G4 running 10.2.8: need help with upgrad

[ecstewart]

I have a PowerPC G4 (867 MHz; 512 MB) running Mac OS X 10.2.8 (6R73). Clearly the OS is very old and lots of things don't work on it any more. I would like to upgrade the OS so that I can get a more up-to-date web browser and such-like. I have two questions:
1. Do you have any advice about whether I would be able to upgrade to the most recent OS or if my computer is not good enough? (!)
2. If/when I upgrade, will I have to wipe my hard-drive? ie wil I have to save all my files and folders elsewhere?

Sorry if these are rather basic and stupid questions, I just don't do much with my computer any more and I am feeling very clueless.

thanks,
Elspeth

 

[ecstewart]

This is my post and I got a fine answer. Don't know why it's been moved here. But I did just open the post again so that I could ask another question, maybe that's why?

 

[MisterMe]

Your system meets the minimum requirements for Leopard support. Classic is incompatible with Leopard. If you use Classic, then you should upgrade only to Tiger and then use Software Update to upgrade to MacOS X 10.4.11. Tiger runs the latest version of Safari. You next issue is hard drive space. Remember that you should maintain at least 10% of your hard drive capacity as free space. Out of the box, Tiger requires at least 40 GB.

You correctly surmise that some of your software is incompatible with the newer OSes. You may find the latest (and recent) versions on VersionTracker.com and MacUpdate.com.