Any issues upgrading from El Capitan to High Sierra?

[mozzatron]

Hi all

I gave my son my old iMac for Christmas (27" mid 2010, 2.8Ghz Intel Core i5, 16GB DDR3 RAM, ATI Radeon HD 5750 1024 MB running El Capitan 10.11.6)

He will mostly use it for playing games (Steam) and MS Office for school homework etc.

We just downloaded a game from Steam but it won't install, saying that it needs OS 10.12 or later.

Just wondering if there would be any issues with us installing High Sierra (which i believe is the latest version of OS i can install on this particular iMac)?

TIA

 

[DeltaMac]

If you are upgrading to High Sierra, and you have the original hard drive, this might be a great opportunity to also upgrade the internal drive to an SSD. The High Sierra system install will change the format of the drive to APFS, and hard drives, especially an older drive, may decide to not like that new format. And, swapping the old hard drive for an SSD will be a noticeable upgrade in speed/responsiveness. Your son will appreciate games that load faster, too...!

Answering your question more directly - upgrading to an SSD will leave your old iMac less likely to have issues after upgrading to High Sierra (and leave you with an obvious speed increase, too )

 

[mozzatron]

If you are upgrading to High Sierra, and you have the original hard drive, this might be a great opportunity to also upgrade the internal drive to an SSD. The High Sierra system install will change the format of the drive to APFS, and hard drives, especially an older drive, may decide to not like that new format. And, swapping the old hard drive for an SSD will be a noticeable upgrade in speed/responsiveness. Your son will appreciate games that load faster, too...!

Answering your question more directly - upgrading to an SSD will leave your old iMac less likely to have issues after upgrading to High Sierra (and leave you with an obvious speed increase, too )

Thanks for the feedback

When you say the current HD may not like the new format, what kind of issues are you referring to?

Any recommendations for a decent SSD upgrade?

I have previously replaced the PSU on this iMac myself so I shouldn’t imagine replacing the HD would be any more difficult than that?

 

[DeltaMac]

iFixit has good steps for replacing the hard drive -

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2390 Hard Drive Replacement

Upgrade your hard drive for more storage space! This guide also includes steps to upgrade your iMac's hard drive with a SSD. It describes how to...

www.ifixit.com

You will see that the hard drive is right next to the power supply.
I like Crucial or Western Digital, but there's lots of choices for SATA SSDs.
You would need a 2.5" - 3.5" adapter of some kind, as the physical size of an SSD is laptop-size.
(I have occasionally simply duck-taped the SSD in place - it's really light! - but I don't know if I should recommend that )
You would also need a solution for a thermal sensor replacement. OWC's is very good, kinda pricey, but does the job.
Looks like it is on sale right now, so cheaper! https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/

What kind of issues, you ask? Hard drives don't always "like" the new APFS format, and it's possible that you might see an older hard drive suddenly slow down, maybe not really noticeable --- or really drag, to the point of annoyance. Might not happen to you, but games can work everything a bit harder, and if the hard drive is on the edge, the reinstall and new format can take its toll, and make the iMac less fun to use. Plus, you've been inside before, so that takes you a step or two ahead of many users... Just some hints (I say to everyone that asks about going inside an iMac), don't rush it, take your time, be careful, there's a handful of connectors that are pretty fragile, etc. (take your time...)

Finally (not related to any hard drive issues), when I open up an iMac that is more than 10 years old (I work with a local PC repair shops as a Mac specialist, just a hobby of mine, I probably open up 15 or 20 iMacs each year.) I always consider replacing the battery on the logic board. That's a real job on your iMac, as the battery is on the back side of the logic board, so the logic board has to be removed. Just something to think about...

 

[mozzatron]

iFixit has good steps for replacing the hard drive -

iMac Intel 27" EMC 2390 Hard Drive Replacement

Upgrade your hard drive for more storage space! This guide also includes steps to upgrade your iMac's hard drive with a SSD. It describes how to...

www.ifixit.com

You will see that the hard drive is right next to the power supply.
I like Crucial or Western Digital, but there's lots of choices for SATA SSDs.
You would need a 2.5" - 3.5" adapter of some kind, as the physical size of an SSD is laptop-size.
(I have occasionally simply duck-taped the SSD in place - it's really light! - but I don't know if I should recommend that )
You would also need a solution for a thermal sensor replacement. OWC's is very good, kinda pricey, but does the job.
Looks like it is on sale right now, so cheaper! https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMACHDD09/

What kind of issues, you ask? Hard drives don't always "like" the new APFS format, and it's possible that you might see an older hard drive suddenly slow down, maybe not really noticeable --- or really drag, to the point of annoyance. Might not happen to you, but games can work everything a bit harder, and if the hard drive is on the edge, the reinstall and new format can take its toll, and make the iMac less fun to use. Plus, you've been inside before, so that takes you a step or two ahead of many users... Just some hints (I say to everyone that asks about going inside an iMac), don't rush it, take your time, be careful, there's a handful of connectors that are pretty fragile, etc. (take your time...)

Finally (not related to any hard drive issues), when I open up an iMac that is more than 10 years old (I work with a local PC repair shops as a Mac specialist, just a hobby of mine, I probably open up 15 or 20 iMacs each year.) I always consider replacing the battery on the logic board. That's a real job on your iMac, as the battery is on the back side of the logic board, so the logic board has to be removed. Just something to think about...

Fantastic, really appreciate your help