Time to upgrade to OSX10.9 or 10.10?

[Raven]

Similar question as posted by Jack W.
I've been waiting too long to upgrade.  
It's a bit slow now in my design business, so now's a good time to do this.

Can I go from 10.6.8 to 10.9ish in ONE step?
OR should I download to OSX10.10?
Frankly, I prefer to stay one OS behind. There always seem to be issues (fonts, apps, peripherals, etc) when I go to the most current OS.
Where do I get OSX10.9 or OSX10.10?

I'm using iMac 24". 8 gb RAM. 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
OSX10.6.8
Epson Perfection 2400 scanner
Lexmark E260dn laser printer
HP OfficejetPro K550

My main apps are:
Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign CS6.
Freehand MX (I know it won't work anymore)
Pages 2.0.2
Keynote 3.0.2
Font Agent Pro 4.140
MS Word 2008

KISS!  

[Xairbusdriver]

The only OS available from the Apple mothership is OS X 10.10. Now that upgrades are free, they only stay with current versions for downloading... unlike some who like to "stay on OS behind" Although it would appear that some are not quite following that advice, either! Review that thread of Jack's and I think you'll find that Mavericks is not available from any reputable source. I do know of one source, but I can't vouch for his reputation...

A couple of your apps make me wonder if you've kept up with some major changes in them. Apple has re-engineered the iWorks suite so that it will work on the iOS. That means a major step backwards in capabilities for all three apps; you just can't expect those tiny, slow, non-desktop-capable CPU's to be able to do what the old versions do.

The worst part of this change is that the new versions will attempt to open any .pages., .keynote, and. numbers file you have IF YOU SIMPLY DOUBLE-CLICK THE FILE! That has been a standard way of opening files (even in Windows) for decades, and it can be a very hard habit to break. What will break you of the habit is when you open a file that way, make an edit (assuming you can even do that in the new app) and then save the file.

What you have just done will always and forever prevent you from using the old apps on that file. Period. You'll hopefully only do this once. And you'll discover the error of your ways immediately, not a few months later after you've "updated" lots of files!

BTW, Pages (old version) is actually at 4.3, Keynote is at 5.3. You can probably still find updates to those versions on-line, probably not at Apple, however.

The good news is that these old versions still work! It can just be a hassle to learn new habits and the occasional, but continuously nagging update notices to the new versions.

Others can help you with your other SW questions.

[Paddy]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 5 2015, 09:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Similar question as posted by Jack W.
I've been waiting too long to upgrade.  
It's a bit slow now in my design business, so now's a good time to do this.

Can I go from 10.6.8 to 10.9ish in ONE step?
OR should I download to OSX10.10?
Frankly, I prefer to stay one OS behind. There always seem to be issues (fonts, apps, peripherals, etc) when I go to the most current OS.
Where do I get OSX10.9 or OSX10.10?

I'm using iMac 24". 8 gb RAM. 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.
OSX10.6.8
Epson Perfection 2400 scanner
Lexmark E260dn laser printer
HP OfficejetPro K550

My main apps are:
Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign CS6.
Freehand MX (I know it won't work anymore)
Pages 2.0.2
Keynote 3.0.2
Font Agent Pro 4.140
MS Word 2008

KISS!  

I'd just go straight to Yosemite. I've got it running on both my Macs (a 2008 Mac Pro, and a 2013 MacBook Pro Retina) with no issues. 8GB of RAM should be ok - and you cannot add more to that iMac, unfortunately.  

Here's a good discussion - someone who did what you're contemplating. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6817896

Adobe CS6 is fine in Yosemite (and I did NOT have to reinstall it - contrary to what one of the posters says in that thread. MS Office 2008 works fine in Yosemite. You'll need to upgrade Pages etc. - as Jim says, Pages 5 and its kin are crippleware. But you can get iWork '09 for a mere $23.99 from Amazon - so that's not a biggie. http://www.amazon.com/Apple-MB942Z-A-iWork-09/dp/B0014X2UAK You will, of course, have to put up with the nagging to update to the new crippled versions - you'll get nagged at least once a day with the updates notifier, unless you turn it off completely (which I don't consider a good thing, since you won't get notifications on OS updates, security updates etc. either, if you do that.)

No idea whether the older version of FontAgentPro will work - the version number isn't listed at http://roaringapps.com (where you can check OS compatibility on most software). The upgrade to the current version is $49.95 and can be downloaded from http://www.insidersoftware.com/FA_pro4_upgrade.php - who, btw, say they do NOT support earlier versions of the software with Yosemite. Not supported and doesn't work are two different things - can't find any info, but didn't spend much time looking. You'll have to Google it.

[jchuzi]

I went from 10.6.8 to 10.10 (migrating, not updating) and had no problem. The only issue with MS Office 2008 (and I don't know if this happens in 10.9) is that I keep being pestered, when I open any Office app, by a message asking if I want to allow or deny incoming connections. It takes less than a second to click Allow and then it doesn't bother me again unless I relaunch the app. At first, I would often get the spinning beachball when clicking Allow but I solved that by uninstalling MS Messenger, which I never use anyway.

[Raven]

jchuzi,
Not sure exactly what you mean by migrating versus updating. Can you explain exactly what you did, please?

Paddy,
Read the apple discussion link you provided. It sounds more complicated than I want. Which makes me wary. I'll digest that info some more and maybe upgrade this weekend. Thanks!

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 6 2015, 10:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jchuzi,

Not sure exactly what you mean by migrating versus updating. Can you explain exactly what you did, please?

Updating would have meant converting my existing version of 10.6 into 10.10 by downloading it and running the installer over my existing installation.*

That was not an option for me because my Mac Pro could not handle any OS higher than 10.7. So, I bought a Retina 5K iMac and transferred all data to it from the Mac Pro. Read Move your content to a new Mac for details. BTW, I ended up using a Firewire 800-Thunderbolt adapter to connect the two Macs after booting the Mac Pro into Target Disk Mode.

*Actually, this refers to upgrading, not updating. Updating means that you change an existing OS into a higher version of the same OS, as in going from 10.6.7 to 10.6.8. Upgrading, on the other hand, means that you change the OS into a completely new OS, as in going from 10.6.x to 10.10.x.

[Paddy]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 6 2015, 10:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

jchuzi,Not sure exactly what you mean by migrating versus updating. Can you explain exactly what you did, please?Paddy,Read the apple discussion link you provided. It sounds more complicated than I want. Which makes me wary. I'll digest that info some more and maybe upgrade this weekend. Thanks!

Raven, there is nothing particularly complicated about it - you download it and install it. The issues the OP in that thread had were nothing to do with the actual OS, but instead things he had installed, like Trusteer, which I gather has something to do with British banking.The important thing is to have a complete backup CLONE, which you can use to revert to 10.6.8 if you have any major issues, and of course, which will protect your data in the very remote chance anything goes terribly wrong. I recommend both a clone (Carbon Copy Cloner, or my weapon of choice, SuperDuper!) AND a TimeMachine backup. You can run them on the same drive in different partitions, though of course, if something happens to the backup drive, you've lost BOTH your backups, so that's not the best approach. Drives are cheap...data, time and effort isn't.

[jchuzi]

Paddy's advice is right on. I always do exactly what she said regarding a SD clone and TM. I have never had an issue with a major system update, but I have had problems with others. To be specific, I updated Epson printer drivers from Apple and my printer refused to print. I might have spent hours troubleshooting, but it was easier to clone back from my SD backup, which only took about 10 minutes.This sort of thing has happened a couple of times and I've always been grateful for being obsessive about backups.

[Raven]

A FEW MORE QUESTIONS:

Don't mean to be too anal about this, but I need to prevent any complications to able to continue to run my design business after I upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.10...

1. I have 2 External Hard Drives - one with Carbon Copy Cloner (380 gb used out of 500 gb).
The other for Time Machine which stopped working a while back. So, I purchased a new Seagate 3 TB EHD. Probably a bit too large for my needs.
Does it matter which EHD I use for TM or CCC?

2.  Because 100s of my graphic files were created in Freehand MX, which won't work in 10.10, is there any way I can keep a OSX10.6.8 on one of the EHD, in case I have to open or work in a FH file? Adobe Illustrator CS6 does now open vector based FH files, but it's not such a user friendly application.

3. If I upgrade to iWork 9, can I load it on 2 devices - iMac and MacBook Pro?

4. How can I check if my scanner and printers will work with 10.10 before I upgrade?

Thanks all!

[jchuzi]

QUOTE(Raven @ May 10 2015, 08:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A FEW MORE QUESTIONS:

Don't mean to be too anal about this, but I need to prevent any complications to able to continue to run my design business after I upgrade from 10.6.8 to 10.10...

1. I have 2 External Hard Drives - one with Carbon Copy Cloner (380 gb used out of 500 gb).
The other for Time Machine which stopped working a while back. So, I purchased a new Seagate 3 TB EHD. Probably a bit too large for my needs.
Does it matter which EHD I use for TM or CCC?

2.  Because 100s of my graphic files were created in Freehand MX, which won't work in 10.10, is there any way I can keep a OSX10.6.8 on one of the EHD, in case I have to open or work in a FH file? Adobe Illustrator CS6 does now open vector based FH files, but it's not such a user friendly application.

3. If I upgrade to iWork 9, can I load it on 2 devices - iMac and MacBook Pro?

4. How can I check if my scanner and printers will work with 10.10 before I upgrade?

Thanks all!

Let's take this one question at a time.

1. Generally, you want lots more space for Time Machine than your main drive has available. Personally, I would maintain a capacity at least twice the main drive for a TM backup. So, go with the new Seagate 3 TB drive.

2. You should be able to boot from your CCC clone and use Freehand MX when you need to. Macs can boot from USB, Firewire and Thunderbolt. If you want to back this up as well, you can create three partitions on the new Seagate to accommodate a TM backup on one partition and a clone of the clone on another, and a clone of 10.10.

3. I can't answer this question about iWork 9.

4. Check the websites of the scanner and printer manufacturers to see if they will work with 10.10. In the meantime, look at this Apple discussion thread about scanners and OS X: Printer and scanner software available for download

[Xairbusdriver]

QUOTE

3. If I upgrade to iWork 9, can I load it on 2 devices - iMac and MacBook Pro?

First, I'd suggest you stop referring to iWorks '09 as an "upgrade". It will probably even confuse Apple! It is actually and technically a degraded version of iWork 4 so it can also run on iDevices. There are fewer features, not more or improved ones.

It is free on any new Mac you buy. I don't think it is included on new OS installers, however. I believe the new versions are $20 each, unless you already have the old versions. However, pricing schemes change every year and I don't know if yours still are recognized as "current owner versions".

More to the point, I don't know of any secret files that would keep you from installing the new versions (bought or free) on as many Apple machines as you want. I believe the iDevice apps are $10 each.

WARNING! Opinion ahead! The absolute ONLY reason I would use the '09 version would be so I could use the iDevice versions also and interchangeably. The question of actually designing anything with them on an iDevice, is completely different, of course. I doubt many would do much creative work on an iPad mini, and certainly not on an iPhone. However, I can see a benefit of being able to demo your work on an iDevice (iPad) while not having to drag around a laptop. Unless/until you want to do that, I would simply avoid version 9 and its iOS siblings. But that's my opinion, and we all know what that's worth!

[Raven]

Xairbusdriver, I won't deal with the iWork issue for the moment.

Right now, I'm trying to connect my new Seagate 3Tb External Hard Drive to make a Time Machine back up. There is supposed to be a DMG icon on my desktop. But there is none. I've rebooted and nothing. Aargh! That's why I hate doing this stuff. :-(
A light was flashing on the unit when first plugged in and now it is a steady light.

The Seagate is a USB 3.0 unit connected to my 24" iMac which have USB 2 ports. Is that the problem?

It's plugged into a USB hub. Is that the problem as the other USB ports on the iMac are being used?
My other EHD is connected via Firewire.

So, how can I get the Seagate to work?

[Raven]

Ignore previous post. Unplugged, replugged and rebooted. Seagate finally showed up on the desktop. Backing everything up first. Back here later! :-)

[Xairbusdriver]

I am assuming that either that is a self-powered USB hub or that there is nothing else connected to it. I am hoping for the former. USB 3 is backwards compatible with 2, but it also means you will get only USB 2 speeds.

Did you partition the drive at all? Although many don't like to do that, it does make more efficient use of all that space. One option would be a 400GB partition for 10.6 and FreeHand (even a smaller partition wold be fine, I think). That would still leave you with 1.5TB of TM backup space. What size is he internal drive you'll be backing up?

[Raven]

Thanks, Xairbusdriver.
Just so I get this straight...

I will partition the Seagate EHD into 2 or 3.
Don't understand why you suggest a Clone of my new 10.10?
Isn't that what the two partitions for TM and CCC will do as back-up and archival purposes?
My other EHD is already a CCC device.

And the 3rd partition is for a clone of my current 10.6.8 working files with its OS? So, I can work on my Freehand files, if needed, as they only work in 10.6.8.
Is there any way to find and just save FH files in this partition? There are 1000s scattered in countless folders.