Upgrading from 10.5 to Snow Leopard and then to Lion
Hi guys, I have little knowledge about computers and can use some help. I have Late 2008 MacBook Aluminium Unibody laptop. It has 10.5.8 - Leopard on it.
I'm looking to upgrade to latest - mountain lion. after researching I've found out that I need to first upgrade to Snow Leopard and then to Lion.
My question is more around backing up the laptop to my external hard drive (500GB) using Time Machine.
-Should the hard drive be completely empty or just have more than enough space to back up laptop?
-Once backed up, do i need to restore the data only if the files get erased while upgrading to snow leopard/lion?
-If it does get erased, how do I restore the data from the external drive? Is it as simple as logging on to Time Machine and using a command?
-Is it safe to back up and restore?
I realize these questions are asked several times, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks so much.
Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
1. You don't have to erase the disk. Also, your files will be kept after upgrading, because an upgrade doesn't delete anything. Just make sure that you have enough space in the hard drive to install Mac OS X.
2. In case that the upgrade fails, you will have to restore your backup, but not before, because your files will be kept after upgrading, as I said.
3. If you have made a Time Machine backup, you will have to start from the Mac OS X DVD that came with your Mac holding the C key while your Mac is starting, going to Utilities menu and restoring the Time Machine backup, so your Mac will be the same as it was before upgrading Mac OS X.
4. Of course (when you restore a full Time Machine backup, Time Machine erases the hard disk), but don't do it unless the OS X upgrade fails
Similar Messages
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I had an older version of Mac OS, I upgraded to Snow leopard and then OSx Lion, most of my software has been upgraded except for Imovie. Now I can't get my projects to upload or share to iDVD or iTunes. Also to compound the situation everytime I attempt to share to iDVD or iTunes, iMovie quits unexpectedly. What do I do?
If you want to sync it to the iPad from that Mac, you need to upgrade it to at least 10.5.8.
If you want to copy the music to another Mac, you don't. Move the iTunes folder of the item in the Finder's sidebar over as you would any other folder. If you put it somewhere other than the Music folder, launch iTunes with the Option key held down and point it to that location.
(61713) -
I want to upgrade from OSX 10.4.11 to snow leopard and the local store say to do it online and I can't find out how to.
You will need to purchase the retail DVD for Snow Leopard (10.6) It should be available from the online Apple store.
Stedman -
I have a macbook on OS X 10.5.8 how can i update to get the lates itunes 7 si i can sync my iphone 5
Upgrading to Snow Leopard, Lion, and Mountain Lion
You can upgrade to Mountain Lion from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. Mountain Lion can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for $19.99. To access the App Store you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.6 or later installed.
You can purchase Snow Leopard contact Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service. The price is $29.00 plus tax. You will receive physical media - DVD - by mail.
Third-party sources for Snow Leopard are:
Snow Leopard from Amazon.com
Snow Leopard from eBay
After you install Snow Leopard you will have to download and install the Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1 to update Snow Leopard to 10.6.8 and give you access to the App Store.
You can purchase Lion contact Customer Service: Contacting Apple for support and service. The cost is $19.99 (as it was before) plus tax. It's a download.
Be sure your computer meets the minimum requirements:
Apple - OS X Mountain Lion - Read the technical specifications.
Macs that can be upgraded to OS X Mountain Lion
1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
7. Xserve (Early 2009)
Are my applications compatible?
See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps - App compatibility and feature support for OS X & iOS.
Am I eligible for the free upgrade?
See Apple - Free OS X Mountain Lion upgrade Program.
For a complete How-To introduction from Apple see Apple - Upgrade your Mac to OS X Mountain Lion.
Model Eligibility for Snow Leopard and Lion.
Snow Leopard General requirements
1. Mac computer with an Intel processor
2. 1GB of memory
3. 5GB of available disk space
4. DVD drive for installation
5. Some features require a compatible Internet service provider; fees may apply.
6. Some features require Apple’s MobileMe service; fees and terms apply.
Lion System Requirements
1. Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, or Xeon processor
2. 2GB of memory
3. OS X v10.6.6 or later (v10.6.8 recommended)
4. 7GB of available space
5. Some features require an Apple ID; terms apply. -
Lost my photos from iPhoto after upgrading 10.5.8 to Snow Leopard and then to Yosemite.
I just bought Snow Leopard to upgrade my iMac from 2009. It was running OS 10.5.8. I ran all the updates for 10.6.8 before I went ahead and download Yosemite. My iPhotos won't open, I downloaded the "iPhoto upgrader" from the apple website and it did nothing to remedy the problem. I cannot retrieve my photos and I'm panicking. I've read other posts of people "deleting" the iPhotos app and re-installing it, but the Mac App Store doesn't seem to have iPhoto as a downloadable app anymore. Can anyone please help me retrieve my photos? This is the only place I have the photos and I'm afraid I won't see them again. I also just used the iPhotos app that my iMac and came with because I didn't buy it separately, so there is no installation disk either.
Go to the App Store and check out the Purchases List. If iPhoto is there then it will be v9.6.1
If it is there, then drag your existing iPhoto app (not the library, just the app) to the trash
Install the App from the App Store.
Sometimes iPhoto is not visible on the Purchases List. it may be hidden. See this article for details on how to unhide it.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4928
One question often asked: Will I lose my Photos if I reinstall?
iPhoto the application and the iPhoto Library are two different parts of the iPhoto programme. So, reinstalling the app should not affect the Library. BUT you should always have a back up before doing this kind of work. Always. -
Can I upgrade to Snow Leopard, and then Mountain Lion, on my 2009 MacBook with OS X 10.5.8?
I want to upgrade to Snow Leopard so I have access to iCloud for all my devices. I bought my MacBook mid 2009 and am currently running OS X 10.5.8. Does anyone know if I am able to upgrade before I go and buy Snow Leopard?
Thanks.You can upgrade from 10.5 to 10.6 with no problems. Any program that runs under 10.5 should run under10.6. See this list for compatibility with 10.6: http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/
You might have to upgrade some drivers for printers, etc.... And you will have to install Rosetta if you have any third party Power PC applications http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/snow_leopard_installing_rosetta/
You can order a Snow Leopard 10.6 install disk for $29 from the Apple Store as long as you have at least 1gb of RAM and 5gb of free space on your hard drive. http://store.apple.com/us/product/MC573Z/A?mco=MTY3ODQ5OTY
To upgrade your iLife and iWork. If you only want iPhoto or other single apps from iLife '11 you can get them from the App Store after you've upgraded to 10.6.6. iPhoto, iMovie or Garage Band for $15 each and Pages, Keynote or Numbers from iWork '09 for $20 each.
Once you are at 10.6.8 you can buy Lion for $29 from the App Store if you have at least a model 2,1 MacBook. Lion will require at least 2gb of RAM but really needs 4gb to run smoothly. As for third party programs see this list for compatibility with 10.7 http://roaringapps.com/apps:table
Also Lion doesn't run any Power PC programs. To see if you have any Power PC programs go to the Apple in the upper left corner and select About This Mac, then click on More Info. When System Profiler comes up select Applications under Software. Then look under Kind to see if any of your applications are listed as Power PC. Universal and Intel will run under Lion.
Before Mac switched to Intel processors they used Power PC processors from 1994 to 2005. Power PC 601 through 604, G3, G4 and G5. Applications written for the Power PC processors need the application called Rosetta to run on Intel processors. This was part of the Operating System in 10.4 and 10.5 but was an optional install in 10.6. With 10.7 Lion Apple dropped all support for Power PC applications. -
2006 a1150 MacBook Pro 10.5.8 leopard. Can I upgrade to Snow Leopard and then Mountain Lion?
My daughter has 2006 A1150 MacBook Pro with the following listed under "About this Mac" : Mac OS X 10.5.8 Leopard, Processor: 2 GHz intel core duo, Memory: 2 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
Can we upgrade to Mountain Lion, after Snow Leopard, with this model and op system? Thank You.If this is your MacBook Pro, it has only a Core Duo processor, and the highest Mac OS X it can run is 10.6.8:
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/specs/macbook_pro_2.16.html -
I just upgraded from 10.5 to Snow Leopard and now my Flash Player won't upgrade. What do I do?
I get the message that the plug-in was blocked. Do I need to upgrade something else?
Check System Preferences->Flash Player and check the settings and the installed version. 12.0.0.38 is the latest.
-
Help,
I have a MacBook Pro and would like to upgrade the OS.
My system is 2-3 years old and came with Leopard -
It is up to date with Version 10.5.8 and has a 2.5 GHZ Intel Core 2 duo processor
I have 4GB 667MHZ DDR2 SDRAM memory.
I want to update to Snow Leopard and then maybe Lion.....
It appears my systems is to old to update online. So where can I buy a Snow Leopard disk/s. My local Best Buy does not carry the disk update anymore. Where can I get the disk?
Not to happy with my MAC right now ............. It seems to be poorly supported by APPLE. Am I missing something ?
JimmyYou apparently missed my response.
It can also be found by entering "Store" under the Apple home page, and typing "snow leopard" in the search window. -
I just upgraded my MAC from OSX 10.5.8 to Snow Leopard and then to Mountain Lion 10.8.2. When I try to access my Microsoft Office for MAC (2004 edition) files I am getting a message "can't open Office because Power PC applications are no longer supported. How can I access all of my save Word documents? I just want to be able to retrieve all of my documents that were in Microsoft Office for Mac (2004). If I purchase the newest version of MS office for Mac from Apple will I be able to retrieve my old documents?
Use any number of free alternatives to your nearly decade old version of MS Office.
Consider
LibreOffice (donation-supported)
NeoOffice (free)
OpenOffice (free)
In addition to the above I also recommend Apple's Pages ($19.99). I use OpenOffice and Pages and have been completely Microsoft - free for years. Life is better without Microsoft. -
We need to upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard and then on up the chain. How?
We have an old MacBook running Leopard (10.5.8). Can we upgrade to Snow Leopard and then add others gradually untill we get to the newest version? If so, were can we find a copy of Snow Leopard?
Before embarking on a major OS upgrade, it would be wise, advisable and very prudent if you backup your current system to an external connected and Mac formatted Flash drive OR externally connected USB, Thunderbolt or FireWire 800, Mac formatted hard drive. Then, use either OS X Time Machine app to backup your entire system to the external drive OR purchase, install and use a data cloning app, like CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper, to make an exact and bootable copy (clone) of your entire Mac's internal hard drive. This step is really needed in case something goes wrong with the install of the new OS or you simply do not like the new OS, you have a very easy way/procedure to return your Mac to its former working state.
Then, determine if your Mac meets ALL minimum system install requirements.
To install Yosemite, you need one of these Macs:
iMac (Mid-2007 or later)
MacBook (13-inch Aluminum, Late 2008), (13-inch, Early 2009 or later)
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid-2009 or later),
MacBook Pro (15-inch or 17-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or later)
MacBook Air (Late 2008 or later)
Mac mini (Early 2009 or later)
Mac Pro (Early 2008 or later)
Xserve (Early 2009)
Your Mac also needs:
OS X Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion, or Snow Leopard v10.6.8 already installed
2 GB or more of memory (I strongly advise, at least, 4 GBs of RAM or more)
8 GB or more of available space
Next,
If you run any older Mac software from the earlier PowerPC Macs, then none of this software will work with the newer OS X versions (10.7 and onward). OS X Snow Leopard had a magical and invisible PowerPC emulation application, called Rosetta, that worked seamlessly in the background that still allowed older PowerPC coded software to still operate in a Intel CPU Mac.
The use of Rosetta ended with OS X Snow Leopard as the Rosetta application was licensed to Apple, from a software company called Transitive, which got bought out, I believe, by IBM and Appe could no longer secure their rights to continue to use Rosetta in later versions of OS X.
So, you would need to check to see if you have software on your Mac that maybe older than, say, 2006 or older.
Also, check for app compatibilty here.
http://roaringapps.com/
If you have any commercial antivirus installed and/or hard drive cleaning apps installed on your Mac, like MacKeeper, CleanMyMac, TuneUpMyMac, MacCleanse, etc. now would be a good time to completely uninstall this apps by doing a Google search to learn how to properly uninstall these types of apps.
These types of apps will only cause your Mac issues later after the install of the new OS X version and you will have to completely uninstall these types of apps later.
Once you have determined all of this, you should be able to find the latest version of OS X Yosemite by clicking on the Mac App Store icon in the OS X Dock and then login to the Mac App Store using your Apple ID and password.
You can then begin the download and installation process of installing OS X 10.10 Yosemite from the Mac App Store.
Good Luck! -
Can't play long voice memo after upgrading from Tiger OS to Snow Leopard OS
I have a voice memo that's 1.5 hrs long saved on my computer that I used to be able to play in iTunes & Quicktime, but ever since I upgraded from Tiger OS to Snow Leopard OS, the file will not play anymore. I tried installing quicktime 7 from the snow leopard optional installs but the file still didn't play. I also installed the VLC player which opened the file, but only played 7 minutes of it. When I try to open the file in quicktime it says that it can't play the file and that it is not a movie file, but my file is saved as a ".mov" file. Does anyone know how I can get the file to play again?
I have a voice memo that's 1.5 hrs long saved on my computer that I used to be able to play in iTunes & Quicktime, but ever since I upgraded from Tiger OS to Snow Leopard OS, the file will not play anymore. I tried installing quicktime 7 from the snow leopard optional installs but the file still didn't play. I also installed the VLC player which opened the file, but only played 7 minutes of it. When I try to open the file in quicktime it says that it can't play the file and that it is not a movie file, but my file is saved as a ".mov" file. Does anyone know how I can get the file to play again?
-
I have never done this before, so can someone explain in detail how I reintall my system software and then restore from Time Machine please ?
Your profile indicates that you currently have an older version of Snow Leopard (10.6.2). In order to install Lion, a prerequisite is the latest version of Snow Leopard (10.6.8). Perhaps a few more details would be helpfull in solving your problem. ex. If all you want to do is to upgrade to Lion, a restoration of data is unneccessary. Download the latest version of Snow Leopard and then download (purchase) and install Lion. User data will remain intact.
If I am missing something, please elaborate.
Ciao. -
HELP!! i have a ton of videos of my boys stored in iPhoto..They played fine on my old OSX system (leopard). However, I just upgraded to snow leopard and then to mountain lion and now i can't open my videos at all anymore. HELP!!
Can you tell us about one or more of the video files - what are they? QuickTime? MP4? Something else? How did you create the video files in the first place?
I do a lot of video and when I upgraded to Snow Leopard I discovered that many of the QT videos that I had created previously (via iMovie & Final Cut) would not play correctly in QuickTime X - the bizarre behavior was that QT X acted as if my video files were only audio files! I reported this to Apple at the time but never heard anything back, and there hasn't been any change in later updates to QT X.
The solution was to (re)install QuickTime 7. But first look in your Applications > Utilities folder. When you upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard, the installer normally moves the old QT 7 program to your Utilities folder. If it's there, try using QT 7 to play one of your video files. If QT 7 is not there, you can download and install it from here Make sure you are running at least OS X 10.6.3 before you install QT 7. It's even better if you make sure you are running 10.6.8 which was the last release of Snow Leopard. -
I'm thinking of upgrading from v10.6.8 Snow Leopard to OS X Yosemite. I know, I'm years behind, but it has become a necessity. My Mac is becoming slow and is incompatible with many softwares and websites. Does anyone know of any problems associated with this upgrade? What are the implications and/or consequences of installing Yosemite? Does it effect functionality of v10.6.8 software or hardware? Are there any precautions I should take before the installation? I have read some posts about Macs slowing right down after installing Yosemite. Any insights and information (in layman's terms please!) would be very useful. Thanks.
Huge thanks for your response Michel. I apologise for the delay in getting back to you. I have done as you suggested, the details are pasted below. Clearly there are some applications I need to remove and no doubt my HD could do with a 'spring clean'. My Mac 'Safe Booted' when I turned it on this morning.
I use many different softwares, some web-based. The decision to upgrade to OSX Yosemite is because I was unable to attend a Webinar this week using GoToMeeting downloadable software. GoToMeeting have upgraded their system and my OS is no longer supported. Other websites like VImeo no longer support my version of Safari. I tend to use Chrome if Safari isn't compatible.
Problem description:
I'm thinking of upgrading from v10.6.8 Snow Leopard to OS X Yosemite. However I have noticed that my MacBook Pro becoming ‘slow’ over the last 3 weeks and therefore might have some issues that need to be resolved before I even consider installing OSX Yosemite. Over the last week my Mac has Safe Booted on three occasions, so clearly there’s a ‘glitch’ occurring.
EtreCheck version: 2.1.1 (104)
Report generated 6 December 2014 10:21:01 GMT
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,2
1 2 GHz Intel Core i7 CPU: 4-core
4 GB RAM
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
AMD Radeon HD 6490M - VRAM: 256 MB
Color LCD 1440 x 900
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
System Software: ℹ️
Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549) - Uptime: 0:35:42
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HTS545050B9A302 disk0 : (465.76 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
- (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 499.76 GB (236.21 GB free)
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS31N
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Microsoft Microsoft® Nano Transceiver v2.0
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Configuration files: ℹ️
/etc/launchd.conf - Exists
Adware: ℹ️
Geneio [Remove]
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.flipvideo.IOUSBCameraMassStorage (1.0.1) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouse (8.2) [Support]
/System/Library/Extensions/MicrosoftMouse.kext/Contents/PlugIns
[not loaded] com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouseBluetooth (8.2) [Support]
[loaded] com.microsoft.driver.MicrosoftMouseUSB (8.2) [Support]
Startup Items: ℹ️
HWNetMgr: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWNetMgr
HWPortDetect: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HWPortDetect
Startup items are obsolete in OS X Yosemite
Problem System Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[not loaded] org.samba.winbindd.plist [Support]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[running] com.flipvideo.FlipShare.AutoRun.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Support]
[running] com.trusteer.rapport.rapportd.plist [Support]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Support]
[running] com.flipvideo.FlipShareServer.launchd.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.google.keystone.daemon.plist [Support]
[running] com.trusteer.rooks.rooksd.plist [Support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Support]
[failed] [email protected] [Details]
[invalid?] com.citrixonline.GoToMeeting.G2MUpdate.plist [Support]
[loaded] com.genieo.completer.download.plist Adware! [Remove]
[loaded] com.genieo.completer.update.plist Adware! [Remove]
User Login Items: ℹ️
None
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
o1dbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
Google Earth Web Plug-in: Version: 7.1 [Support]
OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.3.6 [Support]
RealPlayer Plugin: Version: Unknown
AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.12 [Support]
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.239 - SDK 10.6 [Support]
iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0 - SDK 10.7
googletalkbrowserplugin: Version: 5.38.6.0 - SDK 10.8 [Support]
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.6.6
AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.12 [Support]
CANONiMAGEGATEWAYDL: Version: 2.1.0.1 [Support]
CANONiMAGEGATEWAYLI: Version: 2.1.0.1 [Support]
EPPEX Plugin: Version: 3.0.5.0 [Support]
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: 13.9.8 - SDK 10.6 Check version
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
BrowserPlus_2.9.8: Version: 2.9.8 [Support]
CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.105 [Support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
Omnibar Adware! [Remove]
My eBay Manager
Add To Amazon Wish List
Audio Plug-ins: ℹ️
iSightAudio: Version: 7.6.6
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
3ivx MPEG-4 [Support]
BrowserPlus [Support]
Flash Player [Support]
Microsoft Mouse [Support]
Perian [Support]
Trusteer Endpoint Protection [Support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine information requires OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later.
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
26% Safari
2% WindowServer
2% activitymonitord
1% PluginProcess
0% WebProcess
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
405 MB WebProcess
301 MB Safari
125 MB Mail
116 MB rapportd
116 MB mds
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
1.02 GB Free RAM
1.78 GB Active RAM
429 MB Inactive RAM
1.07 GB Wired RAM
422 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Diagnostics Information: ℹ️
Dec 6, 2014, 09:45:53 AM Self test - passed
Dec 5, 2014, 11:49:18 PM QTKitServer_2014-12-05-234918_[redacted].crash
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