Mac Treat #177: Prep Your Mac For a new OS

References to the Mac OS have been popping up everywhere for me lately, from the announcement of OS 10.8’s (Mountain Lion) summer release to Dawn’s memories of 10.2 Jaguar (below) to the recent end of the Lion Up-To-Date program. With all this talk about upgrades, it made me think about the top things that one can do before upgrading his or her Mac’s OS.

Since Lion is only available from the App Store (and more than likely, so will Mountain Lion upon its release, as retail packaging for software is becoming obsolete), the game has changed somewhat—having a solid, fast internet connection is paramount when deciding to upgrade. These tips, however, are a bit more universal:

• Check the system requirements: Knowing that you may need a RAM or hard drive upgrade before installing (or worst case, a new computer) is key before you begin
• Take stock of your important software and peripherals, and don’t be afraid to wait to upgrade if any don’t have a compatible version for the new OS: You don’t want to learn the hard way that the most important app you need for work hasn’t come out with a compatible update yet
• Clean up those files: Get rid of what you don’t need—delete any duplicate files or unused apps so that you can start with a (semi) clean slate
• Back up all of your data: Back up everything that’s important at least to an external drive, or more importantly, a bootable disk (try Carbon Copy Cloner, one of our favorite backup solutions)

If you have any questions before you go to take the upgrade leap, don’t be afraid to ask us for help.

Ready to upgrade to Lion? Click here.