Installing and Upgrading

Herta Nava

IT/LOCALIZATION CONSULTANT & AUTHOR

@hertanava www.actuallymagazine.net

Overview

Minimum hardware requirements

Prepare for the upgrade/installation
Prepare the system disk (partitions)
Acquire the installer
Install
Troubleshooting

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Mac OS X v10.6.8 or later

2GB of memory
8.8GB of available space
Some features require
- An Apple ID
- Internet service
Compatible Mac model

Compatible Mac Model

MacBook

MacBook

MacBook Pro

Early 2015

Late 2008 Aluminum

or
Early 2009 or newer

Mid/Late 2007 or
newer

Compatible Mac Model

MacBook Air

Mac mini

iMac

Late 2008 or newer

Early 2009 or newer

Mid 2007 or newer

Compatible Mac Model

http://support.apple.com/specs/

Mac Pro

Xserve

Early 2008 or newer

Early 2009

www.apple.com/osx/how-to-upgrade

Prepare for the Upgrade/Installation

Four Critical Steps Before Installing OS X

1. Verify app compatibility

2. Back up

3. Document critical settings

4. Install Apple software and

firmware updates

Four Critical Steps Before Installing OS X

1. Verify app compatibility

2. Back up

OS X Leopard v.10.5 or later

TIME MACHINE

Four Critical Steps Before Installing OS X

1. Verify app compatibility

3. Document critical settings

2. Back up

Four Critical Steps Before Installing OS X

1. Verify app compatibility

2. Back up

3. Document critical settings

4. Install Apple software and

firmware updates

Firmware
Firmware is a low level software that facilitates
startup and management of system hardware.
(White & Davisson, OS X Support Essentials 10.11)

How can I know if a Mac

requires a firmware update?

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You would need to identify your firmware version by

opening the full system report in the System
Information, also previously known as System
Profiler.

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Then, you can verify if the Mac firmware needs to be

updated by visiting the Apple Support website,
which shows all the available firmware updates.

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Boot ROM Version

Is the extensible Firmware Interface or EFI, responsible
for general hardware management and system startup.
(White & Davisson, OS X Support Essentials 10.11)

SMC Version
Is the System Management Controller or SMC, which
takes care of hardware management power and cooling.
(White & Davisson, OS X Support Essentials 10.11)

Apple does not support upgrading from

any version prior to Snow Leopard v10.6.8.

Prepare the System Disk

Partitions GUID Partition Map

Boot OS X
Extra Volume

Recovery HD
Volume

Macintosh HD
OS X Extended
(Journaled)

Partitioning Options
Single

Multiple

It is a disk formatted with a

single system volume that
occupies the entire space on
the disk.

Multiple-partition requires
repartitioning during the setup
process.

This is the default OS X

partition configuration.

This provides several partitions,

which can be used to keep user
data in a different volume, and
also to host multiple operating
systems.

Single Partition
Advantages

Disadvantages

Common

Limited
flexibility

Efficient

Limited
maintenance

Multiple Partitions
Advantages

Disadvantages

Boot Camp cannot add more partitions to a

multiple partition disk.
FileVault encrypts only the volume where
the system resides.
Fusion Drive cannot use fast flash storage
in volumes with additional partitions to the
system volume.

Acquire the Installer

How can I obtain the

installer?

Very simple!
You can download it from
the Mac App Store.

El Capitan is a free
upgrade if you have Snow
Leopard 10.6.8 or later.

Download for
Snow Leopard
v10.6.8 or later

Requires
- Fast Internet connection
- Installer is around 6GB
- Apple ID for Mac App Store

Apple does not support upgrading from

any version prior to Snow Leopard v10.6.8.

Install

Installation Scenarios

Upgrade

Clean or New Installation

Upgrade

Snow Leopard
v10.6.8 or later

Snow Leopard
v10.6.8 or later

No changes to the
disk structure or
partitions

Disk structure or
partitions will be
changed

Version prior to
Snow Leopard
v10.6.8

Clean or New Installation

Snow Leopard
v10.6.8 or later

Version prior to
Snow Leopard
v10.6.8

Clean or New Installation

Use an
install disk
Use a
recovery
partition,
disk or USB

Different
destination
disk

Snow
Leopard
v 10.6.8
or later

Troubleshooting

Get Info for Troubleshooting

DURING

AFTER

Window

Application

Installer log

Utilities
Console

Minimum hardware requirements

Demo

Prepare for the upgrade/installation

Prepare the system disk (partitions)
Acquire the installer
Upgrade
Clean install
Info to troubleshoot

Upgrade
(No changes
to the disk
structure)

Prerequisites:
- Snow Leopard v10.6.8 or later
- Apple ID

Upgrade

Upgrade

Upgrade

Upgrade

Clean Install
(Single partition)

Prerequisites:
- El Capitan installer
- An install disk

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Clean Installation

Minimum hardware requirements

Summary

Prepared for installation:

- Four critical steps
Prepare the system disk:
- Single/multiple partition
Acquire the installer
Upgrade and clean install
Troubleshooting info
- During and after

Coming Next
Initial Configuration