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User profile for user: thisiscolm
thisiscolm Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Updating from Mountain Lion to new OS

Hi,


I am currently running Mountain Lion 10.8. 5 on a MacBook Pro 13-inch (Late 2011). I want to try update to the latest OS I can get (by my estimation this is macOS Sierra).


However, when I try to install any of Sierra or El Capitan, Yosemite the installer informs me that I must update to Mavericks 10.9. However this leaves me stuck for a solution as Mavericks doesn't seem to be available for download. I would really appreciate someones advice on this.


Thanks in advance :)


p.s I have plenty of space on my hard drive and have 4GbB of RAM.

MacBook (Starting Late 2009)

Posted on Jan 7, 2019 8:25 AM

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User profile for user: MrHoffman
MrHoffman
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
116,571 points

Posted on Jan 7, 2019 2:33 PM

OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion should be able to upgrade directly to High Sierra, per the specs.


You're probably already aware of this, but here's how to check the installed version... Find out which macOS your Mac is using - Apple Support


First, ensure you have a complete and current and external backup, or three.


Then verify that your most important apps work or have updates available, and that your printers will still have drivers.


Then How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support — that upgrade can be direct from Mountain Lion 10.8.5 and later, per the documentation.


If the upgrade path does not work for some reason—something odd about the local environment, maybe—then I'd double- or triple-check those external backups, and would then use the brute-force approach.... I'd disconnect those external backups temporarily, create and boot a High Sierra bootable installer, wipe the internal disk, format the internal storage as GPT, install High Sierra on the internal storage, reconnect one of the external backups, and migrate in the contents of the backups using the Migration Assistant tool.



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User profile for user: MrHoffman
MrHoffman
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
116,571 points

Jan 7, 2019 2:33 PM in response to thisiscolm

OS X 10.8.5 Mountain Lion should be able to upgrade directly to High Sierra, per the specs.


You're probably already aware of this, but here's how to check the installed version... Find out which macOS your Mac is using - Apple Support


First, ensure you have a complete and current and external backup, or three.


Then verify that your most important apps work or have updates available, and that your printers will still have drivers.


Then How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support — that upgrade can be direct from Mountain Lion 10.8.5 and later, per the documentation.


If the upgrade path does not work for some reason—something odd about the local environment, maybe—then I'd double- or triple-check those external backups, and would then use the brute-force approach.... I'd disconnect those external backups temporarily, create and boot a High Sierra bootable installer, wipe the internal disk, format the internal storage as GPT, install High Sierra on the internal storage, reconnect one of the external backups, and migrate in the contents of the backups using the Migration Assistant tool.



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Updating from Mountain Lion to new OS

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