Apple support indicated i needed to upgrade my 2010 27 inch IMac operating system from Sierra to Lion before migrating to my new 21 in IMac but it looks like Apple is going to require me to do that asa purchase. Is that right? Is that necessary?
iMac 27″, macOS 10.12
Yes; it does seem there are some communications confusions, here.
Sierra is (much) newer than Lion.
You’ll probably do want to upgrade to High Sierra prior to the upgrade, but should not need a (very disruptive) downgrade to Lion. But this upgrade is not required, as Catalina should allow migrating apps and data in from Sierra.
How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support
If you’re preparing the Mac for resale as suggested above (a reasonable guess) then loading High Sierra should work, too. Snow Leopard and Lion are what came with that, but it’s quite possible you never got a copy of one or both of those associated with your Apple ID. (And older releases of OS X have sometimes been problematic to successfully re-install at various times, too.)
To boot and load High Sierra and wipe your storage as part of selling your Mac, boot with Recovery with Option-Command-R, use Disk Utility to wipe, and leave the installer at the first prompt. Details are in the previously-linked (also below) document:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
Make absolutely certain you have current backups of all of your data, before you start the migration, or start wiping storage.
Yes; it does seem there are some communications confusions, here.
Sierra is (much) newer than Lion.
You’ll probably do want to upgrade to High Sierra prior to the upgrade, but should not need a (very disruptive) downgrade to Lion. But this upgrade is not required, as Catalina should allow migrating apps and data in from Sierra.
How to upgrade to macOS High Sierra - Apple Support
If you’re preparing the Mac for resale as suggested above (a reasonable guess) then loading High Sierra should work, too. Snow Leopard and Lion are what came with that, but it’s quite possible you never got a copy of one or both of those associated with your Apple ID. (And older releases of OS X have sometimes been problematic to successfully re-install at various times, too.)
To boot and load High Sierra and wipe your storage as part of selling your Mac, boot with Recovery with Option-Command-R, use Disk Utility to wipe, and leave the installer at the first prompt. Details are in the previously-linked (also below) document:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
Make absolutely certain you have current backups of all of your data, before you start the migration, or start wiping storage.
It's neither correct nor is it necessary.
I'm trying to understand why Apple would suggest it. Lion remains available to purchase but it won't help. It wasn't even that Mac's original operating system. Yours shipped with Snow Leopard, which is not available for purchase, not from Apple anyway.
From what you describe it seems you want to use Setup Assistant to migrate content from your 2010 iMac to a new one running Catalina. Is that correct?
Assuming it is, perhaps you should just contact Apple again. Help with setting up a new Mac is free. Hopefully this time you'll get someone who understands what you want to do. Whatever it is, you do not have to pay for upgrading macOS.
It sounds like there was some communication problem.
See: What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
Thanks John, very helpful. Turns out Apple is not at fault... i told them i had snow leopard when i later learned the wife upgraded us to Sierra. So, it appears i am ready ti migrate-after i do the backup you and Apple recommend.
not gonna sell a 10 old IMac....gonna use that as backup to the ICloud and my new 21 in to get modern. Thanks again.
Apple support indicated i needed to upgrade my 2010 27 inch IMac from Sierra to Lion before migrating to my new 21 in IMac but it looks like Apple is going to require me to do that asa purchase. Is that right? Is that necessary?ra
