I have an iMac 8,1 which still has a huge amount of use left in it but it's got to the point now where in order to make the most out of it, it needs an upgrade. It's running 10.5.8 but apparently in order to upgrade it, I need to first make sure it has Snow Leopard on it. I can't find anywhere to purchase a 10.6 disc from and finding downloads online is drawing a blank too. I want to get it up to at least Mavericks. So... what do I do?
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Upgrade From Leopard to...
- Thread starter dazzer21-2
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Do you have a local friend with a Mac that does support Mavericks? Use their Mac as a "mule" to download the OS and build an install drive, then you can use that to wipe your Mac (I don't believe you'll be able to do an in-place upgrade) and install Mavericks clean. You'll need to back up your data. Unfortunately, the only OS available on the Mac App Store is Sierra so that friend needs to have downloaded it before. This all assumes your Mac is actually on the support list for Mavericks.
You can purchase the Snow Leopard disk from Apple:
https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC573Z/A/mac-os-x-106-snow-leopard
Apple no longer has the Mavericks download available unless you had previously "purchased" (downloaded) it. Your choices for Mavericks are:
Get it from a Mac friend that had previously downloaded it and make a USB installer.
Buy a Mavericks USB installer from Amazon or eBay.
EDIT:
Since the highest OS your iMac supports is El Capitan and not Sierra, Apple does provide a way to get 10.11.6:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206886
I suggest that your best options would be to go to either:
1. 10.6.8 Snow Leopard (installer DVD available from Apple)
or
2. 10.8.5 Mountain Lion (get USB flashdrive from ebay with copy of ML installer on it)
or
3. 10.11.6 El Capitan (get USB flashdrive from ebay with copy of El Cap installer on it)
BE AWARE that with the advent of 10.9 (Mavericks), Apple seems to have re-worked the OS to run its best on Macs that have either SSD's or "fusion drives" in them. Not so much for older Macs with platter-based hard drives.
I realize that "the perception of speed" is a personal issue, and that what I find to be "slow", you may not.
1. 10.6.8 Snow Leopard (installer DVD available from Apple)
or
2. 10.8.5 Mountain Lion (get USB flashdrive from ebay with copy of ML installer on it)
or
3. 10.11.6 El Capitan (get USB flashdrive from ebay with copy of El Cap installer on it)
BE AWARE that with the advent of 10.9 (Mavericks), Apple seems to have re-worked the OS to run its best on Macs that have either SSD's or "fusion drives" in them. Not so much for older Macs with platter-based hard drives.
I realize that "the perception of speed" is a personal issue, and that what I find to be "slow", you may not.