Upgrading from 10.8.5

[skier777]

Is there anything I should know or any steps that I should take before I upgrade? I haven't done it in years and just need to bite the bullet and do it.

I have a backup on my system on a external HDD and i pulled my harddrive for an SSD fairly recently.

 

[MrNomNoms]

Personally I would back up your files (manually copy them to your external HDD) then do a clean install - too many things that can go wrong when you're making a leap from quite an old version.

 

[Ebenezum]

I would recommend first checking that all software you use is compatible. Also it would be a good idea to search for El Capitan bugs and see if any are reported that impact your use.

Furthermore 10.11.4 should be released in the near future (possible in this month) so you might want to wait for it if have no rush...

Consider installing 10.11 in a external drive first, that way you can test everything and if you have problems you can simply boot into internal 10.8.5 and not waste time restoring everything from backup (needles to say you want at least 1 clone no matter how you decide to install 10.11). Use Disk Utility, SuperDuper! (basic version is free to use), Carbon Copy Cloner or other such software.

 

[KALLT]

Just check whether your third-party applications are still supported by El Capitan. Other than that: upgrade away.

 

[Riwam]

Is there anything I should know or any steps that I should take before I upgrade? I haven't done it in years and just need to bite the bullet and do it.

I have a backup on my system on a external HDD and i pulled my harddrive for an SSD fairly recently.

**********
As others suggested in such cases (and I modestly did it as well), trying first the upgrade in a bootable clone drive of your entire system including all the software important to you, is the safer way.
Just accept that an external clone will not be as fast as your internal drive, which is normal.

Then work a bit with that upgraded clone and check for your feeling with it and for problems which might appear.
In my case a few applications did not work, meaning in some cases to have to spend money in newer versions or alternatives.
Some new applications or updates one must install in such cases are free or at least cheap, others however are expensive.

The suggestion you received to check posts for bugs in El Capitan won't help you though.
Every OS shows bugs and what counts for you are those affecting your system and not those affecting others.
After reading many posts about problems in El Capitan everyone will soon discover that they are much dependent on the hardware and the software of those complaining. What works fine for some users causes problems to others and the opposite is also true.

Good luck!
Ed

 

[Fishrrman]

The most important step you can take BEFORE you attempt an upgrade is to create a BOOTABLE CLONED BACKUP on an external drive using either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper.

With a bootable clone of your old OS, it makes it very easy to "get back to where you once belonged" if things don't go right with the upgrade process.

Just boot from the clone, erase your internal drive, and RE-clone from the backup...