I keep getting reminders to upgrade OS - first to Catalina and now to Big Sur. I did upgrade from Mojave to Catalina and it completely screwed up my Macbook. It cut off all internet connections and I had to have the disk wiped and Mojave re-installed. I have no idea why the Catalina upgrade did what it did - how can I find out if it's safe to upgrade to Big Sur or any other Apple upgrade?
Nervous about upgrades
- Thread starter pkaylyon
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OK, need to ask you some things:
1. What exact Mac book model do you have?
2. Are you making backups to an external device? If (hopefully) you are, what program do you use for that task?
3. When you upgraded from Mojave to Catalina, did you do it "in place"?
4. Do you use any third party software? If so, before you upgrade to the next Mac OS, you'll need to insure that all your third party programs are compatible with the OS you want to move to. This site can help with that:
roaringapps.com
5. Do you perform any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? You actually can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs available (both free and commercial) that can help you further with those tasks.
Right now, Catalina is a very mature, stable OS. Big Sur, on the other hand, just arrived recently, and it is common knowledge that the first few non-beta versions contain bugs/have issues. And then there is the issue of third party software compatibility. Myself, I am still using the latest version of Catalina, as I use 4 critical programs that are not yet compatible with Big Sur. Besides, there's nothing "earth shattering" in Big Sur that I must have. Hence, for all those reasons, I can wait, and continue to use good "old" Catalina.
Once you answer those questions, we can better assist you.
1. What exact Mac book model do you have?
2. Are you making backups to an external device? If (hopefully) you are, what program do you use for that task?
3. When you upgraded from Mojave to Catalina, did you do it "in place"?
4. Do you use any third party software? If so, before you upgrade to the next Mac OS, you'll need to insure that all your third party programs are compatible with the OS you want to move to. This site can help with that:
Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps
Crowd-sourced application compatibility for macOS, iOS and Windows.
5. Do you perform any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? You actually can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs available (both free and commercial) that can help you further with those tasks.
Right now, Catalina is a very mature, stable OS. Big Sur, on the other hand, just arrived recently, and it is common knowledge that the first few non-beta versions contain bugs/have issues. And then there is the issue of third party software compatibility. Myself, I am still using the latest version of Catalina, as I use 4 critical programs that are not yet compatible with Big Sur. Besides, there's nothing "earth shattering" in Big Sur that I must have. Hence, for all those reasons, I can wait, and continue to use good "old" Catalina.
Once you answer those questions, we can better assist you.
OK, need to ask you some things:
1. What exact Mac book model do you have?
2. Are you making backups to an external device? If (hopefully) you are, what program do you use for that task?
3. When you upgraded from Mojave to Catalina, did you do it "in place"?
4. Do you use any third party software? If so, before you upgrade to the next Mac OS, you'll need to insure that all your third party programs are compatible with the OS you want to move to. This site can help with that:
Application Compatibility Table — RoaringApps
Crowd-sourced application compatibility for macOS, iOS and Windows.
5. Do you perform any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? You actually can do a good amount of disk cleanup on your own, and there are some excellent programs available (both free and commercial) that can help you further with those tasks.
Right now, Catalina is a very mature, stable OS. Big Sur, on the other hand, just arrived recently, and it is common knowledge that the first few non-beta versions contain bugs/have issues. And then there is the issue of third party software compatibility. Myself, I am still using the latest version of Catalina, as I use 4 critical programs that are not yet compatible with Big Sur. Besides, there's nothing "earth shattering" in Big Sur that I must have. Hence, for all those reasons, I can wait, and continue to use good "old" Catalina.
Once you answer those questions, we can better assist you.
Thanks for your reply; hope the following answers your questions sufficiently.
1. MacBook Air 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5 4GB memory
2. Time Machine / QNAP to NAS
3. Not sure what 'in place' means. Did it via WiFi.
4. Yes and would check before.
5. Use disk maintenance from Disk Utility
If I go ahead it would be with Catalina but as I don't know why it cut me off last time, I don't know how to prevent it this time - hence nervousness.
thanks. Patrick
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OK, sounds good, although I don't know what "QNAP to NAS" means. But as long as you are making backups, that's good.
I'm guessing you upgraded to Catalina in place, ie, without doing a clean, fresh installation. Myself, I've always done a clean, fresh installation of a new Mac OS (but not the initial version, for reasons I mentioned earlier).
Disk Utility is fine, but I wonder if you have any extraneous files you no longer need. That is what I primarily mean by doing some disk cleanup on your own. Another prime candidate for disk cleanup is permanently removing deleted EMails. The process to do that varies with each EMail program. I use Thunderbird, and it is quite easy to do it. In fact, I do such a permanent deletion almost every time I launch Thunderbird to check my EMail, as I typically get EMails that I really don't need (some of them are by choice, ie, I am on Costco's mailing list, for example, and most of the EMails they send me are not very useful).
One more question before I offer a solution: you stated "I had to have the disk wiped and Mojave re-installed". Did you do that, or did a third party do it? Also, what about getting your files, folders, apps, settings, etc. from your Time machine backup?
I'm guessing you upgraded to Catalina in place, ie, without doing a clean, fresh installation. Myself, I've always done a clean, fresh installation of a new Mac OS (but not the initial version, for reasons I mentioned earlier).
Disk Utility is fine, but I wonder if you have any extraneous files you no longer need. That is what I primarily mean by doing some disk cleanup on your own. Another prime candidate for disk cleanup is permanently removing deleted EMails. The process to do that varies with each EMail program. I use Thunderbird, and it is quite easy to do it. In fact, I do such a permanent deletion almost every time I launch Thunderbird to check my EMail, as I typically get EMails that I really don't need (some of them are by choice, ie, I am on Costco's mailing list, for example, and most of the EMails they send me are not very useful).
One more question before I offer a solution: you stated "I had to have the disk wiped and Mojave re-installed". Did you do that, or did a third party do it? Also, what about getting your files, folders, apps, settings, etc. from your Time machine backup?
Last edited:
Hi.
1. QNAP is the software and NAS the storage medium.
2. Yes I upgraded to Catalina in place.
3. I do empty deleted mails and clear out trash every now and then.
4. The disk clean and reinstall of Mojave was done by a local Mac shop. I didn't have the programs on file and since Catalina cut me off from the internet, I couldn't download Mojave or anything else for that matter.
5. Actually the Time Machine backup failed and could not access my files. Before going to the shop, I took a copy of all my files on an external hard disk and was able to restore from there.
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Thanks for the reply.
OK, there is a good, stable way for you to go about this process. But it requires that you have a spare, external device, and also the need to download three "items". An external SSD is better (for speed), but an external HDD is OK. One other thing is that please explain "clear out trash every now and then". I always empty the trash just about immediately after I place items there, or software/processes place files there. But then again I am a cleaning "nut".
I am going to send you the steps "privately", as it would be too long to post it here.
OK, there is a good, stable way for you to go about this process. But it requires that you have a spare, external device, and also the need to download three "items". An external SSD is better (for speed), but an external HDD is OK. One other thing is that please explain "clear out trash every now and then". I always empty the trash just about immediately after I place items there, or software/processes place files there. But then again I am a cleaning "nut".
I am going to send you the steps "privately", as it would be too long to post it here.