The next day, after more than 20 hours, I still saw the spinning cursor. I thought that maybe it was just a huge download, so I left it on for the night. When I try the update to Yosemite, though, I get the spinning cursor and it stays that way. I first did the 'Software Updates' which was ready in a few minutes. The 'About this Mac' gives me the following information: Learn how to set up Time Machine on your Mac.ħ.I have an old Mac, currently running Mac OS X 10.6.8 'Snow Leopard' that I must upgrade to OS X 10.10 'Yosemite'. Thankfully, Macs include a tool that make backups easy: Time Machine. Should the installation go awry, you don't want to lose important documents along with your photo and music libraries. Of course! You should always perform a system backup to protect your data before installing a new OS. Should I back up my Mac before installing El Capitan? You can find out how much memory and hard-drive space your Mac has by clicking About This Mac from the Apple menu.Ħ. Yosemite also required at least 2GB of memory, a threshold your Mac likely meets. For older versions of OS X, you will see the OS information and will then need to click the More Info button to view your Mac's year.Īpple has not stated how big a download El Capitan will be, but if OS X 10.10 Yosemite is any indication, you will need roughly 8GB of hard-drive space. If you are running Yosemite, both the era of Mac (in my case, Early 2011) and flavor of OS will be displayed. How do I find out what vintage Mac I have and what version of OS X it's running?Ĭlick the Apple button in the upper-left corner of your Mac and choose About This Mac. You can buy Snow Leopard for $19.99 here.Ĥ. If you have an ancient Mac with an OS predating Snow Leopard, you will need to install Snow Leopard before then moving to Yosemite. You need be running one of the following: Its 10.6.6 update introduced the Mac App Store, which you'll need in order to download El Capitan.

MacBook (Late 2008 Aluminum, or Early 2009 or newer)Īlso, if you haven't updated your Mac's operating system in a number of years, then you need to check to see if you are running at least OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard, which was released way back in 2009.

Here are the Macs that will run El Capitan: The minimum hardware requirements for OS X 10.11 El Capitan remain the same as they were for Yosemite.

Will my old Mac be able to run El Capitan? Like OS X 10.10 Yosemite before it, El Capitan will be free.ģ.

Starting Wednesday, September 30, Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan is available for download from the Mac App Store.

When and where can I download El Capitan? Is your current Mac compatible with El Capitan and, if so, how do you go about downloading and installing the new Mac OS? Read on for answers and other El Capitan preparation tips. Apple has released OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

Upgrade mac os x 10.6 8 to el capitan