Nervous Nelly upgrading from SnowLeopard (10.6.8)

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Nervous Nelly upgrading from SnowLeopard (10.6.8)

I have a iMac 27" Intel Core i5 3.6 GHz, 8 GB memory, 1 TB storage currently running SnowLeopard 10.6.8 (which is what it came with when I bought it in Fall 2010.)

I use Adobe CS5 a lot (I'm a freelance Graphic Designer), as well as Microsoft Office 2008, iPhoto, Mail, iMovie, and a few others. Everything still works great, no issues with speed or performance. I've been putting off upgrading to a newer version of OS X because things still work just fine and because I'm nervous about issues arising with the newer upgrades. I think my concerns are valid as you open the Apple Support Communities page for OS X support and just about every minute some one is posting with a problem that has happened when they upgraded to Mavericks or Yosemite. That being said, I also worry that the longer I put off upgrading, the likely hood of issues with my current OS X or when I finally do upgrade will increase.

Would it be better to make a gradual transition to Mavericks or Yosemite instead of making such a huge leap from Snow Leopard? Maybe start out to going to Lion or Mountain Lion? If I do upgrade, is there anything I will be required to do to make my programs like CS5 and MO work with the new software?

Any other thoughts and/or advice you can give me is greatly appreciated!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 1, 2015 10:07 AM

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Answer 1

VikingOSX

Level 10

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Jun 1, 2015 10:27 AM in response to lmn802

You could create an additional partition, and install Mountain Lion or Yosemite on that. Make Snow Leopard the default boot partition, and use the option key at boot to select Yosemite. Apple has removed Mavericks from the App Store, and it is not available through the online retail store either. My installation of Yosemite works without issue. If you know someone that has Yosemite installed, take a closer look at the new design to see if you can live with the visuals.

The advantage above is that you continue with an undisturbed Snow Leopard installation, and can boot into the other partition choice when you choose.

As always, make certain that you have at least one full backup of your Snow Leopard partition before you proceed with adding a partition. In the linked article for Disk Utility, you want to concentrate on the section, “Create new partitions on a disk”.

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