I currently have El Capitan installed and wish to upgrade to Sierra. I currently have a few older applications with licence numbers installed which I would like to continue using on Sierra. I am unable to obtain the original installation software for these as they are so out of date. Is there any way I can transfer the installed applications directly onto the new hard drive. I really would like to do a clean install, but the loss of these applications is preventing me doing so. Would appreciate any assistance.
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transferring applications onto new Hard drive
- Thread starter Jewels53
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If you have a USB drive you could use to transfer the files, then you may have a chance. If so, plug it into your old Mac, and copy the files from the Mac to the USB. Once you have your new Hard Drive up and running, plug the USB back into your Mac and copy the files from the USB to the Mac. If that does not work, than you could try to use a time machine backup to save your files. Then retrieve them using your Apple ID on your new Mac. Hope this helps. Cheers.
Are you SURE that these old programs will work with Sierra? Worst case scenario, and you do not have a clone to go back to, your old programs might be dead in the water after the upgrade.
As to "new drive", looking to do some sort of dual boot? Or replacing the existing HDD with an SSD? Could alway put the new drive into an enclosure (or simply cable it, if have cable kit), clone existing drive to new. Install Sierra to the new drive. Boot the new drive and see if things work. If things do not work, have not destroyed anything on the primary.
Re: copying the app files around: might work, might not. Many programs tend to be self-contained, however, some install libraries, license keys, extensions, launch agents/daemons, etc., and those might be installed in various places (/Library, /System/Library sub-folders).
Might be best to stay on El Cap and just clone to the new drive and install that.
As to "new drive", looking to do some sort of dual boot? Or replacing the existing HDD with an SSD? Could alway put the new drive into an enclosure (or simply cable it, if have cable kit), clone existing drive to new. Install Sierra to the new drive. Boot the new drive and see if things work. If things do not work, have not destroyed anything on the primary.
Re: copying the app files around: might work, might not. Many programs tend to be self-contained, however, some install libraries, license keys, extensions, launch agents/daemons, etc., and those might be installed in various places (/Library, /System/Library sub-folders).
Might be best to stay on El Cap and just clone to the new drive and install that.
OP wrote:
"I currently have El Capitan installed and wish to upgrade to Sierra. I currently have a few older applications with licence numbers installed which I would like to continue using on Sierra. I am unable to obtain the original installation software for these as they are so out of date.."
My advice is simple:
Stay where you are, unless you are willing to risk "breaking what you have".
If the install you have now "works for you" -- well, don't mess with it.
There really isn't much more to say.
However, I will make a suggestion.
If you try this, you don't "endanger" ANYTHING on your current install.
And it -might- work.
You must follow these instructions carefully.
1. You'll need an external drive (can be HDD or SSD)
2. You'll need CarbonCopyCloner (free to download and use for 30 days):
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
3. Initialize the external drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
4. Use CCC to clone the contents of your INTERNAL drive to the external drive.
5. Now, BOOT UP from the external drive (it will "look just like" your internal drive, you go to the Apple menu and choose "about this Mac" to see that you're actually booted up from it.)
6. Try your old apps to see if they still run. Check every one. Do they run?
7. If yes, you can now try updating the EXTERNAL drive to Low Sierra. And then, see what it does for the apps. Be careful -- don't install to your internal drive!
The reason you want to do it this way:
If the upgrade "breaks the apps", you can just erase it and go back to your El Cap install...
"I currently have El Capitan installed and wish to upgrade to Sierra. I currently have a few older applications with licence numbers installed which I would like to continue using on Sierra. I am unable to obtain the original installation software for these as they are so out of date.."
My advice is simple:
Stay where you are, unless you are willing to risk "breaking what you have".
If the install you have now "works for you" -- well, don't mess with it.
There really isn't much more to say.
However, I will make a suggestion.
If you try this, you don't "endanger" ANYTHING on your current install.
And it -might- work.
You must follow these instructions carefully.
1. You'll need an external drive (can be HDD or SSD)
2. You'll need CarbonCopyCloner (free to download and use for 30 days):
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
3. Initialize the external drive to HFS+ with journaling enabled.
4. Use CCC to clone the contents of your INTERNAL drive to the external drive.
5. Now, BOOT UP from the external drive (it will "look just like" your internal drive, you go to the Apple menu and choose "about this Mac" to see that you're actually booted up from it.)
6. Try your old apps to see if they still run. Check every one. Do they run?
7. If yes, you can now try updating the EXTERNAL drive to Low Sierra. And then, see what it does for the apps. Be careful -- don't install to your internal drive!
The reason you want to do it this way:
If the upgrade "breaks the apps", you can just erase it and go back to your El Cap install...
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[doublepost=1515316121][/doublepost]Many thanks for all your suggestions. Will consider and try them all, if need be. I really want to do a clean install to Sierra. I have a time capsule, which I used to transfer all my files when I upgraded to El Capitan, but of course all the rubbish accompanied them. Is there any way I can select the few old programs I need and transfer over via Time Capsule? I could not find a way to do this, if I could my problem would be solved. My other thought was to use "Find Any File" on one old program (there does not appear to be too many files and appear to be in the Library/System etc) and take these and place in the same Library/System folders when I've installed Sierra. Would that work ?
The only other alternative I can think of which would be reliable is to use Time Capsule to transfer all the apps over and then delete the ones I do not use any more. However, can one transfer just applications via Time Capsule when upgrading the OS ?
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