Updating my iMac from OS X to current

Thanks!

You have an iMac (21.5-inch, Mid 2010), and you can upgrade to macOS High Sierra which will allow you to use newer versions of web browsers, apps, have a more up-to-date experience.

To begin, you should backup your Mac with Time Machine. Using a FireWire external disk will give you the best performance possible with an external disk on your Mac. Other World Computing (OWC) still offers a FireWire solution: 1.0TB OWC Mercury Elite Pro - OWC. Be sure to get a capacity that has double the capacity of the internal disk on your Mac (you can find out in Disk Utility). When connecting the external disk, make sure to connect the disk to your Mac using the included FireWire cable and not USB. Learn more about identifying the ports on your Mac here: Identify the ports on your Mac - Apple Support.

After you've backed up your Mac with Time Machine, visit the Apple Support article How to download and install macOS - Apple Support, and under the "use a web browser" section, choose to download El Capitan 10.11. Doing so will download an installer for the El Capitan installer in your Downloads folder. After the download is complete, navigate to Downloads, find the El Capitan installer, and open it. Follow the steps to install the El Captain installer into Applications. After the installer has been installed, open it from Applications, and follow the on-screen steps to upgrade your Mac.

After you've installed OS X El Capitan, go back to the Apple Support article How to download and install macOS - Apple Support, and this time, look in the "use the App Store" section to find High Sierra 10.13. Choosing High Sierra will open the App Store and place the High Sierra installer in your Applications folder. Follow the on-screen steps to upgrade your Mac again.

After macOS High Sierra is installed, install any High Sierra supplemental updates. To do so, go to the Mac App Store, and click the "Updates" tab.

Hope this helps! Let us know if you have any questions!

Jack

The current macOS Ventura requires a 2017 or later Mac. That long post-dates 10.6.

Upgrade to macOS Ventura - Official Apple Support

Upgrading a macOS depends upon the model Mac, specifications, and year. To get more information about your computer, choose:  (Apple menu) > 'About This Mac' in the upper left corner of any window, then "More Info..." or "System Report". There's more about this in "About System Information [Profiler] on your Mac" - System Information User Guide for Mac - Apple Support

Use the computer information, including the model year, and the links below to determine what is possible with your computer.

Click on this link to read how to get different versions of macOS --> How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

- The article also has links to system requirements for each OS version which you should check against your exact computer model. For any model produced in the last 5 years or so you should use the system requirements links for each OS version instead. This web site also has a reliable presentation of model and OS version compatibility: https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

- It helps to have more RAM (memory) than what is noted as "minimum" for any particular system or your computer may run slowly.

- You may find you must use Safari to get links for High Sierra and later using the Mac App Store application to open to a functioning page.

- Sierra, El Capitan, and Yosemite download as a .pkg. Click on this to have a converted version placed in your Applications folder as an "Install OS..." application. Run the installer and follow the directions.

- Upgrades may take some time (up to an hour or more) to install, with restarts and blank screens.

Before upgrading, back up at least your data in case something goes wrong. See this support document: How to back up your Mac - How to back up your Mac - Official Apple Support

A new iMac would be a huge upgrade over your 2010 iMac! A new one would support lots of new features, run the latest version of macOS, and have support for up to date 3rd party apps. I would suggest upgrading. To get started in shopping for a new Mac, I'd recommend you explore Buy Mac - Apple. On the Apple Store, you'll find detailed info on Mac models, comparisons, and shopping tools.

Additionally, if you were to get a new Mac, I'd suggest a different external disk than what I linked above. The OWC includes a FireWire and USB-A cable, so while perfect for your 2010 iMac, you'd need an adapter for your new model. An option such as the SanDisk Professional 2TB G-Drive ArmorATD™ - Apple includes a USB-C cable for use with your new iMac, along with a USB-A adapter cable so you can backup your old Mac.

Hope this helps!

Jack

Hi there!

What is the year of your iMac? To find out, choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click More Info. In the section that it automatically opens to (which will be Hardware Overview), look for Model Identifier, such as "iMac10,1". Let us know your model.

While you can't upgrade to macOS Ventura (the latest version of macOS), you may be able to upgrade to a newer version than Mac OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard.

Jack

Absolutely you should make a current backup or two before doing an upgrade, especially one that jumps many versions.

When I upgraded my iMac straight from Snow Leopard to El Capitan, the upgrade took forever to finish installing, and afterwards things ran so slowly that I thought I might have made a big mistake and might need to go back to Snow Leopard. But I let the Mac sit for a few days and that cleared up. I believe that what wax likely happening was Spotlight deciding to te-index the entire hard drive (which dragged everything else down until Spotlight was done).

Now I run High Sierra all of the time on that machine.

Exactly right!

You can create a Time Machine backup on the old Mac, then restore that backup to the new Mac.

Jack

... I can’t update to anything beyond Sierra so…...

Sierra is 10.12. Jack said 10.13 which is High Sierra.