How important is it to update MacOS?

Just to be clear, Ventura it appears has lower free space requirements than earlier OSes:

https://krypted.com/mac-os-x/free-space-required-for-modern-macos-upgrades/

"

• High Sierra (macOS 10.13) required 14.3GB in free space to upgrade from previous versions.
• Mojave (macOS 10.14) required 12.5 (El Capitan or later) to 18.5 GB in free space for Yosemite or older.
• Catalina (macOS 10.15) required 18.5 GB of free space to upgrade from previous versions of macOS.
• Big Sur (macOS 11) Sierra or later required 35.5GB or 44.5GB for El Capitan and earlier.
• Monterey (macOS 12) required 26GB and up to 44GB of space.
• Ventura (macOS 13) requires 25GB.

"

But depending on your hardware, you may or may not be able to go that far. This article explains how to free space:

Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support

This article helps helps you determine if you can upgrade to Ventura:

Ventura's October 24, 2022 release! - Apple Community

If you can't due to hardware requirements, then I would at some point in the future keep those hardware requirements in mind when you are ready to upgrade to a newer Mac.

The urgency to upgrade is more a function of what software you run, and if you can maintain it in the present day, than anything else. Malware such as it is, is normally taken care by the Mac OS itself, and good safe computing practices will eliminate the worry from Malware. Since it is understanding what constitutes phishing that really helps resolves most potential malware issues. Using optimizers for the Mac also is not necessary and can actually slow your Mac down.

cherlar wrote:

I am overdue for MacOS upgrade but the capacity needed is much more than my original storage.

Really? Unless you have a Mac from 25 years ago, the original storage is much more than what any of the current macOS versions require.

You may be confusing your RAM (memory) with the storage space needed for the update.

You can check your storage capacity and free space by going to Apple Menu ➜ About This Mac ➜ Storage

Ventura requires 12.1GB to download. It may require around 20 GB to install, but will not use 25GB more than what your current version is using . It replaces files and components with new ones, using up the same space the old version was using plus maybe a little more in some cases. Where are you getting 25GB from exactly?

a Brody wrote:

That isn't exactly correct.

There are Macs which shipped with 128 GB of storage.

Yes, and current macOS versions require much less that that. It does not require more than what any compatible Mac would have shipped with originally, which was the stated complaint, and what I was replying to.

I am overdue for MacOS upgrade but the capacity needed is much more than my original storage.

Unless the complain was referring to "available" storage rather than "original".

In any case, if cherlar has less than 25GB of storage space currently available to install onto, it would be highly recommended to move some files and content out to an external drive to make more room on the internal one. It's never a good idea to have a Mac with very limited storage space.

No the question becomes, how much storage space do you have cherlar?

Don you really have less than 25GB of free space left on your internal hard drive?

P. Phillips wrote:

...

Thusly, the Intended Destination for the upGraded Computer will need about , on the conservative side, 35 GB to 50 GB of Empty Space IMHO

Agreed. 35 to 50GB free space or more if at all possible.

Also, on my Mac Ventura itself is only using 13.5GB once installed. System Data is using quite a bit more at 36. total usage for system is around 50GB when all is said and done. Though System Data can and will vary depending on usage.

To restate what I think you are saying - you cannot download and install OS upgrade which you feel you need because the Mac's HD does not have sufficient space. If that is it, here is my suggestion. Purchase an external disk. Make it a SSD (solid state drive). Install it with a vendor provided USB cable. Reformat it if needed to match your current OS. Then you can copy files onto the external drive. Next, those files can be deleted from your HD to create needed space so you can do the downloads. Incidentally, if you wish to, you can also install the OS on the external drive. If your Mac's HD is an older mechanical drive, the external SSD will function much, much faster for you. Last, know that if your HD gets too full it will stop functioning. Good luck.

Backup your data

Make sure you don't exceed 85% of capacity on any given drive.

Add external storage if necessary, but remember unless it exists in two distinct places, it is not backed up.

Upgrading is only essential of specific document or file formats become obsolete.

Example of this conundrum is what Microsoft Office forces people to think about:

Microsoft Office 2019 High Sierra Support… - Apple Community

You can buy used or refurbished Macs that meet the requirements of newer OSes as needed from places like

http://www.dvwarehouse.com/ and http://www.macsales.com/

The Biggest Download of a Full Version of any macOS I have used since OS X 10.14 Tiger was a Full Version of Ventura 13.2.

That specific Full Version was about 12.59 GB.

The installer Space on the computer will be used just until it is successfully installed.

Notation: thought Installer is ( 12.59 GB ), it also has to have Empty Space to Expand and only then install

Failure to have adequate Empty Space on the drive may abort the installation or Worse install not have sufficient Empty Space to load the Operating System ( Boot Up ) after installation

Thusly, the Intended Destination for the upGraded Computer will need about , on the conservative side, 35 GB to 50 GB of Empty Space IMHO

EDITED

That isn't exactly correct.

There are Macs which shipped with 128 GB of storage. Of that 5 GB is reoovery partition, 25 GB is the operating system alone, and personal data which can add up quickly. People have cell phones with more data than that, and the process of synchronizing the cell phones will duplicate the content of the phone on the computer during a backup of the phone. Anyone with 128 GB of storage only, some of which are 4 years old, will find that using the Mac for anything much more than simple word processing and web browsing is almost impossible without external storage to manage a lot of the data. And then that needs to be backed up elsewhere. So no, there are some Macs that are only 3-4 years old that don't have enough built-in storage for more than one upgrade if that.

Some 2019 MacBook Air, and Mac Minis which were still current in 2020 only came with 128 GB of built-in storage.

And even 256 GB of storage while available on current models can get filled up quickly if you are backing up your iPhone or iPad to it. Be mindful of where storage is both on your Mac, and the Cloud, as well as when synchronizing with other devices if all you have is that much storage. Apple's operating systems now call for 40 GB of continuous storage to be available minimum. That means any degree of fragmentation can reduce the available space even quicker and make it impossible to upgrade internally. The operating system has the ability to manage smaller than 20 MB files of fragmentation, but larger fragmentation not as much. While not common, these smaller drives you do need to be careful if you are to upgrade it.

Just to compare on a machine that Started with Big Sur ,upgraded to Monterey and finally to Ventura 13.2

So basically about the same 13.5GB. 😉

Yup ☺️ 🇨🇦