dvinny
Level 1 (4 points)

Q: Best OS for MBP mid 2009

Hi,

 

I have 13" mid 2009 MBP running 10.6.8. I had not upgraded the OS until now as I feared the performance will go down as it only has 2 GB RAM.

 

However, it has now reached to a level where its just becoming painful to use the system, so I am planning the following upgrade:

 

1. Max out RAM to 8 GB

 

2. Swap out optical drive for 250GB SSD for OS and keep the old 160 GB Hard Drive.

 

What I am not sure is with above upgrade which OS will be best suited for my MBP? I was planning to put Mavericks as I have heard both Yosemite and El Captain will not run that smooth on an older version of the macbook pro. I would really appreciate if someone can advice which will be the best OS? I mainly use my laptop for word processing and emails and yes light room 4.

 

Also, should I swap the optical drive for the new SSD or the old HDD? (My optical drive doesn't work anyways). I was earlier planning to get 500GB SSD but then decided to go for 250 and save some money as I have 1 TB external hard drive which I use since I work on multiple machines most of the times.

 

Any other advice or point I should keep in mind during the upgrade?

 

Many Thanks

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Feb 12, 2016 10:10 AM

by BobHarris,Solvedanswer
BobHarris BobHarris
Level 6 (19,432 points)
Mac OS X
A:

dvinny wrote:

How do I do clean install of El Capitan on the SSD? I tried making bootable USB but no joy. The createmedia command doesn't work on 10.6.x (so i have been told) and neither does DiskMaker X. Any suggestions ?

 

I want to keep my old system as it is on the old spinning drive (including the OS) and make it dual boot using the SSD by installing El Capitan on it. This is to test if El Capitan would work as per expectation and if not then I will go back to 10.6.8 and enjoy my new SSD and RAM and forget about the OS completely.

 

I hope the above is a feasible plan, if yes please help !!

1st and foremost backup your system (2 backups to separate devices using different backup utilities would be ideal )

 

Booted from your 10.6.8 disk, you should be able to start the El Capitan install and then point it to your SSD so that you are doing a new install on the SSD.

 

The backups are so that if something goes wrong, you will still have a copy of your 10.6.8 system safely backed up.

Posted on Apr 13, 2016 10:23 AM

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dvinny

Q: Best OS for MBP mid 2009

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  • by Allan Eckert,Apple recommended

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 12, 2016 10:11 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 9 (53,621 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 12, 2016 10:11 AM in response to dvinny

    El Capitan

  • by dvinny,

    dvinny dvinny Feb 12, 2016 10:15 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 10:15 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    Thanks Allan,

     

    With 8 GB RAM and 250 GB SSD would it work fine? I am looking for the upgrade and the OS which will reduce the amount of times I see that spinning beach ball

  • by Csound1,

    Csound1 Csound1 Feb 12, 2016 10:16 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 9 (50,439 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 12, 2016 10:16 AM in response to dvinny

    ElCapitan is what you need.

  • by Allan Eckert,Helpful

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 12, 2016 7:07 PM in response to dvinny
    Level 9 (53,621 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 12, 2016 7:07 PM in response to dvinny

    If you wish additional information about the possible outcome of the upgrade, please download and install EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com/

     

    Run it and post the report here. After analyzing the EtreCheck Report , we might be able to give you additional suggestions.

  • by Drew Reece,Apple recommended

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 12, 2016 7:07 PM in response to dvinny
    Level 5 (7,547 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 12, 2016 7:07 PM in response to dvinny

    dvinny wrote:

     

    Any other advice or point I should keep in mind during the upgrade?

     

    Have you already got 10.9 or 10.10 in your purchase history within the App Store?

    If you didn't purchase when it was available you cannot purchase it now, Apple removed it from sale. It may make your decision easier.

     

    I'd also do a clean install & migrate only the user data, it seems pointless bringing over old apps to a newer OS, don't forget to check that the apps you need work on 10.whatever you choose.

    http://roaringapps.com/

  • by dvinny,

    dvinny dvinny Feb 12, 2016 10:34 AM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 10:34 AM in response to Allan Eckert

    Hi Alan,

     

    Here is the report:

     

    EtreCheck version: 2.9.3 (253)

    Report generated 2016-02-12 23:59:48

    Download EtreCheck from http://etrecheck.com

    Runtime 3:07

    Performance: Good

     

    Click the [Support] links for help with non-Apple products.

    Click the [Details] links for more information about that line.

     

    Problem: No problem - just checking

     

    Hardware Information: ⓘ

        MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2009)

        [Technical Specifications] - [User Guide] - [Warranty & Service]

        MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro5,5

        1 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core

        2 GB RAM - Insufficient RAM!

            BANK 0/DIMM0

                1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

            BANK 1/DIMM0

                1 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok

        Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported

        Wireless:  en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n

        Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1745 - SN = W09350LMA784A

     

    Video Information: ⓘ

        NVIDIA GeForce 9400M - VRAM: 256 MB

            Color LCD 1280 x 800

            spdisplays_display_connector

     

    System Software: ⓘ

        OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8 (10K549) - Time since boot: less than an hour

     

    Disk Information: ⓘ

        ST9160314ASG disk0 : (149.05 GB) (Rotational)

            - (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB

            Macintosh (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 159.70 GB (14.04 GB free) (Low!)

     

        MATSHITADVD-R   UJ-868   ()

     

    USB Information: ⓘ

        Apple Internal Memory Card Reader

        Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub

            Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller

        Apple Inc. Built-in iSight

        Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad

        Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver

     

    Configuration files: ⓘ

        /etc/hosts - Count: 14

     

    Kernel Extensions: ⓘ

            /Applications/Toast 10 Titanium/Toast Titanium.app

        [not loaded]    com.roxio.BluRaySupport (1.1.6) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.roxio.TDIXController (1.7) [Support]

     

            /Library/Extensions

        [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxDrv (4.1.18) [Support]

        [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetAdp (4.1.18) [Support]

        [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxNetFlt (4.1.18) [Support]

        [loaded]    org.virtualbox.kext.VBoxUSB (4.1.18) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions

        [not loaded]    com.joshuawise.kexts.HoRNDIS (1.0.0d1 - SDK 10.6) [Support]

        [loaded]    com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverInt (0.0.74) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.rim.driver.BlackBerryUSBDriverVSP (0.0.74) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.thursby.kext.NetBIOS (5.0.1) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.thursby.kext.cifs (5.0.1) [Support]

     

            /System/Library/Extensions/HuaweiDataCardDriver.kext/Contents/PlugIns

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBACMData (5.01.05) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBActivateDriver (5.01.03) [Support]

        [not loaded]    com.MBB.driver.MBBEthernetData (5.01.09) [Support]

     

    Startup Items: ⓘ

        CIFS: Path: /Library/StartupItems/CIFS

        HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr

        VirtualBox: Path: /Library/StartupItems/VirtualBox

        Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite

     

    System Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [loaded]    65 Apple tasks

        [running]    9 Apple tasks

     

    System Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [loaded]    137 Apple tasks

        [running]    29 Apple tasks

     

    Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [running]    HWPortCfg.plist [Support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.CS4ServiceManager.plist [Support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]

        [running]    com.rim.BBAlbumArtCacher.plist [Support]

        [running]    com.rim.BBLaunchAgent.plist [Support]

        [failed]    ouc.plist [Support]

     

    Launch Daemons: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]

        [loaded]    com.adobe.versioncueCS4.plist [Support]

        [loaded]    com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Support]

        [running]    com.rim.BBDaemon.plist [Support]

     

    User Launch Agents: ⓘ

        [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]

        [loaded]    com.facebook.videochat.[redacted].plist [Support]

        [loaded]    org.virtualbox.vboxwebsrv.plist [Support]

        [loaded]    2 Apple tasks

     

    User Login Items: ⓘ

        iTunesHelper    UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)

        MagicMenu    Application  (/Applications/StuffIt/MagicMenu.app)

        SpeechSynthesisServer    Application  (/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks /SpeechSynthesis.framework/Versions/A/Resources/SpeechSynthesisServer.app)

        Activity Monitor    Application  (/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app)

        Android File Transfer Agent    Application  (~/Library/Application Support/Google/Android File Transfer/Android File Transfer Agent.app)

     

    Other Apps: ⓘ

        [running]    [0x0-0x16016].org.mozilla.firefox

        [running]    [0x0-0x1a01a].com.stuffit.StuffItHelper

        [running]    [0x0-0x1b01b].com.etresoft.EtreCheck

        [running]    [0x0-0xa00a].com.stuffit.MagicMenu

        [running]    [0x0-0xf00f].com.google.android.mtpagent

     

    Internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

        JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 13.9.7 - SDK 10.6 Check version

        FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 18.0.0.160 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

        QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.6.6

        Flash Player: Version: 18.0.0.160 - SDK 10.6 Outdated! Update

        AdobePDFViewer: Version: 9.5.2 [Support]

        DivXBrowserPlugin: Version: 2.0 [Support]

        o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]

        CitrixICAClientPlugIn: Version: 11.4.3 - SDK 10.0 [Support]

        googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]

        iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0

     

    User internet Plug-ins: ⓘ

        CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 [Support]

        Picasa: Version: 1.0 [Support]

        WebEx64: Version: 1.0 - SDK 10.6 [Support]

     

    Audio Plug-ins: ⓘ

        iSightAudio: Version: 7.6.6

     

    3rd Party Preference Panes: ⓘ

        Adobe Version Cue CS4  [Support]

        DAVE Login  [Support]

        DAVE Network  [Support]

        DAVE Sharing  [Support]

        DivX  [Support]

        Flash Player  [Support]

        MacFUSE  [Support]

        NTFS-3G  [Support]

     

    Time Machine: ⓘ

        Time Machine information requires OS X 10.8 "Moutain Lion" or later.

     

    Top Processes by CPU: ⓘ

             2%    firefox

             2%    WindowServer

             1%    Dock

             1%    fontd

             0%    BBLaunchAgent

     

    Top Processes by Memory: ⓘ

        367 MB    firefox

        49 MB    mds

        43 MB    WindowServer

        25 MB    mdworker(2)

        20 MB    Finder

     

    Virtual Memory Information: ⓘ

        623 MB    Free RAM

        1.39 GB    Used RAM

        0 B    Swap Used

     

    Diagnostics Information: ⓘ

        Feb 12, 2016, 11:52:09 PM    Self test - passed

        Feb 12, 2016, 09:11:29 PM    /Library/Logs/CrashReporter/ntfs-3g_2016-02-12-211129_[redacted].crash

            /usr/local/bin/ntfs-3g

        Feb 12, 2016, 09:11:29 PM    /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/ntfs-3g_2016-02-12-211129_[redacted].crash

     

     

     

    Many Thanks

  • by dvinny,

    dvinny dvinny Feb 12, 2016 10:36 AM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 10:36 AM in response to Drew Reece

    Hi Drew,

     

    My friend has a bootable USB for Mavericks and Yosemite, I am hoping that I can install form that.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 12, 2016 10:39 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 9 (53,621 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 12, 2016 10:39 AM in response to dvinny

    If you do that since it was downloaded under his AppleID, you will never be able to update it.

     

    You don't want to do that.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Feb 12, 2016 10:42 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 9 (53,621 points)
    Desktops
    Feb 12, 2016 10:42 AM in response to dvinny

    The report shows that NTFS-3G is crashing on your Mac.

     

    Why do you have two third party applications, MacFuse and NTFS-3G, to allow your Mac to write to NTFS formatted disk drives?

     

    I suggest that you uninstall NTFS-3G.

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 12, 2016 10:43 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 5 (7,547 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 12, 2016 10:43 AM in response to dvinny

    Your friend can install if they like, however the licence explains that you need to install on a Mac that 'own or control'.

     

    If you are willing to give the friend 'control' of your Mac go ahead, just be aware that you may be left unable to apply software updates unless you have their Apple ID password.

     

    It looks like you can either reinstall 10.6 from the original disks or install 10.11.

  • by Drew Reece,

    Drew Reece Drew Reece Feb 12, 2016 11:26 AM in response to dvinny
    Level 5 (7,547 points)
    Notebooks
    Feb 12, 2016 11:26 AM in response to dvinny

    Forget about fixing this. Back it up & take the opportunity to clean install, you can still migrate user data via Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant if you want your 'user data'. You may still need to clean up some items, but user data does not normally cause system wide conflicts, ancient software can cause conflicts.

     

    Here is why I think this…


    Macintosh (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 159.70 GB (14.04 GB free) (Low!)

    You have too little free disk space, sure the new disk is bigger, so it is irrelevant to an extent.

     

    Your VirtualBox is from 2012 (it runs several system extensions).

    VirtualBox 4.1.18 (released Jun 20th 2012)

    https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds_4_1_pre30

     

    Do you use the CIFS (Thursby's Dave) & Huawei drivers? They are 'unloaded', so you didn't use them in this boot - are you certain they work on 10.11?

    Dave 5 appears to be for 10.5…

    https://store.thursby.com/evaluations/legacy-versions.html

     

    RIM's software is ancient (do you use that?).

     

    MacFuse is not supported on 10.11, you need to install OSXFuse for supporting other filesystems.

    http://osxfuse.github.io/


    It is clear you have installed many apps & not updated them in some time, what is the point of taking them into a new OS version? Your Mac will be much better if you only install (& update) apps you need.


  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Feb 12, 2016 6:11 PM in response to dvinny
    Level 6 (19,432 points)
    Mac OS X
    Feb 12, 2016 6:11 PM in response to dvinny

    I have 13" mid 2009 MBP running 10.6.8. I had not upgraded the OS until now as I feared the performance will go down as it only has 2 GB RAM.

     

    1. Max out RAM to 8 GB

     

    2. Swap out optical drive for 250GB SSD for OS and keep the old 160 GB Hard Drive.

    Good.

        Battery: Health = Replace Soon - Cycle count = 1745 - SN = W09350LMA784A

    How is your battery really doing?  Do you want to consider getting this replaced as well, or do you always keep your Mac plugged in?

    Also,  should I swap the optical drive for the new SSD or the old HDD? (My optical drive doesn't work anyways). I was earlier planning to get 500GB SSD but then decided to go for 250 and save some money as I have 1 TB external hard drive which I use since I work on multiple machines most of the times.

    If the DVD is dead, then you might as well get a DataDoubler kit and put the SSD in the DVD slot.  I did this for an iMac, using the kit from MacSales.com (OWC), but there are other sources for the kits.

     

    Use iFixIt.com for instructions on own to open you Mac.  Search for an watch some videos so you have a feel what is needed.  Especially if there are some tiny wires or connections you need to watch out for.

     

    AFTER you have install the SSD, and upgraded to El Capitan, remember to enable TRIM

    <http://www.imore.com/os-x-10104-and-trim-support-should-you-turn-it>

     

    NOTE:  Most of the problems people have had with El Capitan come from 3rd party additions.  Yours, from your EtreCheck output does not look too bad, but follow the advice given about cleaning stuff and anything you intend to keep, make sure it is a version compatible with El Capitan.

  • by dvinny,

    dvinny dvinny Feb 12, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 6:52 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    > > I suggest that you uninstall NTFS-3G.


    Thanks a lot Allan.


  • by dvinny,

    dvinny dvinny Feb 12, 2016 7:06 PM in response to Drew Reece
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Feb 12, 2016 7:06 PM in response to Drew Reece

    Drew Reece wrote:

     

    Forget about fixing this. Back it up & take the opportunity to clean install, you can still migrate user data via Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant if you want your 'user data'. You may still need to clean up some items, but user data does not normally cause system wide conflicts, ancient software can cause conflicts.

     

    Here is why I think this…


    Macintosh (disk0s2) /  [Startup]: 159.70 GB (14.04 GB free) (Low!)

    You have too little free disk space, sure the new disk is bigger, so it is irrelevant to an extent.

     

    Your VirtualBox is from 2012 (it runs several system extensions).

    VirtualBox 4.1.18 (released Jun 20th 2012)

    https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Download_Old_Builds_4_1_pre30

     

    Do you use the CIFS (Thursby's Dave) & Huawei drivers? They are 'unloaded', so you didn't use them in this boot - are you certain they work on 10.11?

    Dave 5 appears to be for 10.5…

    https://store.thursby.com/evaluations/legacy-versions.html

     

    RIM's software is ancient (do you use that?).

     

    MacFuse is not supported on 10.11, you need to install OSXFuse for supporting other filesystems.

    http://osxfuse.github.io/


    It is clear you have installed many apps & not updated them in some time, what is the point of taking them into a new OS version? Your Mac will be much better if you only install (& update) apps you need.


     

    I was earlier planning to remove my old HDD and replace with new SSD and do a fresh OS install and convert the old HDD to external drive and copy only the data I need and leave the rest on the old drive just in case I want something out of it. But then I started thinking of replacing my optical drive as it does not work and thought it will be better to replace that.


    Quick question here (sorry as this may be a daft one) if I install the new OS in the new SSD drive would it automatically uninstall the old OS and all the applications from the old drive? Honestly I don't mind deleting everything and starting fresh. In case I wipe off everything install new OS then what would happen to my time machine backups would they still work I am assuming yes but just want to be sure before I go ahead with this.

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