Update & Install macOS Sierra without Losing Data

Question: If update Mac software to macOS Sierra will I lose everything?

How to Update and Reinstall macOS Sierra without losing anything?

Step 1. Check whether your Mac device is available for macOS Sierra update

Before you start to update macOS Sierra, it's quite necessary to check out whether your Mac device is available for the new macOS or not. Here below, you can see whether you can update your Mac device to the newest one or not now:

2009 and later

• MacBook
• iMac

2010 and later

• MacBook Air
• MacBook Pro
• Mac mini
• Mac Pro

If your Mac devices are just right on the list, then you can follow below tips to prepare your Mac OS ready for macOS Sierra update.

Step 2. Prepare Mac devices ready for macOS Sierra update

It's also necessary to check out what needs to be done first for gaining macOS Sierra smoothly in your Mac. Follow below tips to prepare your Mac ready for the new macOS update now:

1. Leave at least 2GB memory and 8.8 GB storage space on your Mac;
2. Leave at least 45% battery on your Mac;
3. Connect Mac to internet or WiFi;
4. Update your Mac Apps to the latest versions;
5. Backup all your personal data and even create backups for your present Mac data through Time Machine.

Do remember to create backups for your present macOS and all important data into an external hard drive or USB drive for preventing system update failure or unexpected troubles from happening. When you find data loss issue occurs after macOS update, you may restore from the backups via Time Machine. If you have no backups, you'll need professional Mac data recovery software to help.

Step 3. Update and install macOS to Sierra

1. Go to Mac App Store and search macOS Sierra or you can directly go the Sierra page.
2. Click Download button for macOS Sierra.
When the downloading process is finished, the macOS Sierra installer will open automatically.
3. Click Continue and follow the instructions on your Mac device screen to clean install macOS Sierra on your Mac.

You need to wait patiently to let the macOS Sierra installation process to be accomplished on your Mac. After this, you can restore your Mac backups from Time Machine and get all those data back to your Mac so to reuse them again.

Extra Tip: Restore lost data due to macOS Sierra update

If you haven't created any backups for your Mac data and you lost it after updating to new macOS Sierra, then you'll need to find professional Mac data recovery software or solutions to restore them.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac fully supports all macOS systems including the newest Sierra, EI Capitan, Yosemite etc. It allows you to restore all lost data within 3 simple clicks. Office files, music, videos, emails or other archives can all be restored on your own. And you can use this software and follow steps to restore unlimited Mac data now:

Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the Scan button.

Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.

Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click Recover Now button to have them back.