Downloading Yosemite from Mac App Store

[zoran]

Hmm guys, well this is how its done!
One must select a free app first and then once selecting it, he gets prompt to either create an ID or sign in using using this own. If he doesn't have an ID, only then, by creating a new one he gets the "None" option for a credit card!
Case solved dear Watson!

 

[zoran]

Now one more thing i want to know is, ok Yosemite install file is downloaded. What are the steps if i want to:
1. make a clean install of Y on my system? do i make it bootable somehow?
2. make an upgrade to SnowL? i suppose i just continue with the launcher?

 

[DeltaMac]

Here's what you can do with that Yosemite installer.

Do not run the installer - yet.
Make a copy of your installer.app somewhere else, so if you have difficulties, you don't need to download the installer again.
Make a bootable drive (separate partition on an external drive, or create a dedicated installer on a flash drive, which is what I have.)
Boot to that installer drive or partition, and then you can decide.

I would do it in your situation by:
Backing up your SL drive.
Boot to the Yose installer, run Disk Utility, and erase the internal hard drive.
Install Yosemite, which will now be clean.
On first restart, the system will ask if you want to migrate from another drive, so do the migration from your external backup that you just completed.
This process may take the longest time, and you'll have everything from your old system, updated to Yosemite, along with the possibility that a few apps will be reported as not-compatible with Yosemite. Take care of those few, if you need to do those replacements for older software, and you are back up and running.

Or, you CAN choose to just upgrade your SL drive. Be safe, and back up your SL drive before you begin.

Apple does have a page that tells you how to make a bootable drive from the installer http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372
Here's another site with the same goal: http://osxdaily.com/2014/10/16/make-os-x-yosemite-boot-install-drive/
Both require some familiarity with the terminal.
But, I use the DiskMakerX app, which makes the process easy.
http://diskmakerx.com

 

[zoran]

Make a copy of your installer.app somewhere else, so if you have difficulties, you don't need to download the installer again.

What kind of difficulties do you have in mind that i might face?

Backing up your SL drive.

You mean back it up in Time Machine?

On first restart, the system will ask if you want to migrate from another drive, so do the migration from your external backup that you just completed.
This process may take the longest time, and you'll have everything from your old system, updated to Yosemite, along with the possibility that a few apps will be reported as not-compatible with Yosemite.

Migrate from the Time Machine drive? Will this give me Time Machines backup history?

 

[DeltaMac]

What kind of difficulties do you have in mind that i might face?

You mean back it up in Time Machine?

Migrate from the Time Machine drive? Will this give me Time Machines backup history?

"difficulties" I mean anything that might happen,
But, I'm not going to list all the possible things that can go wrong. Those things don't usually happen - but you back up anyway, just in case something happens and you can't complete the proper install. You don't want to lose all your "stuff", just because you forgot to make a backup first, eh?

Backup your volume, using the method that works for you. If you already have a Time Machine backup, then you are ahead of the game...
And, of course, migrating from a Time Machine backup will be one of the choices that you are presented with.
Pointless to keep the Time Machine history, because your system (and a lot of the software) is very different. It's a fresh install, so, Time Machine history starts again, along with a fresh Time Machine backup. You're on a new system now!

 

[zoran]

By migrating using the Time Machine backup, is there some reason to go with that option (other than to gaining time from installing apps) if im not gonna be able to get the backup history?

 

[DeltaMac]

By migrating using the Time Machine backup, is there some reason to go with that option (other than to gaining time from installing apps) if im not gonna be able to get the backup history?

I don't quite understand your question...
You are upgrading to a system, with its included software, 4 generations newer than you are using now.
The old backup history is less than useless on the new system. As far as Time Machine (TM) goes, that history starts over with the new system.
There is no requirement that you have to use TM to migrate your files and apps. It's really for your convenience, particularly if you have already been using TM as part of your backup plan. It works well, and the migration generally proceeds with no problems.

 

[zoran]

I don't quite understand your question...
You are upgrading to a system, with its included software, 4 generations newer than you are using now.
The old backup history is less than useless on the new system. As far as Time Machine (TM) goes, that history starts over with the new system.
There is no requirement that you have to use TM to migrate your files and apps. It's really for your convenience, particularly if you have already been using TM as part of your backup plan. It works well, and the migration generally proceeds with no problems.

Im not interested in the backup history of apps and system files, im interested in keeping the saved versions of older files, business files i have, incase i need to go back in time to find older saved versions needed. So if im gonna loose that why not delete everything and install everything from scratch. I know it would take longer but wouldn't it be tidier?

 

[DeltaMac]

Nah.
If the document is unique, it can be old.
That's part of the backup, and would be retained on the new system after the migration.
Unless you are talking about previous versions of saved files.
Then the question that you have to ask yourself - How many occasions have you needed to look at a previous version, back more than just the most recent change?
Now that I ask that, I wonder if the Time Machine keeps version history of your documents, and I'm totally wrong (?), at least in regards to YOUR docs.
You may want to search that out a little.
There's a wealth of good info here http://pondini.org/TM/FAQ.htmlx