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Snow Leopard to El Capitan?

Hello,


I have a late-2010 MBP with 4GB memory and running Snow Leopard. I am very happy with both the computer and the great OS. The only missing thing that I need is iCloud.


I planned to upgrade to Yosemite. But with its average reviews, I thought I would skip it and wait for El Capitan. My question is then will I be able to upgrade from Snow Leopard directly to El Capitan?


Thank you.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8), External hard drives

Posted on Sep 7, 2015 3:54 AM

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17 replies

Sep 7, 2015 4:14 AM in response to iLinux

-- I propose that you install Yosemite now: it can be done (free) with the Appstore. It is a good OS and "ripened" already with updates. It will stay visible for download in Appstore Purchases tab for future downloads. Make a full TM backup on a clean disk after the install.

- ElCapitan will be good I think, but in the beginning there may be a few issues that are being corrected with the first updates. It will flawlessly install over Yosemite. When you do not want it, you can go back to Yosemite, for example by using the TM backup.

If you go directly to ElCapitan, Yosemite does not come in the Purchases tab of Appstore.

-- The step from SL to Yosemite is big, get used with it before you go further. The human interface is completely different. You have to carefully research whether your apps are compatible and have to be updated, PPC apps will not run at all. All that you can find here in the Forum or at Apples support sites.

-- Read here for the update to Yosemite: http://www.apple.com/nl/osx/how-to-upgrade/

Lex

Sep 7, 2015 7:18 AM in response to iLinux

You can share Mail, Calendars, and Contacts running Snow Leopard. Based on my experience, I don’t recommend syncing Contacts - created a lot of problems with duplicates. If you have 2 step verification enabled on your Apple ID, you will need to generate an application specific password for Mail, iCal, and Address Book. Apple ID - Manage

Snow Leopard iCloud - Address and iCal



Snow Leopard iCloud – iCal



Snow Leopard iCloud - Configuring Mail with Mac OS X v10.6 or iOS 4


One option is to create a new partition (~30- 50 GB), install the new OS, and ‘test drive’ it. If you like/don’t like it it, you can then remove the partition. Do a backup before you do anything. By doing this, if you don’t like it you won’t have to go though the revert process.


Check to make sure your applications are compatible.

Application Compatibility

Applications Compatibility (2)


Open Disk Utility, select your hard drive (step 1), then the Partition tab (step 2), and select the partition. Using the /// at the bottom move it up (step 3) until the size box decrease by about 50 GB. Select the newly created space and hit the + button (step 4). Name it something and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format (step 5). Then hit the Apply button(step 6). Download the installer from the App Store and when it starts, point it at the new partition. You might want to make a copy of the installer outside the Applications folder to avoid having to re-download it in the future. Once installed, go to System Preferences/Startup Disk, select the new partition and reboot. Test away.

Sep 7, 2015 12:59 PM in response to Lexiepex

I read in several forums people who upgraded from SL to Yosemite, complaining about Photos app not being able to import their iPhoto/iMovie library or at least not properly and overall their MBP got a lot slower. I hoped that these issues would be fixed in El Capitan.


I have iPhoto '11 (v9.2.3) and really like it. But I also understood that Apple dropped iPhoto from Yosemite?


Murad

Sep 7, 2015 1:11 PM in response to Eric Root

Thanks Eric.


If I create a partition for Yosemite:

- What's the minimum space I would need, as I don't have much left?

- If I am not happy with Yosemite, can I easily delete it's partition and give back the space to the SL's main partition?

- Will the Yosemite partition be able to access my home directory on the main SL partition, so I can extensively test my data (like pictures and videos) on Yosemite (I have over 100gb of pictures)? As well as for testing and running my python/fortran codes on yosemite?


Thanks again.


Murad

Sep 7, 2015 2:28 PM in response to iLinux

It may help to migrate through the various iPhoto versions that are between your copy & the last one in the App store. The trouble is that you cannot purchase older versions from Apple, so you are hoping that Apple will upgrade from a very old library format. The longer you leave it the less likely it is for Apple to test that migration path. I noticed 10.6 started to cause issues with migrations during 10.9/ 10.10.


Personally I'd create a test installation on an external disk. A fast Thunderbolt, Firewire or USB 3 external disk can be enough to see how it performs. USB 2 is a bottleneck compared to an internal disk so don't expect that to work as well, but it can be sufficient to test with.

A test install isn't too useful if you can't migrate all your data onto it & perform the upgrades. Using the original partition with an updated OS will irreparably alter the iPhoto library. It's a good idea to eject the internal disk too when testing, to avoid writing to it or accidentally opening data from the wrong disk.


My upgrade preference is to avoid migrating Applications (only choose User data), especially when jumping over multiple OS releases, the apps can be installed & set up according to the new OS features.

Sep 8, 2015 7:43 AM in response to iLinux

You are welcome.


A partition of 30 - 40 GB would be more than enough.


If I am not happy with Yosemite, can I easily delete it's partition and give back the space to the SL's main partition?

- Will the Yosemite partition be able to access my home directory on the main SL partition, so I can extensively test my data (like pictures and videos) on Yosemite (I have over 100gb of pictures)? As well as for testing and running my python/fortran codes on yosemite?


Yes to both.

Sep 8, 2015 8:14 AM in response to Eric Root

Eric Root wrote:


You are welcome.


A partition of 30 - 40 GB would be more than enough.


If I am not happy with Yosemite, can I easily delete it's partition and give back the space to the SL's main partition?

- Will the Yosemite partition be able to access my home directory on the main SL partition, so I can extensively test my data (like pictures and videos) on Yosemite (I have over 100gb of pictures)? As well as for testing and running my python/fortran codes on yosemite?


Yes to both.

I don't think this is a good idea. 10.10 will use newer versions of iTunes, iMovie etc. Those apps have their own library format that is generally not backwards compatible.

10.10 will upgrade the libraries (or you can't test the apps), when you reboot to 10.6 the apps will no longer be able to read the libraries, you won't be able to revert to 10.6 without restoring from a backup – which seems to defeat the entire purpose? Your home folder will be altered by the newer OS.


Create an installation on another disk & migrate your data onto it - this process also emulates how you would upgrade, so you may catch more weird edge case bugs that can occur when you skip many versions & leave older software around.


P.S. Does Fortran run on Intel Macs? Isn't it using Rosetta on 10.6 to emulate PowerPC? Check that since 10.6 was the last OS to run PPC code.

Sep 8, 2015 9:16 AM in response to Drew Reece

to the OP, Eric and Drew:

Since this is not about Photo apps now, I'd like to make a comment, if I may:

Eventually the OP will go to the modern OSX (iCloud etc), because of functions, safety and apps and libraries and what have you that has to move with us to a future (perhaps a bit forced by Apple hmmm). Then it is not wise to experiment with both aside each other, the "impact" in learning will be much less when you are not really forced to use new functions and methods parallel to the use of the new UID. So after making a clone to an external disk, he should go for the "big" step, directly to Yosemite, because he should wait for one or two updates to have a ripe ElCapitan. See my earlier post also. Either you do the step, and go forward, or you don't.

Lex

Sep 8, 2015 11:21 AM in response to Drew Reece

Makes sense.


I cloned my hard drive to an external one (with carbon copy). Would it be possible to install Yosemite on this external hard drive for testing?

If happy, I will install it on the internal drive later otherwise just re-format the external hard drive and re-clone it with SL's.


From everything I read, I think this is the safest but yet the slowest way to do it. Am I missing something?


PS: Regarding Fortran, yes it simply runs without any extra packages. I have an Intel.

Snow Leopard to El Capitan?

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