Old imac, old os

[whitenoise]

My dilemma began on the day I updated my old MBP to Mavericks and it F'd the graphics card. (that model of MBP had a recall for the card, but unfortunately mine wasn't affected until months after the end date).

So I was left with an iMac from 2010 with 10.6.8 installed and a dread of upgrading.

I had windows 7 installed on bootcamp at the time and got used to using the iMac as my secondary PC and running it with windows. (Life has been busy anyway and I haven't had much chance to use the iMac for the music creation, i intended).

I have 10.6.8 on the mechanical internal, (with win10 now installed) and an SSD with 10.6.8 connected to the thunderbolt port. (i was using the SSD as my main OS up to my issues.

Could someone set me off in the correct direction? I have one or two questions...

1. Is it safe to upgrade my 2010 iMac? (are there any known weaknesses/problems with upgrading the OS)?

2. What OS can I upgrade to, without causing performance issues?

3. How on earth do I upgrade, all the way from Snow Leopard?


Every time I start looking into this I go surfing around in circles, never quite finding an answer. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I've left this for far to long. The iMac itself hasn't been massively taxed, so is seeming to be working well enough and its about time I put it to work as an iMac.

 

[ghboard2010]

Well, are you sure you possess a Mid 2010 iMac{Model ID: 11.2 for 21.5" & 11.3 for 27"}? I ask this because this model referenced was outfitted with 4 USB2 ports and one Firewire 800 port. Thunderbolt ports did not appear on the iMac until the Late 2012 iMac{Model ID: 13.1 for 21.5" & 13,2 for 27"}.

So, did you mean an iMac from 2012, or did you mean an SSD with 10.6.8 connected to the Firewire port?

1. Yes it is safe to upgrade the OS to latest usable version, and good practice
a.) for the Mid 2010 iMac this latest version is 10.13.6 - High Sierra
b.) for the Late 2012 iMac this latest version is 10.15.1 - Catalina

2. As you state you have an external SSD 'hanging' off the backside of this machine, that would be the recommended install point. It'll be faster than an internal spinner{HDD}.

- caveat: I'm presuming this machine has a 1 or 2 TB (7200-rpm) if you have the 2010 unit. If your unit is a 2012, than it'll probably have either a pure HDD{1 or 3 TB} or a Fusion Drive{a smallish SSD coupled with either a 1 or 3 TB HDD 'spinner'}. In case of 2012 unit, the SSD install is most recomended. The 2010 model can be a coin toss. However, an external boot drive can accidentally disconnected; this could/would be an unmitigated disaster. Just a little to think about.

3. As of 10.7 Lion, all OS upgrades are downloaded from Apple's App Store. Now I haven't used Snow Leopard in about a decade, however I think App Store is accessible from an application in the application folder. IIRC, you will be updating to latest OS available for your machine{see 1.a. and 1.b. above}.


Hope that helps. . .

PS. Take time to digest this, there is a lot here.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd suggest 10.12 "Low" Sierra on it.
It's the last Mac OS to run HFS+ as a "native install".
It's smooth and stable.

Since you normally boot and run from an SSD, that's where you would eventually install it.
HOWEVER --
When installing an OS upgrade, it's always best to "experiment" with it BEFORE you commit to installing it onto "your main drive".

So...
I would install it onto the INTERNAL drive first.
Yes, it's a slower, platter-based drive.
But it will give you the opportunity to see how it runs BEFORE you commit to it.

Mavericks was never a good OS, in my opinion.
It's the ONLY version of the Mac OS that I do not keep "in my archives".

Also...
Be aware that some (perhaps much) of the old software you use will "break" with a newer version of the OS.
That's the way it is...

 

[whitenoise]

Well I've managed to confuse myself.

I was sure the iMac was from 2010, but the model id is 12,2 which seems to be 2011. So you learn something new everyday. it does have thunderbolt though. First to have it, I believe. (its the 27" model, if that made a difference?) The HDD is 1TB.

It looks like High Sierra, (or maybe Sierra, if the HFS+ thing is going to make things more complicated), might be the OS I'm looking for, but I am at a complete loss. I have searched for updates in the App store and I am upto date. If i select Catalina, Im told I cant update and upgrade to an earlier version, but where on earth are the earlier versions of the OS?




*update* I found Sierra by searching for "osx sierra installation app" (whatever I was searching for wasnt working previously). I ended up having to upgrade to El Capitan first, (it was the earliest version I could find that had a page on the Apple site).

I have just upgraded the SSD and it seems to have worked without any major issues, so far. I have been thinking that I may do a clean install to get rid of the mess of files that have been here for years. (I'm guessing it should be okay).

So I'm currently sitting on macOS Sierra 10.12.6. Any further suggestions? Should I go further or stick with whats working? Any steps, software, etc that you would recommend?

Thanks for your help, anyway. The info helped push me and gave me the start to get update started.

 

[ghboard2010]

Well I've managed to confuse myself.

I was sure the iMac was from 2010, but the model id is 12,2 which seems to be 2011. So you learn something new everyday. it does have thunderbolt though. First to have it, I believe. (its the 27" model, if that made a difference?) The HDD is 1TB.

It looks like High Sierra, (or maybe Sierra, if the HFS+ thing is going to make things more complicated), might be the OS I'm looking for, but I am at a complete loss. I have searched for updates in the App store and I am upto date. If i select Catalina, Im told I cant update and upgrade to an earlier version, but where on earth are the earlier versions of the OS?




*update* I found Sierra by searching for "osx sierra installation app" (whatever I was searching for wasnt working previously). I ended up having to upgrade to El Capitan first, (it was the earliest version I could find that had a page on the Apple site).

I have just upgraded the SSD and it seems to have worked without any major issues, so far. I have been thinking that I may do a clean install to get rid of the mess of files that have been here for years. (I'm guessing it should be okay).

So I'm currently sitting on macOS Sierra 10.12.6. Any further suggestions? Should I go further or stick with whats working? Any steps, software, etc that you would recommend?

Thanks for your help, anyway. The info helped push me and gave me the start to get update started.

Stick with 12.6; if you have any 32-bit applications that'll be absolutely ok. Either 13.6 or 14.6 starts getting real naggy about 32-bit apps. And yes if you update to Catalina there's no way back. Plus, any 32-bit applications you might have been using are not usable in Catalina{15.1}, then you'll need to spend time hunting down 64-bit replacements, no guarantee your current data will be readable. That is really a risk assessment for you to make going forward.