OS X by clicking on the Mac App Store icon in the OS X Dock and then login to the Mac App Store using your Apple ID and password and if you purchased a download code, input that code.

You can then begin the download and installation process of installing the newer versions of OS X from the Mac App Store.

Good Luck!

You will probably need to upgrade your RAM to get the best performance. The 2 places I’ve seen recommended most to buy reliable RAM are below. I have purchased RAM several times from Other World Computing and have always been very satisfied with the product and service. They have on-line instructions on how to replace the RAM. OWC has also tested RAM above what Apple states is the maximum. I now have 6GB installed on a early 2008 iMac supposedly limited to 4 GB and noticed an improvement.

Crucial

Other World Computing 

Time Machine backups are sufficient, but not boootable, as Time Machine only backs up data and not what is neccessary to create a bootable system, in case something goes wrong with the install and need to boot OS X from another location.

I much prefer complete, bootable cloned system backups than ones just the data backups created by Apple's Time Machine.

It's your choice.

Good Luck!

Once you create a cloned backup, it would be advisable to keep it as another full backup with ability to boot your Mac in the event of future issues with your Mac

and/or in case you decide you do not like the current OS X version.

I use CarbonCopyCloner as I feel it the best and most comprehensive and complete cloning software.

https://bombich.com/

You'll need to download and purchase a license code to use CarbonCopyCloner 3.5 for OS X 10.6 -10.9

Found here.

https://bombich.com/download

To clone new versions of OS X, like 10.11 El Capitán, you will need to pay an additional "upgrade" pricing to be able license and use the latest verion of CCC.

The CarbonCopyCloner help and FAQ pagea can aid you in learning about hard drive system cloning and the how to what to do to create a successful clone of your Mac's internal hard drive.

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc4

Read and review all of the help info provided to become familiar with how to use CCC and to be able to clone a Mac's OS X system and all hard drive data.

Good Luck!

It just occurred to me,

If you are using an external hard drive for Time Machine backups and it only has a single partition on this drive and you have been using this external drive for quite awhile, if this drive only has a single partition on it, I can't now risk using the OS X Disk Utility app to add a new, additional partition to that drive because there is no way to know where data on the hard drive is written with Time Machine.

If we attempt to create an additional partition on this drive to make the cloned backup using CarbonCopyCloner, we might erase important time machine backup data.

If you still want to go ahead with a cloned, bootable backup, you would really need to, first, purchase another good quality,  large capacity, fast FireWire 800 external hard drive to have and use as a second storage and backup drive.

We can then use this new hard drive with your Mac, format it with multiple partitions to clone your current system, clone OR actually install OS X 10.11 El Capitán to this new external hard drive to test drive it first before installing it onto your Mac's internal hard drive and have another partition for adfitional data storage on this, potential, new hard drive.

Good and reliable Mac hard drives can be purchased online from OWC (macssles.com).

http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/1394/USB/EliteAL/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB

This would make the whole system cloning and OS X installation much easier.

If you install El Capitán onto an external hard drive, to get the best and fastest response from that drive, you need to purchase a hard drive with FireWire 800 connections to the drive. USB 2.0 drives will not be fast enough connection protocol to test for speed and performance.

A FW800 connected external hard drive will be much closer in speed and response times to your iMac's  internal hard drive.

You can still launch applications from your internal hard drive while being booted to an external hard drive, but as has been pointed out some apps may not run under El Capitán and or may need newer versions installed under El Capitán.

This is yet, another reason to install and test run El Cap on another external hard drive.

As far as RAM goes, you never mentioned how much RAM is, currently, installed in your iMac.

To find this out, go to the top main menu bar and click the Apple symbol, then click about this Mac.

A small pop up window appears that tells you how much RAM is installed in your iMac.

Your iMac model can take a total RAM amount of 6 GBs.

If your iMac has 2 or 4 GBs installed the only place to purchase a correct and reliable 4 GB RAM module for your year and model iMac is OWC, aka Other World Computing (macsales.com).

If your iMac has 4 GBs of RAM installed, you have to replace one of the 2 GB RAM modules with a 4 GB one.

https://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/6400DDR2S4GB/

RAM is, relatively, easy to install by the user.

https://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_mid_2007_mem/

Good Luck!