The easiest way to get a copy of the installer for OS X is to go the Apple website or the App Store and type in the version that you want.

Download the Installer for the new version that you want (e.g. These minor updates are simple updates and you just update them by going to the Apple menu and selecting ‘Software Update’ or by going to the Apple menu, App Store and then ‘check for software update’.īefore you do a major update to a new version of OS X it is good to make sure that your current version is up to date because some installers require you to have an updated version of your current version. My laptop had Snow Leopard 10.6.5, but the ‘Mountain Lion’ Installer I wanted to use needed 10.6.8 so I ran Software Update’ and it upgraded to 10.6.8 first. Within these major versions there are also smaller software updates.

The major OS X versions have different names and numbers. Update to the newest update of your OSX version. So before you go downloading it’s good to check which version your computer is able to run. The folks over at have helpfully made a list of what the newest OSX that runs on every Mac model is. Some older Macintosh computers won’t run the latest version of OS X.įor example, the 2006 Mac mini “Core Duo” 1.83 will only run up to System 10.6.8, while the the 2008 Apple MacBook Air will only run up to 10.7.5. Look up what version of OS X your Macintosh can run. It also tells you how to work out what is the newest version of OSX that you can run on your computer. This article tells you how to make a USB thumb drive installer so you can upgrade any computer to the latest OS X.

It is very handy to have a bootable version of the latest OSX on a thumb drive lying around So I suggest option three Method 3 gives you a thumb drive that you can use multiple times to install OSX, and you can even boot off it in an emergency if your hard drive crashes. Method 1 is Apple’s suggestion method, but if you have more than one computer it requires you to download the OS X update more than once.

Make a USB thumb drive installer that you can plug into your computer to upgrade it.

Take your computer into the nearest Apple Store and they will do the upgrade for you.

Download the Installer from Apple directly to the computer that you want to install the new OS X onto.

This means if you have any version of OS X newer than 10.9 then you can upgrade it to the latest version for free. Since OS-X Mavericks (10.9) Apple have been releasing their OS X upgrades for free.

Upgrade mac os x 10.6 8 to 10.7