I was curious if anyone has successfully kept the same install of macOS since the very first versions going, without any clean installs. Theoretically it should be possible, though there must be a lot of gunk built up in the OS by now. Mostly an academic question, but if anyone has done it I am very interested in seeing how your system is performing. I always do clean installs, so I haven't had the slightest hint of issue from this.
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Has anyone successfully migrated the same OS install since OS X 10.0/10.1?
- Thread starter retta283
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If someone started with 10.0/10.1 they could not get beyond about 10.4. So I am not sure about your thread title.
I used to do annual clean install. But last time was December 2019 on my 2019 iMac. Just done upgrades and updates since then. I am careful about uninstalling apps (I never ever just delete). There is very little gunk. Certainly no active background tasks from uninstalled apps. So I am confident performance is not effected by the ghosts of old apps.
I used to do annual clean install. But last time was December 2019 on my 2019 iMac. Just done upgrades and updates since then. I am careful about uninstalling apps (I never ever just delete). There is very little gunk. Certainly no active background tasks from uninstalled apps. So I am confident performance is not effected by the ghosts of old apps.
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It's somewhat possible. Once the machine cannot run the new OS, you could of just bought a supported one and put the old machine in Target Disk mode and migrated.
Sure it's not an "upgrade", but it's also not a clean install either.
TDM doesn't transfer the OS - at best just files and settings under Migration Assistant.
Even if you could "clone" the OS between two Macs, there would be a block when the Macs use different processor architectures - e.g the PPC to Intel. And I am not confident that PPC Macs had TDM.
I wasn't thinking clearly when I posted this, I had been under the impression that Migration Assistant transferred chunks of the System and Library folders to maintain app functions for your installed apps, but maybe it doesn't. I've never used it, only know some people that have done so in the Intel era.
For what it's worth with regards to direct upgrade, it is definitely possible but in a manner that probably excludes the majority of users. OS X 10.5 installed on a PPC Mac will boot on an Intel Mac, so if you were using the same hard drive it would be possible to continue onwards.
Target Disk mode will work on any PowerPC Mac with FireWire. That would've been an option as well, but perhaps unlikely. I could probably do it just for the heck of it someday.
Edit: Apparently Carbon Copy Cloner also used to be able to handle direct transfer of PPC 10.4 to Intel 10.5.
I read that many with great knowledge highly recommend a clean install, butI have only done it 2-4 times in all my Apple life (since 1987) and that includes Macs as well as all my iOS devices.
I always do it from an abundance of caution, but with Apple systems I don't think it's as crucial. It's one of these pieces of advice from the Windows world, where updating could bring along old, now broken drivers and cause catastrophe on the system. Lots of other weird things cropped up too. I definitely had problems with gunk when XP came out and I tried upgrading, I ended up caving and doing a clean install.