MacOS Sierra is increasingly becoming a relic. How to download macOS Sierra (or newer macOS) and install it To speed it up, click the arrow clock icon next to the Date & Time at the top-right of the menu bar and select 'Back Up Now.'

Switch the toggle on the left, from 'OFF' to 'ON.' Right beneath the name of your storage device, you'll see 'Oldest backup,' 'Latest backup,' and 'Next backup' - Your backup will begin within 5 minutes.

Both an external drive or an Airport Time Capsule fit.

Choose where you'd like to store your backup.

Note: You may need to first choose to 'Set Up Time Machine.'

To back up your Mac, you need to activate Time Machine. To make sure you have all your information and files saved up neatly, you need a backup. Why? Well, because sometimes updates happen less smoothly than you’d like them to. This is basic common sense before any Mac software update you’d like to undertake. It monitors your Mac’s health, helps you speed up the system and remove unnecessary apps (Trashing doesn’t fully uninstall apps, by the way). That will give your Mac a basic system cleanup, but CleanMyMac is going to come in handy after the update as well. Hit Scan to find all the extra files you can delete.Īs you can see, I have 8.56 GB worth of caches, obsolete language files, broken downloads.How to update your Mac: Clean it up first If that sounds like a lot of work, you can get a Mac cleaner like CleanMyMac for the job. To give your Mac a cleanup, you need to get rid of system junk, uninstall extra apps, and clean some old caches. This is essential if you want a fast and effortless update and glitchless work of your new macOS. In front of the multi-coloured bar, you will see the phrase, 'X.XX GB free out of XX.XX GB.' If you don't have at least 8 GB of free space, you should delete some old files.īefore you update macOS, don’t forget to: In the same About this Mac, menu select the 'Storage' tab. Cool, eh?ĭisk space: 8 GB of free space on the drive. Sierra is pretty lightweight, so you only need 2 GB of RAM to upgrade. Click the Apple icon in the top left corner.

Here’s how to find out which OS version you’re running now: Check your macOS for Sierra compatibility If your current operating system is OS X Lion (10.7), you can skip a few versions and upgrade directly to macOS High Sierra. To upgrade to Sierra from, say, Mavericks, you’ll have to consequently upgrade to Yosemite and then to El Capitan first. Here are the models of Macs that are compatible with macOS 10.12 and can upgrade to Sierra:ĭoes order matter when you upgrade macOS? How to upgrade macOS: Sierra 10.12 compatibility listĪs with the previous versions, macOS Sierra is available for a limited list of Mac models.

Upgrade mac operating system 10.8