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MBP 13" Mid 2012 currently on 10.9.5 - What can I update to? and how?

J

james-bailey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
165
4
Hi folks, my mum is currently running
MBP 13"
Mid 2012
currently on 10.9.5

Primarily I want to upgrade the HDD to an SSD

Am I right in thinking that its best to upgrade the OS before I attempt to clone the drive? (So to be able to have more choice in file systems?)

I have checked in the App Store and no update is showing for the OS.

I have done a quick google search and I am a bit confused at what to do next. I would be happy with High Sierra but think ive read somewhere that I cant jump from 10.9.5 to High Sierra?

Any help would be gratefully received thanks!
 
B

bobnugget

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
419
194
England
Check which software you are using before jumping to Catalina - 32-bit software is only supported up to Mojave (10.14) so you may find she needs to upgrade packages (Office, Adobe apps, Games) if you go to Catalina. Mojave will still have security support until the next OS is out, Catalina will do for a year after.

If it's a wider, "unibody" (not retina) machine, I'd also recommend checking the RAM. Depending on what she uses it for, you might want to upgrade it to 8 or 16 GB. These machines originally came with 4 GB, which can get slow if she runs a fair amount of apps at once. A decent SATA SSD is the first upgrade to go for though as you said! I'd usually go for Samsung or Crucial MX.
 
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J

james-bailey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
165
4
bobnugget said:
Check which software you are using before jumping to Catalina - 32-bit software is only supported up to Mojave (10.14) so you may find she needs to upgrade packages (Office, Adobe apps, Games) if you go to Catalina. Mojave will still have security support until the next OS is out, Catalina will do for a year after.

If it's a wider, "unibody" (not retina) machine, I'd also recommend checking the RAM. Depending on what she uses it for, you might want to upgrade it to 8 or 16 GB. These machines originally came with 4 GB, which can get slow if she runs a fair amount of apps at once. A decent SATA SSD is the first upgrade to go for though as you said! I'd usually go for Samsung or Crucial MX.
Click to expand...
Thanks yes, I am just looking to go to High Sierra for the time being.

Just ordered 2x8gb of ram which I will instal first, which should hopefully make things move more efficiently when doing backups / installations.

Samsung 860 evo 500gb is the SSD I have ordered, not sure of the 870 is worth the extra money?
 
CoastalOR

CoastalOR

macrumors 68040
Jan 19, 2015
3,029
1,150
Oregon, USA
james-bailey said:
Hi folks, my mum is currently running
MBP 13"
Mid 2012
currently on 10.9.5

I would be happy with High Sierra but think ive read somewhere that I cant jump from 10.9.5 to High Sierra?

Any help would be gratefully received thanks!
Click to expand...
You need to have OS 10.8 or greater to upgrade to High Sierra, since you have 10.9 you are good to go. I would recommend going no further than High Sierra or Mojave.
 
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B

bobnugget

macrumors 6502
Nov 15, 2006
419
194
England
james-bailey said:
Thanks yes, I am just looking to go to High Sierra for the time being.

Just ordered 2x8gb of ram which I will instal first, which should hopefully make things move more efficiently when doing backups / installations.

Samsung 860 evo 500gb is the SSD I have ordered, not sure of the 870 is worth the extra money?
Click to expand...
I doubt you’d notice the difference between an 850 or newer - the performance gap between that and an HDD is far more than between the different SSDs.

On the OS front, I can’t remember anything that broke going from High Sierra to Mojave, although it warns the first time you run each 32-bit app.
 
J

james-bailey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
165
4
HELP!

I have downloaded High Sierra, doing the install but now received this message

IMG_6485.jpg


its in a constant loop.

I am going to be in so much trouble..

I have hit cmd R on restart and tried to do first aid on the HD. It says errors but repair couldn't be achieved or words to that effect
 
J

james-bailey

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 17, 2010
165
4
Update - So luckily I had a TM backup so used DU to erase and reformat the disc then installed from backup.

Then tried the OS update again which worked fine with no issues.

Should I of known to check the disc for errors / attempt to repair before attempting a big update install?
 
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