Miscellaneous Upgrading a Mac OS after a nasty experience

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Jimmymack

Jimmymack

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I tried posting this on a Photo site as my main software related concerns are with photo processing stuff but got next to no interest so I thought I'd try here as the issues are still the same and you are a much more forthcoming lot of people.

For a long time I've been planning to upgrade the OS on my Mac. I'm currently using Mojave and can move to Ventura which is four steps I think, so a big jump. I've stuck with Mojave because it lets me use PhotoShop CS6. I'll lose a lot of software with an upgrade but I reckon I've found ways of dealing with it, mostly courtesy of Affinity, and a reasonable sized outlay of cash. I don't need the highest spec processing stuff but I am used to PS6 and Photolab 4 (which will also die). Other things will go as well but anything to do with music can be updated and possibly even improved at little or no cost. But the cost is only part of my problem.

I upgraded my wife's Mac a month ago, just one step, and the whole thing turned into a nightmare and in the end I had to erase the hard disk and reinstall from the back up I thankfully had. All in all it took the best part of 3 days and long talks with Apple support before it was fixed and involved a lot of fear, stress and trembling. Since her computer contains about 20 years of work, over 100 lectures, Keynotes and a novel, I was feeling sick a lot of the time, especially when it got to erasing the hard disk. So, in consequence, I'm filled with dread at the prospect and am still considering staying where I am.

Has anybody done this, either a big upgrade or to Ventura specifically, and what was your experience? Has anybody had a similar nasty time? Also is it worth it or should I stick with reliable but ageing Mojave? All information and opinions welcome. I know the final decision is mine but I'd be interested to know what you think.
 
I am currently on Big Sur and find it fine and I moved to this from Mojave, I did lose some 32bit programs but they were one's I hadn't used for a while.
Fairly recently I tried Monterey but this was a step too far for my system and caused a lot of pain, so went back to Big Sur.
Is Ventura still 32 bit?
You can also make a backup usb stick of whatever OS you want if you get stuck.
 
It's mostly a question of how much (big, expensive) software you use, and whether they are allied to others. Running music software, I have several things that need to work well together. Unfortunately, they all develop at different rates and any new update to a sound that would be useful can (and does) have huge implications - a seemingly innocuous update to my UAD Apollo and Satellite saw plugin settings not saved and actively zero'd when any project was opened. It trashed two mixes before I knew what was going on. The fix took two weeks to figure out and I was completely "offline" during that time.

If you use one piece of software, it's a lot easier to fall behind the annual OS updates, but still a little scary at how quickly you can fall 4 or 5 OS versions behind.
 
Thanks, this is all good information. Ventura is the last but one OS and according to Apple is the latest I can use, I have a late 2017 Mac. I think that Mojave was the last one that will read 32 bit. Presumably Monterey did similar things to your Mac @jazzdoh, which was just sticking on the install for over 12 hours in one instance with no way out, every time I restarted it went back to the install. I'll look into getting a backup of Mojave but I'm not clear about the process of rolling back particularly if I get stuck in one of those almost there but not loops. I do have a bootable backup at least that seems to be in good order.

I have bought the Affinity suite in anticipation but can't use it on Mojave. It should solve my photo and design problems as I will also lose Quark Xpress.

Was your upgrade just one step @nigeld?
 
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The problem I had with Monterey was it was too slow for my system and it kept throwing up errors and in the end Apple agreed it was not acceptable for my late 2017 machine even though they had previously recommended it, but it loaded fine and had no problems until I tried to use it.
After a lot of calls over a few weeks Apple finally showed me how to make usb backup of a previous OS.
But I found that Youtube videos were better for the backup usb than the Apple's email document, on YouTube it followed the procedure step by step and was easy to follow.
If you need the Apple document let me know and I can send it to you.
 
Hmm, if your late 2017 machine wasn't happy with Monterey then Ventura is likely to be at least as difficult on my machine which is the same model. I'll have a look at Big Sur. You sound as if you had worse time than me.
 
Jimmymack said:
I do have a bootable backup at least that seems to be in good order.
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Mr. Pessimistic just tapped me on the shoulder to remind me of when I upgraded once and wanted to restore the previous OS from a bootable backup. It didn’t work because the upgrade had installed new firmware on the actual computer which was incompatible with the previous version.

I did eventually get it sorted by taking it in to the Genius Bar where they all stood around scratching their heads and saying no we can’t roll back the firmware. Then after about an hour I got a true genius there who managed to do it.
 
Targa said:
They use these names instead of numbers to confuse the customers.
Once they have run out of them or they are all 'copyrighted' they will be like the models of cars, a meaningless string of letters dreamed up at great expense by the marketing companies.
Read more…
It doesn't take a lot to confuse me, I hate technology bring back the Spectrum ZX.
 
Never had any problem upgrading - all my Macs (iMac, Macbook M2 and an "old" early 2015 quadcore i7 Macbook with 16GB of RAM) are on the latest Sonoma (the old one upgraded with OpenCore Legacy Patcher).
All really important stuff is on SSDs - with HDDs as backup. I'd never store anything important on the disc running the OS.
An SSD with Time Machine is always running in the background on my iMac.
So even if something bad would happen, I don't expect to lose data.

Cheers, Guenne
 
I have to keep checking the names, my wife's one is Catalina and I confuse it with Ventura. It's probably clear as day if you're from California.

I have the old version of Affinity photo which is what convinced me it could replace Photshop. Interesting about the bootable backup. I also have Time Machine but that's failed me a couple of times, as in the last time with Catalina, and the BBA has saved the day.
 
The problem with time machine is it won't take you back to a previous OS although you won't lose data with it.
Apple did everything they could to make Monterey work but it was too much for my late 2015 8 GB of ram.
They said in the end that going back to Big Sur was the only way to make it work and that using a bootable usb was only way back.
 
Guenne said:
Never had any problem upgrading - all my Macs (iMac, Macbook M2 and an "old" early 2015 quadcore i7 Macbook with 16GB of RAM) are on the latest Sonoma (the old one upgraded with OpenCore Legacy Patcher).
All really important stuff is on SSDs - with HDDs as backup. I'd never store anything important on the disc running the OS.
An SSD with Time Machine is always running in the background on my iMac.
So even if something bad would happen, I don't expect to lose data.

Cheers, Guenne
Read more…
It's the upgrade that bothers me, I have two backups going all the time, including Time Machine, although I certainly store stuff on the main computer otherwise there's nothing to back up. If the new OS leaves your machine unusable it doesn't matter what you have elsewhere. I don't have a lot of confidence in Time Machine. You have me with the OpenCore Legacy Patcher though.
 

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