Need to back up and upgrade OS X ; Step by step please?

[Esetterlvr]

Hello, My iMac OS X 10.7.5 is in need of being upgraded. I was getting along fine, but now neither Safari, or Chrome is working properly. I was going to purchase an Apple compatible drive to back up the computer, then upgrade. Is there a thread with instructions? What is the least expensive way? I have 2 memory slots empty, I have 233.16 GB free out of 499.25 GB. Must I do an upgrade in steps, or do I jump to the newest? This is above my pay grade, So, thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[honestone]

OK, first things first. What exact iMac model do you have? That will determine the "highest" Mac OS you can get to.

Next, have you ever done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs to your internal drive?

Third, yes, you will need an external drive, and most likely, you can get by with one which has 1 TB in capacity. That will be, though, a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). If you really want some speed, an SSD would be the way to go, but they are more expensive. Also, it does not need to be an "Apple specific" drive. For an HDD, ones made by Seagate work well with Macs. For SSDs, Samsung SSDs would be the way to go.

Fourth, the steps you'll need to go through are:

1. After purchasing the external drive, you'll need to Erase and Format it with Disk Utility.

2. Second, whichever Mac OS you want to get to, you'll need to download it from the App Store. And when you do that, it would be prudent to make a copy of that file.

3. If you are using any third party software (Google Chrome should be OK "as is" (I use it)), you'll need to insure that it is compatible with the Mac OS you are moving to. That might involve downloading and installing upgrades to such software

4. Next, you'll need to make a backup of your current "system". Time Machine is OK for that, but either SuperDuper! (http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html) or Carbon Copy Cloner (https://bombich.com/) can make a bootable backup/clone of your current system.

5. Now for the possible challenging part. You'll need to run Disk Utility "externally" from your iMac. If you use either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, that is easy, as you can restart your Mac from that bootable backup, and run Disk Utility from there. If not, then you'll need to re-start your iMac from the (hidden) Recovery HD partition. This link describes how to boot to that partition, and what it can do:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201314

Note the choice for Disk Utility there.

When you run Disk Utility form there, you should first have it check out the "health" of your internal drive. Hopefully, that will be OK.

6. Next, you need to have Disk Utility Erase and Format your internal drive (assuming it is OK).

7. Then, you'll need to install the Mac OS you want. Here is where I don't know how to do that from the Recovery HD. I do know how to do it from a SuperDuper! backup. As you can see, via the Recovery HD partition, you can do a fresh installation of the Mac OS. But, I do not know which one that will be for your Mac. If you do a SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner backup, you would just find the applicable Mac OS file that you downloaded in Step 2 above, launch it, and it will install a clean, "virgin" version of that Mac OS on your internal drive.

8. Finally, when the installation is complete, you'll be offered the opportunity, via the program Migration Assistant (you'll be prompted about it), to "migrate"/copy stuff from your backup to your internal drive. Once that is complete, you can re-start your iMac.

I realize that is a lot, but such steps are both critical and necessary.

 

[Esetterlvr]

Thank you honestone for your detailed reply! The info you asked about besides what I provided (Mac OS X -10.7.5) is processor 2.5 GHz Intel core i5. Memory 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3 startup Dish Macintosh HD.
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.5 (11G63b) No repairs, etc., to internal drive. The only extension I have is Ad Blocker. Thanks.

 

[honestone]

While I appreciate the reply, I actually need the "designation" of your iMac. Here is what you need to do to get that information:

1. Click on the black Apple symbol in the upper left hand corner.

2. Select "About this Mac".

3. The next screen could have enough information. For example, for my mid 2013 13"MacBook Air, it says "MacBook Air (13-inch, mid 2013)". That's OK, but there is something that is better.

4. Click on "System Report", and on the next screen your should see "Model Identifier:", and an entry on that line. For my MacBook Air, it says "MacBookAir6,2". The entry you would see is what we need to determine the exact iMac model you have.

That's not good that you have done no disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs to your internal drive. That could spell trouble, but you'll need to see what Disk Utility tells you.

 

[Esetterlvr]

Here you go, honestone.

Hardware Overview:



Model Name: iMac

Model Identifier: iMac12,1

Processor Name: Intel Core i5

Processor Speed: 2.5 GHz

Number of Processors: 1

Total Number of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB

L3 Cache: 6 MB

Memory: 4 GB

Boot ROM Version: IM121.0047.B1E

SMC Version (system): 1.71f25

Serial Number (system): C02GVZNPDHJF

Hardware UUID: 22B10277-AF6B-585C-950C-B83DBEE2ADB6

 

[Esetterlvr]

I searched for Disc Utility and found the first page. highlighted the "Information: ST3500418AS Media and this came up.


Name : ST3500418AS Media

Type : Disk



Partition Map Scheme : GUID Partition Table

Disk Identifier : disk0

Media Name : ST3500418AS Media

Media Type : Generic

Connection Bus : SATA

Device Tree : IODeviceTree:/PCI0@0/SATA@1F,2/PRT0@0/PMP@0

Writable : Yes

Ejectable : No

Location : Internal

Total Capacity : 500.11 GB (500,107,862,016 Bytes)

Disk Number : 0

Partition Number : 0

S.M.A.R.T. Status : Verified

Raw Error Rate : 0000017DF3CB

Spinup Time : 000000000000

Start/Stop Count : 000000000C88

Retired Sectors Count : 000000000000

Seek Error Rate : 00001ECF7715

Power-On Hours : 00000000944B

Spinup Retries : 000000000000

Power Cycles : 0000000009A9

HDD Temperature : 000E0000002F

ECC on the Fly Count : 0000017DF3CB

Pending-Sparing Count : 000000000000

Uncorrectable Sector Count : 000000000000

UltraDMA CRC Errors : 000000000000

 

[honestone]

Thanks for all that. The report by Disk Utility is OK, as it shows you have a 500 Gig 7200 rpm Seagate drive inside your machine. But, to have that drive's health determined, you'll need to start your Mac from the (hidden) Recovery HD partition and run Disk Utility from there to perform First Aid on that drive. But, you'll need to make a backup first.

Next, it looks like this is your iMac:

http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...inch-aluminum-mid-2011-thunderbolt-specs.html

Thus, it looks like you can install any Mac OS from 10.8 and above. That is:

OS 10.8.x - Mountain Lion

OS 10.9.x - Mavericks

OS 10.10.x - Yosemite

OS 10.11.x - El Capitan

OS 10.12.x - Sierra (the most recent one)

Hence, the choice is kind of up to you. I myself would not jump all the way from Lion to Sierra. Maybe try and intermediate one for a while, and see how it works (as long as you go through those steps I listed above, you should be fine (as long as the drive is OK)). I guess a good first step would be to download and install Yosemite, OS 10.10.6. Again, I just don't know if doing the Mac OS installation form the Recovery HD partition will "give" you Yosemite. As it is, that machine came with OS 10.6.6 (Snow Leopard) pre-installed. But, again I just don't know.

So, to insure you get the OS you want, it would be best to purchase either SuperDuper! ($27.95) or Carbon Copy Cloner ($39.95), and use it to make a bootable backup/clone. Doing that will allow you to launch the file "Install MacOSX Yosemite" yourself. You will get newer versions of Apple software, and the version of Safari you get should work fine.

Also, once you are done with all that, it is best to get into the routine of doing at least weekly disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, and of course backups. Once you purchase either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner, you'll have the backups solved. For disk maintenance software, there is the excellent, free, and venerable Onyx. And the commercial product TechTool Pro is excellent.

 

[Esetterlvr]

Thank you for all that, honestone. Can you explain what you mean by "get into the routine of doing at least weekly disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, and of course backups"?

 

[honestone]

OK, here is what I do:

1. On a daily basis, I am performing some disk cleanup. Most of that is confined to having deleted EMails permanently removed. Not all EMail programs permanently remove deleted EMails, and that is true for the EMail program I use, Outlook 2016. It is easy, though, for me to have such deleted EMails permanently removed.

Also, when I download an update to a program, I get rid of the prior one, as I no longer need it. No sense cluttering up my machine!

2. Once a week (usually on Saturdays), I run Onyx, and then TechTool pro to perform disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, and then use SuperDuper! to make my backups.

I do both of those for both of my Macs, and it results in me rarely (if ever) having issues. It's like taking care of an automobile. Even with all the modern stuff, it is still possible to do some TLC on one's own. Well, computers are no different.

 

[Esetterlvr]

Excellent advice and well explained. I have liked your posts. Is there anything else I can do to "thank" you here? Please let me know.

 

[honestone]

Thank you for your kind words. I don't mind giving out advice. When you begin this "project", and as you proceed, don't be afraid to ask questions at any time.

 

[Esetterlvr]

I have forwarded your instructions to my PC savvy son who will guide his mother through the process. ;-)

 

[Esetterlvr]

Hello Honestone, Well, we followed your steps and downloaded Sierra and gave it about a month--- as my son said, "Hey, if you don't like it we can always go back to Yosemite". I didn't like Sierra. Having 'over 40 eyes' (by a lot) the OS seems to be very unfriendly and changes unnecessary. I began to use Chome instead of Safari, since it's hard to see dark grey instead of light grey on the tool bar and realized the type is smaller or at least thinner. What I missed most of all was the ability to highlight things on my desktop, although I realize that is now gone no matter what I upgrade to. Heavy sigh…. But the game changer has been the wifi disconnecting every time it awakes from sleep, and the slowness with which everything is running. (constantly spinning ball) when changing from anything to another task. Perhaps it's a virus…. Anyway, my son got us back to Lion last night and tried to get to Yosemite, but the only one available from the app store is Sierra. I must find or buy it elsewhere. (one last thing, although the rest of the internet looks the same, my FB page is completely different now. LARGE and spread out-- almost like an phone app is here instead. Must look into that, too. Any thoughts, esp. on a virus check would be appreciated. I hope this will not require a trip ($$) to the Apple store for repair. Son will be working on this this evening. Thanks. ~Nancy

 

[Esetterlvr]

Yup, It's a mobile FB page on my iMac. Only on Safari, not Chrome. Huh. https://m.facebook.com/nancy.xxxxx?ref=name
And I cannot fix by logging out or rewriting in the toolbar.

 

[honestone]

Unfortunately, once you download a particular OS from the App Store, you can't go back and get a previous version. Thus, that is why you cannot download anything earlier than Sierra. I know that seems illogical on Apple's part, and I have never understood their thought process behind that. But, it is what it is. It would have been better to start with Yosemite first, and if you liked it, you could have then downloaded Sierra (and still retained Yosemite).

I am not on Facebook (nor Twitter), so cannot help you with that.

I use Google Chrome, and it is much, much faster than Safari. I also have "over 40" eyes, and I wear glasses, but I can see everything just fine. The font, and its size, can be adjusted, if need be.

Now, did you ever check out the "health" of your internal drive? One thing that could help somewhat is to perform disk defragmentation/optimization. TechTool Pro has those features that one can use. Still though, a 7200 rpm drive (assuming it is in good health) is going to be somewhat slow. An SSD would be the way to go.

To check on a virus/adware, you can use the following programs:

1. Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, available from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

It's a very good (free!) program for finding "malware".

2. ClamXav, available form here:

https://www.clamxav.com/

You can use it is "demo" mode for free for 30 days. If you let it scan at the "top" level on your iMac, it will take a long time, but at least it will look everywhere. You might want to let that run over night.

Now, as for obtaining Yosemite, you will need to purchase it. One source that others on these forums have used is via Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Mac-Yosemite-10-10-5-Bootable-USB/dp/B00S4ZIO88

IN fact, if you scroll down on that page, you'll see more options:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MF7I9LV?psc=1

The only thing that is not exactly known is which version of each one you will get. The last version of Yosemite was OS 10.10.5, and for El Capitan, it was OS 10.11.6. However, if the version you receive is "less" than any of those (like OS 10.10.2 for Yosemite), you can download the OS 10.10.5 Combo Updater from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1832?locale=en_US

Similarly, for El Capitan, here is the link for the OS 10.11.6 Combo Updater:

https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1885?locale=en_US

One other thing, and you should save this link. Apple recently released security updates for both Yosemite and El Capitan, which will not be on any of those OS "sticks" you get from Amazon:

http://tidbits.com/article/17139

Again, you should save that link.

 

[Esetterlvr]

Thanks again for your prompt reply. I will pass on your comments to my son. We now have the weekend to try and get this right. ~Nancy

 

[Ormond]

Hello Honestone, Well, we followed your steps and downloaded Sierra and gave it about a month--- as my son said, "Hey, if you don't like it we can always go back to Yosemite". I didn't like Sierra.

Sadly, you've fallen in to a trap very common in Apple land. You upgraded your OS when you didn't need to, and now you have a bunch of problems. Not your fault!

You can buy older versions of OSX on Amazon. Try a vendor called MacInstaller. If you're going to do a reinstall anyway, I suggest you might consider downgrading from 10.7 to Snow Leopard OSX 10.6.8, which could be the best OSX Apple ever made.

 

[honestone]

One of the best reasons to upgrade the Mac OS is with an older OS, applications will no longer be upgraded/supported, and especially for security purposes. While it is true for myself that my processing needs have not wavered much for the last 4 or 5 Mac OS versions, I still want to feel comfortable, especially from the security aspect.

But, as I stated on another post, to each their own.

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

We have Fibre to the home here now & unsupported OS versions do not play well with it.

 

[honestone]

We have Fibre to the home here now & unsupported OS versions do not play well with it.

From what I understand, FTTH (Fibre To The Home: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/fiber-to-the-home) is a rather new and evolving. Here is a list of countries where it is being used:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_to_the_premises_by_country

For the US, the largest one for FTTP (Fiber to the premises) is Verizon's FIOS. I am on Comcast as my ISP (and TV provider), so I cannot comment about Verizon's FIOS and Mac compatibility. But this is the first time I have heard about unsupported OS versions and ISPs. I am just happy to be with a well grounded and solid one like Comcast. They have also been in existence for a long, long time.