


(For this purpose, I recommend a clone.) Be sure to test this backup to verify that it has your latest data: In the case of a Time Machine backup, try restoring some important data from the backup in the case of a clone backup, boot from the clone to make sure it boots and that it contains all your data. Make sure you have an up-to-date backup-either a Time Machine backup or a clone backup using a utility such asĬarbon Copy Cloner-of your Leopard Mac’s drive.(If this sounds a lot like aĬlean install, that’s because it’s essentially the same process.) Here are the steps to take: Specifically, the procedure involves erasing your Mac’s drive, installing Mavericks onto it, and then importing all your data from your backup. This means that as long as you have a good backup a 6GB-or-larger thumb drive or external drive and either an already-downloaded copy of the Mavericks installer or access to a Mac running Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks, you can perform a bit of installer razzle-dazzle.
#Carbon copy cloner for mac 10.6.8 install#
What if you don’t want to install Snow Leopard first, or if you don’t have your Snow Leopard disc handy? I’m not being coy here-perhaps you’ve misplaced the disc, or maybe you’re on the road and you’ve got your Mac’s original (Leopard) disc with you as an emergency boot disc, but you don’t have your Snow Leopard upgrade disc.Īs I mentioned above, the Mavericks installer will let you install onto a bare drive as long as the installer itself is run under Snow Leopard, Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks. This approach works fine, it’s fairly easy to do (if a bit time-consuming), and it gets the Apple seal of approval. Purchasing it for $20 if necessary, and then install Mavericks. System requirements-you must first install Snow Leopard, So then the question becomes whether there are any technical reasons you can’t install Mavericks over Leopard.Īs I explained above, Apple’s official policy is that if you want to install Mavericks over Leopard-assuming, of course, the Mac in question meets the In other words, in our view, you should be well within your rights to install Mavericks on any of your computers for which you have a valid, current Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain license-even if you don’t actually install Snow Leopard first.
#Carbon copy cloner for mac 10.6.8 license#
While the letter of the law says that you need to install at least Snow Leopard before installing Mavericks, the spirit of the law seems to be that a particular Leopard-equipped Mac just needs a license for Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion before you can upgrade it. The practical questionīut lets take a step back. Mavericks-installation articles (and the past two years while writing our upgrade guides for Lion and Mountain Lion), I can tell you that it’s a real hassle. Having performed this two-step upgrade many times while researching our various This is just one scenario-I can think of a number of situations in which you might have Leopard on a Mac or an external drive, along with a valid license for Snow Leopard, and you’d rather not take the interim step of installing Snow Leopard just to upgrade to Mavericks. But what if, for example, you’ve got a family-pack license for Snow Leopard, and you’ve got a Mac that shipped with Leopard but that’s never been upgraded to Snow Leopard, Lion, or Mountain Lion? The Mavericks license agreements say that even if that Mac is compatible, you can’t upgrade to 10.9 until you first install at least Snow Leopard.
