Mac Os Lion To El Capitan

  

The OS X 10.11 El Capitan upgrade is available only at the Mac App Store, which means if you have versions Snow Leopard 10.6.7, Mavericks, Yosemite, Lion, and Mountain Lion, the Mac App Store already exists on your computer. Visit this Apple Support page to learn more about upgrading your Mac. Note: If you have Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or 10.6 (Snow Leopard), you will need to download OS X El Capitan before you can upgrade to the latest Mac OS. While insecure versions of Firefox will continue to work on OS X 10.8 and earlier, using an up-to-date version of Firefox on a. And no, the Mac does not need to be running the prior release before being able to install OS X 10.11. In other words, you do not need to install OS X Yosemite before updating to OS X El Capitan, you can upgrade directly from OS X Mavericks to OS X El Capitan simply by downloading the installer from the App Store and running it on a compatible Mac.

OS X El Capitan has arrived and there are a few things you should know: The first, what are the installation requirements? And the second, how can you prepare your Mac for OS X El Capitan?

Which Mac models can upgrade to OS X El Capitan?

Mac Os X El Capitan Vs Catalina. Mac OS X Snow Leopard (version 10.6) is the seventh major release of macOS, Apple's desktop and server operating system for Macintosh computers. Snow Leopard was publicly unveiled on June 8, 2009 at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference. With OS X 10.11 El Capitan, Apple continues its annual march to newer, better, more powerful versions of Mac OS X. Best of all, El Capitan runs on the same Macs that support OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, 10.9 Mavericks, or 10.10 Yosemite.

These ones:

iMacMacBook ProMacBook Air
Mid-2007 or newer13-inch, Mid 2009 or newer; 15-inch, Mid/Late 2007 or newer; 17-inch, Late 2007 or newerLate 2008 or newer
MacBookMac Pro®Mac mini
Early 2015Early 2008 or newerEarly 2009 or newer
XserveMacBook®
Early 2009Late 2008 Aluminum,
Early 2009 or newer

Version, Memory, and Space Requirements for El Capitan

OS X Version: Mountain Lion (10.8), most models. Mavericks (10.9) or higher — all models.

How to check it:

  1. Click the Apple icon at the top left of your screen.
  2. Select 'About This Mac.'

The number underneath 'OS X' is your version number.
If you're running a version of OS X older than 10.8, look into upgrading your OS X. Also, Apple notes that Metal is only available on 'all Macs since 2012'.

RAM: 4 GB (preferably 8 GB)

In the same menu you have the 'Memory' tab. If you have less than 4 GB RAM, you'll have to look into upgrading your RAM.

Disk Space: 15 GB to 20 GB of free space on drive

Next to 'Memory,' select 'Storage' tab. In front of the multi-colored bar, you will see the phrase, 'X.XX GB free out of XX.XX GB.' If you don't have at least 15 GB of free space, look into cleaning your Mac with cleanup tool, like CleanMyMac 3.

Dmg

1 Clean Up Your Mac

A fresh OS X needs a fresh Mac. So to begin with, let's take a look at cleaning up a few things. The easiest (and fastest) way to get yourself a cleaner Mac is by running a scan with CleanMyMac 3. It cleans out:

  • System junk
  • Unused apps
  • Large & old files
  • Browser caches
  • iTunes broken downloads
  • Unnecessary extensions
  • Old iOS updates
  • User caches & logs
  • Copies of Mail attachments

Besides cleaning, it speeds up your Mac with maintenance scripts and keeps hardware safe with Health Monitors. Get CleanMyMac 3 now and run a scan to see how much junk you can clean up.

If you have OS X version 10.8, download the previous version, CleanMyMac Classic.

2 Back Up Your Mac

And now that your Mac is clean, you should definitely back it up. Why? You never know what will happen when upgrading your operating system. Plus, it's just good practice to back it up every so often, you know, just in case.

  1. Go to your Applications folder.
  2. Select Time Machine.
  3. 'Select Backup Disk…'
    Note: You may need to first choose to 'Set Up Time Machine.'
  4. Choose where you'd like to store your backup.
  5. An external drive or an Airport Time Capsule is good.
  1. Change the switch, located on the left, from 'OFF' to 'ON.'
  2. To the right, under the name of the storage device, you'll see 'Oldest backup,' 'Latest backup,' and 'Next backup' — Your backup should begin in 5 minutes. If you don't feel like waiting, click the arrow clock icon next to the Date & Time at the top-right of the menu bar and select 'Back Up Now.'

We hope this guide has helped you. Try these mentioned steps and enjoy your quick Mac with OS X El Capitan on it. In any case - start with CleanMyMac 3 to be ready for El Capitan.

So, you’ve decided to download an older version of Mac OS X. There are many reasons that could point you to this radical decision. To begin with, some of your apps may not be working properly (or simply crash) on newer operating systems. Also, you may have noticed your Mac’s performance went down right after the last update. Finally, if you want to run a parallel copy of Mac OS X on a virtual machine, you too will need a working installation file of an older Mac OS X. Further down we’ll explain where to get one and what problems you may face down the road.

Mac Os Lion To El Capitan

A list of all Mac OS X versions

We’ll be repeatedly referring to these Apple OS versions below, so it’s good to know the basic macOS timeline.

Cheetah 10.0Puma 10.1Jaguar 10.2
Panther 10.3Tiger 10.4Leopard 10.5
Snow Leopard 10.6Lion 10.7Mountain Lion 10.8
Mavericks 10.9Yosemite 10.10El Capitan 10.11
Sierra 10.12High Sierra 10.13Mojave 10.14
Catalina 10.15

STEP 1. Prepare your Mac for installation

Given your Mac isn’t new and is filled with data, you will probably need enough free space on your Mac. This includes not just space for the OS itself but also space for other applications and your user data. One more argument is that the free space on your disk translates into virtual memory so your apps have “fuel” to operate on. The chart below tells you how much free space is needed.

Note, that it is recommended that you install OS on a clean drive. Next, you will need enough disk space available, for example, to create Recovery Partition. Here are some ideas to free up space on your drive:

  • Uninstall large unused apps
  • Empty Trash Bin and Downloads
  • Locate the biggest files on your computer:

Go to Finder > All My Files > Arrange by size
Then you can move your space hoggers onto an external drive or a cloud storage.
If you aren’t comfortable with cleaning the Mac manually, there are some nice automatic “room cleaners”. Our favorite is CleanMyMac as it’s most simple to use of all. It deletes system junk, old broken apps, and the rest of hidden junk on your drive.

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.4 - 10.8 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.9 (free version)

Download CleanMyMac for OS 10.10 - 10.14 (free version)

STEP 2. Get a copy of Mac OS X download

Normally, it is assumed that updating OS is a one-way road. That’s why going back to a past Apple OS version is problematic. The main challenge is to download the OS installation file itself, because your Mac may already be running a newer version. If you succeed in downloading the OS installation, your next step is to create a bootable USB or DVD and then reinstall the OS on your computer.

How to download older Mac OS X versions via the App Store


If you once had purchased an old version of Mac OS X from the App Store, open it and go to the Purchased tab. There you’ll find all the installers you can download. However, it doesn’t always work that way. The purchased section lists only those operating systems that you had downloaded in the past. But here is the path to check it:

  1. Click the App Store icon.
  2. Click Purchases in the top menu.
  3. Scroll down to find the preferred OS X version.
  4. Click Download.

This method allows you to download Mavericks and Yosemite by logging with your Apple ID — only if you previously downloaded them from the Mac App Store.

Without App Store: Download Mac OS version as Apple Developer

If you are signed with an Apple Developer account, you can get access to products that are no longer listed on the App Store. If you desperately need a lower OS X version build, consider creating a new Developer account among other options. The membership cost is $99/year and provides a bunch of perks unavailable to ordinary users.

Nevertheless, keep in mind that if you visit developer.apple.com/downloads, you can only find 10.3-10.6 OS X operating systems there. Newer versions are not available because starting Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.7, the App Store has become the only source of updating Apple OS versions.

Purchase an older version of Mac operating system

You can purchase a boxed or email version of past Mac OS X directly from Apple. Both will cost you around $20. For the reason of being rather antiquated, Snow Leopard and earlier Apple versions can only be installed from DVD.

Buy a boxed edition of Snow Leopard 10.6
Get an email copy of Lion 10.7
Get an email copy of Mountain Lion 10.8

The email edition comes with a special download code you can use for the Mac App Store. Note, that to install the Lion or Mountain Lion, your Mac needs to be running Snow Leopard so you can install the newer OS on top of it.

How to get macOS El Capitan download

If you are wondering if you can run El Capitan on an older Mac, rejoice as it’s possible too. But before your Mac can run El Capitan it has to be updated to OS X 10.6.8. So, here are main steps you should take:

1. Install Snow Leopard from install DVD.
2. Update to 10.6.8 using Software Update.
3. Download El Capitan here.

“I can’t download an old version of Mac OS X”

If you have a newer Mac, there is no physical option to install Mac OS versions older than your current Mac model. For instance, if your MacBook was released in 2014, don’t expect it to run any OS released prior of that time, because older Apple OS versions simply do not include hardware drivers for your Mac.

But as it often happens, workarounds are possible. There is still a chance to download the installation file if you have an access to a Mac (or virtual machine) running that operating system. For example, to get an installer for Lion, you may ask a friend who has Lion-operated Mac or, once again, set up a virtual machine running Lion. Then you will need to prepare an external drive to download the installation file using OS X Utilities.

After you’ve completed the download, the installer should launch automatically, but you can click Cancel and copy the file you need. Below is the detailed instruction how to do it.

STEP 3. Install older OS X onto an external drive

The following method allows you to download Mac OS X Lion, Mountain Lion, and Mavericks.

  1. Start your Mac holding down Command + R.
  2. Prepare a clean external drive (at least 10 GB of storage).
  3. Within OS X Utilities, choose Reinstall OS X.
  4. Select external drive as a source.
  5. Enter your Apple ID.

Now the OS should start downloading automatically onto the external drive. After the download is complete, your Mac will prompt you to do a restart, but at this point, you should completely shut it down. Now that the installation file is “captured” onto your external drive, you can reinstall the OS, this time running the file on your Mac.

  1. Boot your Mac from your standard drive.
  2. Connect the external drive.
  3. Go to external drive > OS X Install Data.

Locate InstallESD.dmg disk image file — this is the file you need to reinstall Lion OS X. The same steps are valid for Mountain Lion and Mavericks.

How to downgrade a Mac running later macOS versions

If your Mac runs macOS Sierra 10.12 or macOS High Sierra 10.13, it is possible to revert it to the previous system if you are not satisfied with the experience. You can do it either with Time Machine or by creating a bootable USB or external drive.
Instruction to downgrade from macOS Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS High Sierra

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Mojave

El Capitan Os X Download

Instruction to downgrade from macOS Catalina

Upgrade Mac Os Lion To El Capitan

Before you do it, the best advice is to back your Mac up so your most important files stay intact. In addition to that, it makes sense to clean up your Mac from old system junk files and application leftovers. The easiest way to do it is to run CleanMyMac X on your machine (download it for free here).

Visit your local Apple Store to download older OS X version

How To Update Mac Os X Mountain Lion To El Capitan

If none of the options to get older OS X worked, pay a visit to nearest local Apple Store. They should have image installations going back to OS Leopard and earlier. You can also ask their assistance to create a bootable USB drive with the installation file. So here you are. We hope this article has helped you to download an old version of Mac OS X. Below are a few more links you may find interesting.