Upgrading and reusing old Macs

[galliano]

Just DIY installed a SSD into my flailing 2011’ iMac. Feels good as new, running native Lion 10.7.5. Completed all my updates.

Can’t seem to find Photos installed or even in App Store. Can help?

 

[PetPet]

Photos was supported on Yosemite, OS X 10.10 onwards.
Perhaps you can consider downloading iPhoto instead?

 

[galliano]

Photos was supported on Yosemite, OS X 10.10 onwards.
Perhaps you can consider downloading iPhoto instead?

Think I will try installing Sierra? Does that have Photos?

 

[PetPet]

Yes, Sierra should have the Photos.app

 

[Odessa]

If it's a Mid 2011 iMac, it officially supports OS 10.13.x High Sierra. Photos comes with the OS.

Download High Sierra from the App Store and build a USB installer before a clean installation. Don't forget to "trim" the SSD.

 

[galliano]

If it's a Mid 2011 iMac, it officially supports OS 10.13.x High Sierra. Photos comes with the OS.

Download High Sierra from the App Store and build a USB installer before a clean installation. Don't forget to trim the SSD.

Cant seem to find High Sierra from App Store.
I'm upgrading it to El Capitan now 1st. Thats my only option.

What do you mean by trim the SSD?

 

[Odessa]

Trim is a "command that enables an operating system to inform a ... solid-state drive (SSD) which data blocks it can erase because they are no longer in use. The use of TRIM can improve the performance of writing data to SSDs and contribute to longer SSD life."

To enable it, fire up Terminal and type in, without quotes, "sudo trimforce enable".

Enter your iMac's administrative password. You will then be asked if you wish to proceed and whether to reboot immediately after it is complete. Answer "y" (yes) to both questions.

Do this only after you're on High Sierra, if that's the OS you intend to finally run on your iMac. Make sure it's a clean installation. That way you don't inherit problems piling one OS on top of another.

Cant seem to find High Sierra from App Store.
I'm upgrading it to El Capitan now 1st. Thats my only option.

What do you mean by trim the SSD?

 

[victorp]

Cant seem to find High Sierra from App Store.
I'm upgrading it to El Capitan now 1st. Thats my only option.

What do you mean by trim the SSD?

Use this link: https://support.apple.com/macos/high-sierra

Scroll down to the Download section where there is a link which will bring you direct to the High Sierra page in the Mac App Store.

 

[galliano]

Use this link: https://support.apple.com/macos/high-sierra

Scroll down to the Download section where there is a link which will bring you direct to the High Sierra page in the Mac App Store.

oddly the link the Mac App store only downloads the 22.7Mb installer file. Its not the full image for USB creation.

 

[galliano]

Just to share, i managed to get my 2011' iMac running with a clean High Sierra install. Struggled initially because the High Sierra OS link in official Mac store does not download the full app image.

Anyway, this is the steps i took.

1. Considering High Sierra is the latest OS that the 2011 iMac can support.

2. In order to find the full High Sierra install file, i had to download a patcher tool (available here in http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/)

3. With the patcher tool, i downloaded the 5.6Gb full High Sierra installation file.

4. Following instructions in https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT201372 to create a USB installer
*can ignore the OS download link due to above reasons

Conclusion
1. Its easy to install SSD & clean OS to "refresh" a flailing old iMac.
2. Boot up time 20secs (not sure if my 16Gb DDR3 helped)

 

[Odessa]

Good job.

With dosdude's patch, you can investigate the option of running Mojave too.

Just to share, i managed to get my 2011' iMac running with a clean High Sierra install. Struggled initially because the High Sierra OS link in official Mac store does not download the full app image.

Anyway, this is the steps i took.

1. Considering High Sierra is the latest OS that the 2011 iMac can support.

2. In order to find the full High Sierra install file, i had to download a patcher tool (available here in http://dosdude1.com/highsierra/)

3. With the patcher tool, i downloaded the 5.6Gb full High Sierra installation file.

4. Following instructions in https://support.apple.com/en-sg/HT201372 to create a USB installer
*can ignore the OS download link due to above reasons

Conclusion
1. Its easy to install SSD & clean OS to "refresh" a flailing old iMac.
2. Boot up time 20secs (not sure if my 16Gb DDR3 helped)

 

[erwinrommel]

Sometimes I wonder if there's any "commercial" hackintosh.

 

[Odessa]

Not to market. But people do assemble their own hardware and roll their own installers. There's a community who are into this.

Google it and read up. You only have to decide if it's worth your time.

Sometimes I wonder if there's any "commercial" hackintosh.