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Upgrade 10.5.8 to Yosemite

mgpg89

mgpg89

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 31, 2008
970
16
Belgium
I found an old MacBook Pro that has 10.5.8 installed and would like to upgrade to Yosemite.
What's the fastest, most hassle-free way to do so?

I already created a bootable Yosemite installer (USB thumb drive), but this wouldn't work.
 
mgpg89 said:
I already created a bootable Yosemite installer (USB thumb drive), but this wouldn't work.
Click to expand...
What does "wouldn't work" mean?
Exactly which computer do you have? Not every MacBook Pro can run Yosemite.
 
mgpg89 said:
I found an old MacBook Pro that has 10.5.8 installed and would like to upgrade to Yosemite.
What's the fastest, most hassle-free way to do so?

I already created a bootable Yosemite installer (USB thumb drive), but this wouldn't work.
Click to expand...
Yeah, first make sure your computer is compatible. These Mac models are compatible with OS X Yosemite:
  • iMac (Mid 2007 or newer)
  • MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)
  • MacBook Pro (Mid/Late 2007 or newer)
  • MacBook Air (Late 2008 or newer)
  • Mac mini (Early 2009 or newer)
  • Mac Pro (Early 2008 or newer)
  • Xserve (Early 2009)
More information here.

Are you sure you are running 10.5.8? Because then you seem to be running Leopard. You first need to update to OS X Snow Leopard (v10.6.8). If you don't have a copy of Snow Leopard you need to buy it and then you can install Yosemite.

At least that's how it works when using the Mac App Store. If you are trying to install from a thumb drive then I don't know what's going on.
 
Last edited:
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It's a 2009 MacBook Pro, so it's supported.
The thumb drive I made won't work because "the architecture isn't supported" (crappy translation probably)

So first upgrade to Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Yosemite, is that right?
If so, can I upgrade to SL using a thumb drive?
 
mgpg89 said:
It's a 2009 MacBook Pro, so it's supported.
The thumb drive I made won't work because "the architecture isn't supported" (crappy translation probably)

So first upgrade to Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Yosemite, is that right?
If so, can I upgrade to SL using a thumb drive?
Click to expand...
I don't know if you can upgrade to SL that way, you'll have to ask someone else. As far as I know SL only comes in DVD's.

I'm just guessing here but I don't see why you couldn't install Yosemite directly from Leopard. You only need SL in order to install the Mac App Store and then being able to download and install a newer version of OS X but you already have a newer version.

You should search around for more information or wait and see if someone knows more about this.
 
mgpg89 said:
It's a 2009 MacBook Pro, so it's supported.
The thumb drive I made won't work because "the architecture isn't supported" (crappy translation probably)

So first upgrade to Snow Leopard and then upgrade to Yosemite, is that right?
If so, can I upgrade to SL using a thumb drive?
Click to expand...

It sounds like the error you are getting is the installer that was created is for PowerPC architecture.
How did you make the USB thumb driver installer? Did you do it like this: http://www.macworld.com/article/2023548/dvd-less-snow-leopard-installation-on-older-mac.html
 
mgpg89 said:
Apparently, Yosemite can only be installed on machines w/ Snow Leopard (or higher).
So I installed SL with a thumb drive and am currently downloading Yosemite via MAS.

Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

Glad I was able to help.
 
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