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Can I upgrade from 10.6.8?

I have an iMac (purchsed in 9/2008), running 10.6.8 and need to upgrade to at least 10.7. How do I find out if I have room to add memory? If there is room, can I do it myself? Below is hardware overview:


Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac8,1

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz

Number Of Processors: 1

Total Number Of Cores: 2

L2 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Bus Speed: 1.07 GHz

Boot ROM Version: IM81.00C1.B00

SMC Version (system): 1.29f1


Thank you for your suggestions and help!

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.8), Intel Core 2 Duo processor

Posted on Jan 20, 2015 8:39 AM

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Posted on Jan 20, 2015 8:41 AM

Your computer has enough RAM to run Yosemite; if it matters, it can be upgraded to have 6GB. To check the amount of free space on the internal drive, choose Computer from the Finder's Go menu, control-click the internal drive, and then select Get Info.


(120697)

9 replies

Jan 20, 2015 9:32 AM in response to Niel

I see the Go menu (thank you!) but, when I click on Computer, it just shows everything that's on my hard drive (applications, documents, etc.). The other choices are: Home, Desktop, Network, iDisk, Applications, Documents, Utilities. I'm so sorry I'm not finding what I should.

I tried making an appointment at the Apple Store Genius Bar to have memory added but can't even find that on their website. I'm not usually so totally inept!

Jan 20, 2015 12:14 PM in response to nancyfromlansdale

Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you backup 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 OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks (free upgrade, but currently unavailable) or OS X 10.10 Yosemite (currently available free upgrade) you need one of these Macs:

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion purchased emailed download code here.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion

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 this 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.

Jan 22, 2015 10:24 AM in response to MichelPM

Thank you so much for your detailed response. I do keep an external hard drive plugged in so that Time Machine can back up to it.


I bought my iMac in fall 2008 and it appears that everything is compatible. My question had been whether or not I had enough memory but now I've determined that there is enough. I do have Norton Anti-Virus installed on my computer and will have to find out how to uninstall it; otherwise, I believe that I'm ready to start to upgrade.


I appreciate all your thoughts in these details.

Can I upgrade from 10.6.8?

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