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Update Mavericks to El Capitan? Problems?

For various reasons I did not update 10.9 to 10.10 on my MBA, however, now is the time to bite the bullet. My question is, what is the best way of going about this?


Can I go from Mav to Cap directly?

My photos, in Aperture. Will they be converted correctly?

What should I do (apart from backup - duh) for the process?


Many thanks.

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 7, 2015 1:58 AM

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Posted on Oct 7, 2015 6:05 AM

What should I do (apart from backup - duh) for the process?

Always! I like have 2 myself 🙂


Can I go from Mav to Cap directly?

Yes


My photos, in Aperture. Will they be converted correctly?

The OS X El Capitan upgrade is only concerned about upgrading the operating system bits and the base OS X application set. Your additional applications and your user data is suppose to remain untouched.


NOTE: applying a major OS X upgrade always runs the risk that an application or 3rd party addition will not work well with a new OS X release, but the upgrade should not touch your data.


If you are worried about compatibility, you can play with Google and see if anyone else is talking about an app you need in the El Capitan environment.


You could create a 30 to 50GB partition, install El Capitan on that and see how it works (or on an external disk, which will run slower because it is external, but for a compatibility check it will work).

4 replies
Question marked as Best reply

Oct 7, 2015 6:05 AM in response to Ian999

What should I do (apart from backup - duh) for the process?

Always! I like have 2 myself 🙂


Can I go from Mav to Cap directly?

Yes


My photos, in Aperture. Will they be converted correctly?

The OS X El Capitan upgrade is only concerned about upgrading the operating system bits and the base OS X application set. Your additional applications and your user data is suppose to remain untouched.


NOTE: applying a major OS X upgrade always runs the risk that an application or 3rd party addition will not work well with a new OS X release, but the upgrade should not touch your data.


If you are worried about compatibility, you can play with Google and see if anyone else is talking about an app you need in the El Capitan environment.


You could create a 30 to 50GB partition, install El Capitan on that and see how it works (or on an external disk, which will run slower because it is external, but for a compatibility check it will work).

Oct 7, 2015 6:25 AM in response to Ian999

Make certain that all of the Apple applications are updated to their latest version supported by Mavericks. Update any third-party applications to their Yosemite compatibility versions. If you have third-party kernel extensions, or frameworks installed, these need to be current for Mavericks, and preferably Yosemite or El Capitan if available. Key stumbling blocks will be printer and scanner driver support. Look at that closely to see if your vendor(s) support Yosemite and El Capitan. Drivers that state 10.6+, 10.8+ are suspects.


Remove every trace of anti-virus/anti-malware, and so-called cleaner applications. If you use Finder replacements, they may break in El Capitan because it uses System Integrity Protection (SIP) to block changes to the operating system.


I know that Yosemite and El Capitan expect iPhoto 9.6.1, and they may also expect the last available aperture release too. Otherwise, Photos may fail to migrate your iPhoto/Aperture database. You may want to check in the iLife (iPhoto) and Professional Application (Aperture) communities for additional information on the results of an El Capitan update.


Since I performed a clean install migration from Mavericks to El Capitan, I cannot comment on the upgrade process. I can say that installing El Capitan into my 2011 Mac mini Core I5 with SSD is turning out to be a 10 second boot to Desktop, and everything is better, faster, and more stable than Mavericks. Since I use a networked Samsung printer, I didn't bother loading drivers. I keyed in its static IP address, the printer model was detected, and El Capitan went out on the Internet and got the correct drivers. Just works.

Update Mavericks to El Capitan? Problems?

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