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User profile for user: dvinny
dvinny Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

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

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User profile for user: Allan Eckert
Allan Eckert
User level: Level 9
79,512 points

Posted on Feb 12, 2016 10:11 AM

El Capitan

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39 replies
User profile for user: Drew Reece
Drew Reece
User level: Level 6
10,660 points

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/

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User profile for user: dvinny
dvinny Author
User level: 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

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User profile for user: Drew Reece
Drew Reece
User level: Level 6
10,660 points

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.

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User profile for user: Drew Reece
Drew Reece
User level: Level 6
10,660 points

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.

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User profile for user: BobHarris
BobHarris
User level: Level 9
53,123 points

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.

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User profile for user: dvinny
dvinny Author
User level: 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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User profile for user: Drew Reece
Drew Reece
User level: Level 6
10,660 points

Feb 12, 2016 7:39 PM in response to dvinny

dvinny wrote:


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.


It appeared you were going to clean this one up as a base for the new one, which seems bad to me, hence my post.


When you install to a new disk the old data doesn't have to come over, you can choose to migrate it if you wish. Connect the old disk either after install during setup (Setup Assistant) or connect it afterwards and migrate data (/Applications/Utilities/Migration Assistant).


You can pick what to copy, Users is where all your important data is so that probably all you need.

You can just install OS X to install it if you want it clean.

Move your content to a new Mac - Apple Support



Time Machine is tied to the computer name & MAC address if I recall correctly. So you need to use the same computer name in 'System Preferences > Sharing'. Set that before you connect the TM disk. That should allow the backup to remain continuous. It it doesn't remain continuous you will still be able to browse the old data via the Time Machine UI (normally opened via the menubar). I haven't moved TM backups from 10.6 to 10.11.


A new install will add a lot to the backup, so have plenty of room to grow on your backup disk, otherwise old files can be purged.

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Best OS for MBP mid 2009

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