Upgrade from OS X Lion to OX X El Capitan

How do I access this discussion? If I click on "I have this question too," I expected to be taken to that discussion. Instead, it merely changes the box to "I no longer have this question."

If your system meets the El Capitan System Requirements, then you can go directly to El Capitan without any stops in the middle

<OS X El Capitan - Technical Specifications>

It also looks like I might be able to update my MacBook Pro still running Snow Leopard 10.6.8, but the model identifier says "MacBookPro5,1" which doesn't specify the year. In both computers, there are many features related to mobile devices that won't apply. I can live without those features, but of special concern are the Disk Utility, into which I have placed many password-protected files; QuickTime Player, which in my version is "pro" upgraded to include various adjustments for color, playback speed, etc.; and Airport Utility which is currently matched to the original "flying saucer" Airport Extreme. All of these "old" features and various others are there to preserve business history files that I cannot afford to lose. Comments?

David Henderson7 wrote:

It also looks like I might be able to update my MacBook Pro still running Snow Leopard 10.6.8, but the model identifier says "MacBookPro5,1" which doesn't specify the year. In both computers, there are many features related to mobile devices that won't apply. I can live without those features, but of special concern are the Disk Utility, into which I have placed many password-protected files; QuickTime Player, which in my version is "pro" upgraded to include various adjustments for color, playback speed, etc.; and Airport Utility which is currently matched to the original "flying saucer" Airport Extreme. All of these "old" features and various others are there to preserve business history files that I cannot afford to lose. Comments?

You will loose access to the Flying Saucer Airport Extreme. Airport Utility 5.6 will NOT run on El Capitan (while I do not use them any longer, I've owned most of the various Flying Saucer generations of Airport Extreme, including the very first one with the built-in phone modem that would automatically dial-up my ISP).

I think you can upgrade to El Capitan. Go to this web page, select your specific Mac model from this list, click on the associated link, and then look form "Pre-Installed Mac OS". It will show the maximum version of OS X you can install, and from what I could see chances are you can go to 10.11 (El Capitan).

However, going from Snow Leopard, you will loose the ability to run any PowerPC compiled apps in emulation.

Your password protected .dmg files should be fine.

I know nothing about Quicktime Pro.

I suggest you Backup (and make a 2nd backup), then see if you can create a 30-50GB partition on your boot disk and install El Capitan in the separate partition and try some things out. The backups are in case something goes wrong, and 2 backups are in case things go really wrong (Murphy's Law is not always happy causing a bad day, if it can make it a worse day).

Or you could install El Capitan on an external disk, but it will boot and run much slower and not tell you if installing El Capitan would give acceptable performance for your configuration.

It also looks like I might be able to update my MacBook Pro still running Snow Leopard 10.6.8, but the model identifier says "MacBookPro5,1" which doesn't specify the year. In both computers, there are many features related to mobile devices that won't apply. I can live without those features, but of special concern are the Disk Utility, into which I have placed many password-protected files; QuickTime Player, which in my version is "pro" upgraded to include various adjustments for color, playback speed, etc.; and Airport Utility which is currently matched to the original "flying saucer" Airport Extreme. All of these "old" features and various others are there to preserve business history files that I cannot afford to lose. Comments?

A 5,i is a late 2008, so you can install ElCap, take note of the caveats previously posted.

Hi, Bob -- Thanks for the very helpful comments. You mentioned installing El Capitan on an external disk, and that interests me. OWC/MacSales is offering "data doublers" and related devices, including secondary hard drives that install inside 27-inch iMacs. The descriptions are a little confusing, especially the low prices, but having another bootable internal hard drive in the iMac would allow me to cover both old and new applications, maybe even saving the $200 for an up-to-date Airport Extreme. Is that something you would recommend?

Thanks Csound1 -- I appreciate the clarificaion.

Remember that you only have slower external ports (USB2 or FW800) so your external SSD will run at a fraction of its potential, put it inside if you want all of it (and change the interconnect (SATA) cable).

Csound1, that's something I had not thought about and it makes sense.

I'm trying to add points to the helpful boxes above, but they are not responding, and I am logged in. ???

Installing El Capitan on an external disk was ONLY to test and see if it would run the software you need. I would never suggest running El Capitan on an external drive until USB-3 or Thunderbolt disk drives were available. The same thing with creating a 30-50GB partition on the internal drive, it is just to test drive El Capitan.

As for using a Data Doubler, that is an option. I did it to my Late 2009 27" iMac. I installed a 480GB SSD and my iMac was better than new, and it is now running El Capitan. OWC provided all the tools, and video instructions, but opening an iMac is something you want to watch a few additional YouTube videos before doing the work and print out the iFixIt.com tear-down instructions for you specific Mac. The job also needs 2 people so one person can hold the screen up while another person disconnects some of the cables between the screen and the motherboard. But it is very doable.

Those are good tips, Bob. I have done some installations on my old Mac Pros and a new hard drive in my MacBook Pro, but the iMac is awkward. Just installing memory chips was a clumsy undertaking; so I will definitely follow your advice if I proceed, and I'll get some help.

Did you keep your original OS after adding El Capitan, as I'm considering, on two internal drives?

David Henderson7 wrote:

Those are good tips, Bob. I have done some installations on my old Mac Pros and a new hard drive in my MacBook Pro, but the iMac is awkward. Just installing memory chips was a clumsy undertaking; so I will definitely follow your advice if I proceed, and I'll get some help.

Did you keep your original OS after adding El Capitan, as I'm considering, on two internal drives?

Only for a very short peroid of time, just in case something went wrong. I always keep a bootable clone backup (2 actually using SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner) as protection when performing a major upgrade.

Okay, Bob -- that's most likely a better system than my habit of making multiple backups on stacks of external drives. My idea of keeping two operating systems on separate internal drives would function somewhat like Apple's arrangement for accommodating Windows on a Mac; but I would gradually assimilate my work to the new OS while preserving Lion for those older files and apps that won't work with El Capitan. Switching back and forth is a nuisance, but a minor one, right?

I don't mean to take too much of your time; but I haven't been able to enter any more Helpful points for you. Am I overlooking something?

That is because this post was stated by dschex1, and only the person that started the thread is allowed to mark Helpful and Solved.

But we knew that when we answered. The points are more to tell others we have been doing this for awhile. But once you have enough, the icing on the cake stares to get a little thick, and it is not as criticial you get every last point all the time.

In other words, we are good.