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User profile for user: Kren
Kren Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Step by step 10.6.8 to El Capitan, plus hardware upgrades?

Have a mid-2010 Macbook 7,1 13" -- want to upgrade RAM from 2 GB to 8 GB (I have read that it is possible despite being above the official max). Also want to swap out 250 GB HDD to a 500 GB SSD and upgrade from Snow Leopard to El Capitan.


Steps (please advise if I've got it right, or if there are better ways):

1. Buy the RAM and SSD and include a USB enclosure in the order

2. Attach SSD to computer with USB, format the drive correctly (?to what?) and clone original drive to SSD using Carbon Copy Cloner (?)

3. Upgrade SSD to El Capitan and ensure all works/boots etc

4. Swap in the RAM

5. Swap out drives; keep old drive as a bootable backup


Is that about right? Does the order look good? What about format specs and do I have the right cloning choice?


I had wanted to create a bootable install drive on USB, as I'll want to upgrade another laptop pretty soon -- but we're all running 10.6.8 and I cannot find instructions anywhere to do this. All guidance (Terminal commands and DiskMaker etc) appears to start at 10.7+ ... 10.6 is not supported.


If anyone could advise how to do this, it'd be much appreciated also.


Thanks so much!

MacBook (13-inch Mid 2010), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Apr 28, 2016 6:30 PM

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6 replies
User profile for user: a brody
a brody
User level: Level 10
82,941 points

Apr 29, 2016 4:38 AM in response to Kren

https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-6271 Has much more important considerations as to whether it is worth the effort. Backup your data, make sure your applications and drivers are all compatible, then consider if the rest is worthwhile. SSDs while nice are not essential for El Capitan. Software compatibility is. FOrmat with GUID Apple HFS+ formatting. https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-3003 covers formatting in more detail

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User profile for user: Kren
Kren Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Apr 29, 2016 5:07 AM in response to a brody

Thanks - that first link leads to a discussion of what appears to be concerns for those using Rosetta to run older apps; I believe that is not a concern for us as we've got only stock Snow Leopard apps and very little else, all of which is much newer (and actually the reason for going this route, as the new software will no longer support 10.6.8).


Did my order of tasks look reasonable? And would you advise Carbon Copy Cloner or something else?

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User profile for user: MlchaelLAX
MlchaelLAX
User level: Level 4
2,286 points

Apr 30, 2016 11:48 AM in response to Kren

Kren wrote:


I believe that is not a concern for us (apps requiring Rosetta) as we've got only stock Snow Leopard apps and very little else, all of which is much newer (and actually the reason for going this route, as the new software will no longer support 10.6.8).

Rosetta was so miraculously successful at transparently running PowerPC apps in Snow Leopard, that many SL users have no idea they are running PowerPC apps until the fateful day they upgrade!


The best way to check is to go to your Apple Menu to About This Mac, to More Info... to System Report... to Software, to Applicatons and under Kind, look for PowerPC.


FWIW: I just looked at my MacBook Pro running Lion, and I see 69 apps listed as PowerPC that I must have never bothered to delete after I upgraded it to Lion back in late 2011. Obviously, I never try to run them in Lion on my MBP.

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Step by step 10.6.8 to El Capitan, plus hardware upgrades?

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