Looking for advice on upgrading from 10.6.8 (to Mavericks?)

[JayWPage]

I am currently running 10.6.8 on a 2010 MacPro, along with PS CS6, ImagePrint V9.0, Vuescan, numerous plugins, etc, etc. Everything works fine right now, but I'm starting to worry that if I don't upgrade at least to Mavericks, I may have problems in the future. Already Apple is no longer supporting 10.6.8 or the version of Safari that runs on 10.6.8

I was planning to upgrade to Mavericks once the bugs were ironed out last fall but I have been busy with some family matters that came up, and now Mavericks is no longer available for download from the iTunes store. People seem to be having problems with Yosemite, so I'm thinking that I should hold off on it for the time being. Finding a trustworthy site to download Mavericks might be a problem now. Has anyone downloaded from Softonic? They appear to have Mavericks available.

I have multiple drives in my MacPro, so I will do the upgrade on a bootable copy first to test drive the upgrade.

Any advice before I start?

Thanks.

[BobShaw]

You should have no problem if you do some housekeeping first.
1. Take a Time Machine backup of everything.

2. Go Apple Menu, About this Mac, More Info, System Report, Software, Applications.
Anything which says other than Intel or Universal will not work.
Find all of these applications and upgrade them or delete them.
if you have essential applications then you will need to run 10.6 on a window on the Mavericks. Not difficult but something to be aware of.

3. Go through the HD and remove anything which is really old in any of the main Library or user Library folders. You shouldn't need to worry about Apple stuff, just old printers, applications etc. Sort by date is a good way to find really old stuff.

4. Use the Font Book app in the Applications to find faulty or duplicate fonts and repair or delete them.

5. You should be right to go. Good luck.

[Hans Kruse]

What problems are you referring to wrt. Yosemite? I have used Yosemite on my MBP since it came out last year and have had no issues. I use Lightroom and Photoshop CC. Print on an Epson 3880. All photo related software works. Anything also.

[kers]

....
Any advice before I start?

Thanks.

I agree that Apple is good in adding gadgets but seems to forget the basics-
Some problems are still not covered in yosemite ( like WIFI issues)
It took Mavericks till 10.9.5 to work as it should and i had some problems coming from 10.6.8 to get on to the same level i was...

Mavericks has some benefits in the way it uses the RAM. It compresses RAM that you do not need directly with the benefit that you can use more ram than you actually have.
Also it is a more secure system ( for what its worth nowadays)

I would just make a good backup and try the migration manager to get all your stuff over. See if everything works- That is the most easy way.
(I am used to do things the hard way- i start from scratch and migrate everything manually- - but it is not recommended- and takes more time.)
I use Xtrafinder to put the finder tot the next level. It works a lot better this way.
Must say i still like 10.6.8 best for its simplicity ( no socialmedia and cloud bullshit)

[Wayne Fox]

I don’t believe mavericks will be on option in the App store if not installed when available with an Apple ID.  I have a machine here that is running Snow Leopard, and the only OS upgrade available in the App store is Yosemite until I log in with my Apple ID, and look under the purchased tab.

So a couple of things that might work.  Call Apple support, tell them you need to update your OS but some software you need may have issues with Yosemite, so you would like to install Mavericks until those are resolved.  They may provide you a way to access Mavericks through the App store.  I had this very issue with one machine when upgrading and I needed to install Lion first.

If you have some friends that are mac Users that did install Mavericks, you may be able to hook an external hard drive up to their machine and have them install Mavericks on this.  However, rather than installing it on the drive, go through the motions and after it has downloaded and before it installs, just copy the Install OS X Mavericks application from the Applications/Utilities folder to your hard drive. You may even have a friend who has a copy of it already.  (I keep copies of all of these myself).

If you are near an Apple Store or certified Apple dealer, I believe you can take the mac in they can install older versions of the OS.

I suppose you could also download it from one of the many sites offering “pirated” software.  technically illegal but since it was free maybe not so much of an issue, other than can you trust that it hasn’t been modified and contain viruses/key loggers/trojan horses.

All that being said, the main issues with Yosemite are WiFi issues, and some (like me) seeing some sporadic graphic issues.  You may want to just clone your startup drive, and try Yosemite.  If you are one of the few who see some wifi issues, just startup from your clone and re-clone it back. I personally haven’t seen anyone with the wifi issues, and the graphic issues haven’t forced me to downgrade my Mac Pro to Mavericks.

[Hans Kruse]

All that being said, the main issues with Yosemite are WiFi issues, and some (like me) seeing some sporadic graphic issues.  You may want to just clone your startup drive, and try Yosemite.  If you are one of the few who see some wifi issues, just startup from your clone and re-clone it back. I personally haven’t seen anyone with the wifi issues, and the graphic issues haven’t forced me to downgrade my Mac Pro to Mavericks.

I think the WiFi issues is more hearsay than realities. Issues like this get their own life and gets repeated on the forums without anybody even having an issue. Apple did say there was an issue for some, but this does not mean there is an issue now and that it is something to worry about.

[BobShaw]

I would agree with Hans. If you have waited this long on 10.6 then you may as well go all the way to Yosemite. I haven't because Photoshop 5 apparently does not work (although i have CC) and VmWare 6 does not work. Probably about time to go myself as some things are now not being updated for Mavericks.

Whenever you download a new OS make sure you make a USB stick boot disk after downloading and BEFORE updating. Their are instructions for doing this that you need to read first.

[WaitingForAnR10]

In addition to backing up your machine with Time Machine, I'd suggest making a disk image of your main drive using Disk Utility (in the Utilities folder).

Also, to be safe, if you have enough spare disk space, partition your drive and restore the disk image to the new partition, then upgrade that first to see if there are problems.

[JayWPage]

An brief update on my experience with the OS upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.10.2

It went very smoothly, just one error message (about a file missing) that flashed on the screen during the installation, but it doesn't seem to have affected the outcome.

I had to upgrade several programs so they would operate with Yosemite.
   Image Print V9.0 -> 9.0.2.2
   Carbon Copy Cloner 3.5.7 -> 4.0
   and the Epson Printer drivers

So it was fairly easy and painless. Visually Yosemite is a bit different from Snow Leopard, but I can't really say that it's any faster or easier to use.

[keithcooper]

It's a move I made reluctantly, as new software wouldn't work any more.

I documented some of my experiences at: http://www.northlight-images.co.uk/stuff2/?p=2634

I used it as an excuse to put an extra SSD into my Mac Pro, so I could keep the 10.6 boot disk for a while.  A couple of weeks ago I bit the bullet and agreed to update my wife's Mac Pro - a lot of trouble, with USB ports vanishing. Turned out that it was an old wireless card causing the problem. Pulled the wireless card and everything worked fine (OK, some of the changes in usability matters annoyed the hell out of Karen, but that was expected ;-)

[JayWPage]

I made several bootable clones (both internal and external) before I upgraded so I could easily go back if I wanted. I've decided to continue with Yosemite as my primary OS, but I will keep an internal bootable clone of 9.6.8 in my MacPro for the time being to use with some PowerPC programs, such as Rosetta Stone.

When all your hardware and software is working well together you don't like being forced to upgrade in case it sets off a domino effect and you end up having to change everything. Thankfully this went smoothly.

For the time being I am sticking with PS CS6 and I'm happy with my cameras (Sony RX1, RX100), so I can defer any decisions about upgrading PS for now. But that may be another story in a few years time...