Updating my OS - is it a huge can of worms?

[Rob Davidson]

Hi Brian,

I use a 2018 iMac 27" which is still running OS 10.14.6 Mojave. It's the OS the Mac came with and I've never updated it because I've only ever heard horror stories about things that can go wrong. However I'm unable to update Photoshop beyond 22.5.9, which Damien tells me is ancient now.

My Mac has 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD with 157BB of space available (I can move things onto my RAID drive to free up space).

How safe is it to update my OS and which version should I update to at this point? Is there a reliable guide online to a process of updating which is safe and won't throw my stuff around everywhere?

I should point out that replacing my Mac is financially just not an option right now, however much I might like to.

Thankyou

 

[Rob Davidson]

Sorry, It's a 2019 iMac! So compatible with everything up to and including Sequoia, according to the Apple support website.

[Brian]

I have a 2017 27" Intel iMac, the model just before yours. I'm still on PS CC 2023 and macOS Ventura. If you had a M1 Mac (or greater,) then upgrading isn't a big deal. For your case, and mine...it's the older Intel Based iMacs that have the most issues. The good news is, you aren't missing out much because the biggest difference is all the AI Crap that is all the rage. There is also a way to upgrade to Ventura, which is the version of the macOS before Sonoma or even Sequoia. I'd personally start there. Of course, the downside is you still may not be able to upgrade to the latest-and-greatest versions of software, even with Ventura.

Now for the bad news. You NEVER-EVER-EVER want to go more than 75%-80% full on ANY Mac HD, internal or external. Why? Because your Mac will take a performance hit if you do. Same thing if you have a bunch of crap on you Mac Desktop. The more files and folders you have on the Mac Desktop, the slower the damn thing runs. Why? Because it treats the files stored on your desktop as "Open Windows," for lack of a better term.

In your case, I'm not happy with that 157GB Free. I'd like to see that number closer to 600GB Free BEFORE YOU UPGRADE ANYTHING!!! You do not want things to go sideways or get even worse, especially since a new Mac is not in the foreseeable future. I use a program called "CleanMyMac X" from MacPaw.com. It's a yearly subscription, but there seems to be a free 7 day trial. I feel that it's worth it and have been using that program since 2009. It's the Mac equivalent to the program that Damien recommends, Glary Utilities. CleanMyMac X is free to download / install / run, but you'll need to pony up the $$$'s for it to clean anything after the 7-Day Trial.

Once you let CleanMyMac X do it's thing, it's time to CULL-CULL-CULL!!! Be ruthless. I promise, you do not need 75 Raw Images of your lunch taken 10 years ago that will never see the light of day. Lot's of JPEGS? If you have the master .PSD files, delete all those JPEGS that are taking up space. Then hit your Downloads Folder, you'd be surprised on how much CRAP is in that folder. For everything else you want to keep, I'd move to a large external drive, something at least 4TB or greater.

So step one before we upgrade anything, let's get some room on that HD. Then we will go to Stage 2, the macOS upgrade.