Tomorrow will be available for download the new operating system OS El Capitan. Before the release of the new OS is the time to prepare a Mac for upgrade. Of course, if there are plans to transition to a new platform.
The twelfth major update of desktop for Mac platform was officially presented in June at an event for developers in San Francisco. A new version of the OS did not bring upgrades to the appearance of the operating system and limited to the improvements on the level of functionality. Major changes in OS X El Capitan touched windowing, features, Spotlight search, Safari browser, mail client, Mail. By optimizing the performance of the new operating system, Apple has risen to 1.4 times.
In this article we will explain how to check your Mac for compatibility with new OS, clean your device from junk files, make backups and perform other necessary procedures before going to OS X El Capitan.
Step 1. To check your Mac for compatibility with OS X El Capitan
Before you start preparing for the transition to OS X El Capitan, you should check the system requirements. Judging by the list of models, not all Macs will be compatible with. At the same time, users of existing PCs will be able to update to the new OS not only with the current platform of OS X Yosemite to upgrade to OS X El Capitan is possible even with OS X Mavericks.
OS X El Capitan can be installed on the following Mac:
- iMac (mid 2007 or newer)
- MacBook (12-inch, 2015)
- MacBook (13-inch aluminum, late 2008), (13-inch early 2009 or newer)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, mid-2009 or later), (15-inch, mid/late 2007 or newer), (17-inch late 2007 or later)
- MacBook Air (late 2008 or newer)
- Mac Mini (early 2009 or newer)
- Mac Pro (early 2008 or newer)
- Xserve (early 2009)
Basic requirements for OS X El Capitan are modest: a 64-bit processor Intel, 2 GB of RAM and 8 GB on the hard disk. Supports Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7 or Xeon. Some features of OS X El Capitan, such as AirDrop, Handoff, smart hotspot Instant Hotspot, will require newer computers.
2. Install all updates for OS X and update applications
Mac App Store provides access to the operational additions and facilitates the update Mac. It can be used to select updates for the operating system and installed from the store third-party applications. Here we regularly post new updates and files, so you can always download the latest updates and fixes to protect and improve the Mac.
To use the Mac App Store to install all critical updates for OS X, perform the following steps:
- Connect to the Internet and open the app Store.
- Go to the Updates tab
Mac automatically checks to determine what updates are available for your computer. After the completion of the audit will be prepared a package of updates selected exclusively for your Mac. Before installing OS X El Capitan recommend you “roll” all the software updates. To install all available updates, click Update all
3. Mac clean from “garbage”
Preparing to upgrade OS is a good opportunity to do the cleaning on your computer. For starters you can get rid of unnecessary programs. This measure is optional but never hurts to get rid of unused apps before installing a big update. You can find out what files occupy the most disk space by using the application DaisyDisk or OmniDiskSweeper. In addition, you can delete temporary files, cache, logs and other garbage using MacKeeper and other specialized software.
4. Save a backup copy of the
Many people use Mac, not only for surfing the Internet or communicating on social networks, but also as a primary computer for work. And hardly anyone wants to lose important information, unsuccessfully updating the operating system. To save files, applications, accounts, preferences, music, photos, movies and documents necessary before the transition to OS X El Capitan to backup. If during the update something goes wrong you can always restore the OS and try to fix the problem.
On computers running OS X it is advisable to use the built-in Time Machine technology that performs backup of entire contents of “poppy”. The fundamental difference of function from other backup applications is that Time Machine simply backs up every file, but also remembers how the OS looked like on any particular day. This allows you to see what Mac was before. Alternatively, you can use the cloud services Dropbox or CrashPlan.
5. To download and install OS X El Capitan
After doing all these steps, you remain to wait for the release and install El Capitan. To download the operating system will simply go the Mac App Store and confirm download and installation of the new OS.
