To get the latest features and maintain the security, stability, compatibility and performance of your Mac, it's important to keep your software up to date. Apple recommends that you always use the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

This video is about how to upgrade an old system to a better system on mac, for old mac's like 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. We choose El Capitan OS X becau.

• Go to Section 4 and click on Get Mac OS X El Capitan, this will download a.dmg file which you then double-click to start the installation. After El Capitan is installed then you can upgrade to Catalina, but if you are not aware yet Catalina does not run 32bit apps.
• Keep getting stuck on 'Installing on 'Macintosh HD' and 'About 24 minutes remaining' for an hour or two, then it comes up with something like 'It was not possible to install El Capitan', which I'm fully aware; however it doesn't seem to give me any obvious option to revert to OS X 10.6.8.

Learn how to upgrade to macOS Big Sur, the latest version of macOS.

Check compatibility

The version of macOS that came with your Mac is the earliest version it can use. For example, if your Mac came with macOS Big Sur, it will not accept installation of macOS Catalina or earlier.

If a macOS can't be used on your Mac, the App Store or installer will let you know. For example, it may say that it's not compatible with this device or it's too old to be opened on this version of macOS. To confirm compatibility before downloading, check the minimum hardware requirements:

• macOS Catalina 10.15 hardware requirements
• macOS Mojave 10.14 hardware requirements
• macOS High Sierra 10.13 hardware requirements
• macOS Sierra 10.12 hardware requirements
• OS X El Capitan 10.11 hardware requirements
• OS X Yosemite 10.10 hardware requirements

Download macOS using Safari on your Mac

Safari uses these links to find the old installers in the App Store. After downloading from the App Store, the installer will open automatically.

• macOS Catalina 10.15 can upgrade Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite or Mavericks
• macOS Mojave 10.14 can upgrade High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks or Mountain Lion
• macOS High Sierra 10.13 can upgrade Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks or Mountain Lion

Safari will download the following older installers as a disk image named InstallOS.dmg or InstallMacOSX.dmg. Open the disk image, then open the .pkg installer inside the disk image. It will install an app named Install [Version Name]. Open that app from your Applications folder to start installing the operating system.

• macOS Sierra 10.12 can upgrade El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion or Lion
• OS X El Capitan 10.11 can upgrade Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion or Snow Leopard
• OS X Yosemite 10.10can upgrade Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion or Snow Leopard

Upgrading to El Capitan

You can upgrade to El Capitan from Lion or directly from Snow Leopard. El Capitan can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for FREE.

Upgrading to El Capitan

To upgrade to El Capitan you must have Snow Leopard 10.6.8 or Lion installed. Download El Capitan from the App Store. Sign in using your Apple ID. El Capitan is free. The file is quite large, over 5 GBs, so allow some time to download. It would be preferable to use Ethernet because it is nearly four times faster than wireless.

Macs that can be upgraded to OS X El Capitan

1. iMac (Mid 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 7,1 or later

2. MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 5,1 or later

3. MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later

4. MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 2,1 or later

5. Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later

6. Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later

7. Xserve (Early 2009) - Model Identifier 3,1 or later

To find the model identifier open System Profiler in the Utilities folder. It's displayed in the panel on the right.

Are my applications compatible?

See App Compatibility Table - RoaringApps

Note that upgrading to El Capitan is quite possible from Snow Leopard.l Please be sure your model is included in the above and that your computer meets the installation requirements.

If you need to reinstall El Capitan then try:

Reinstall El Capitan Without Erasing the Drive

Boot to the Recovery HD: Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears.

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.

When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility and press the Continue button. After Disk Utility loads select the indented Macintosh HD entry from the the left side list. Click on the First Aid button in the toolbar. Wait until the operation completes, then quit Disk Utility and return to the main menu.

Reinstall OS X: Select Reinstall OS X and click on the Continue button.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless and more reliable.

Os X Lion

If you cannot do the above, then you need to reinstall Snow Leopard and try again:

Reinstall OS X without erasing the drive

1. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions

Boot from your Snow Leopard Installer disc. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say 'Verified' then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is 'Verified' then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the installer.

If DU reports errors it cannot fix, then you will need Disk Warrior and/or Tech Tool Pro to repair the drive. If you don't have either of them or if neither of them can fix the drive, then you will need to reformat the drive and reinstall OS X.

Os X El Capitan Install

2. Reinstall Snow Leopard

If the drive is OK then quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed with reinstalling OS X. Note that the Snow Leopard installer will not erase your drive or disturb your files. After installing a fresh copy of OS X the installer will move your Home folder, third-party applications, support items, and network preferences into the newly installed system.

Os X 10.8 To El Capitan

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

El Capitan Os X Download

Jan 19, 2016 2:20 PM