{"id":7991,"date":"2021-04-01T12:16:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T17:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tcn.tidbits.com\/?p=8413"},"modified":"2021-04-03T10:19:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-03T15:19:30","slug":"its-time-to-consider-upgrading-to-macos-11-big-sur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/its-time-to-consider-upgrading-to-macos-11-big-sur\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Time to Consider Upgrading to macOS 11 Big Sur"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re cautious when it comes to recommending upgrades to new versions of macOS. Apple makes the upgrade process easy\u2014though it can be time-consuming\u2014but upgrading can create workflow interruptions, render favorite apps inoperable, and have other consequences. At the same time, it\u2019s important to stay in sight of the cutting edge for security reasons and to take advantage of advances from Apple and other developers. Upgrading is not an <i>if<\/i> question; it\u2019s a <i>when<\/i> question.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re not saying that everyone needs to upgrade to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/macos\/big-sur\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">macOS 11 Big Sur<\/a> now, but if you want to, it should be safe now that Apple has released several bug-fix updates. However, there are still a few caveats, and preparation is essential.<\/p>\n<h3>Reasons Not to Upgrade<\/h3>\n<p>Some people should continue to delay upgrades to Big Sur due to software incompatibilities. Most software under steady development will have been updated for Big Sur by now, but some workflows rely on older versions of apps where an upgrade isn\u2019t practical or possible (ancient versions of Adobe Creative Suite, for instance), or on obsolete apps that will never be updated. You may be able to <a href=\"https:\/\/roaringapps.com\/apps?platform=osx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">learn more at RoaringApps<\/a>, but those who haven\u2019t yet upgraded past 10.14 Mojave may have to upgrade or replace 32-bit apps that ceased working starting with 10.15 Catalina.<\/p>\n<p>The other app category that continues to have trouble with Big Sur are backup apps that make bootable duplicates. Catalina moved macOS to its own read-only volume, and Big Sur goes a step further by applying cryptographic signatures that make it even harder for an attacker to compromise the operating system. Unfortunately, that also makes creating a bootable duplicate difficult. <a href=\"https:\/\/bombich.com\/blog\/2020\/11\/03\/yes-you-can-have-bootable-backups-on-macos-big-sur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Carbon Copy Cloner<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.econtechnologies.com\/chronosync\/TN-CS-BigSurBootable.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ChronoSync<\/a> have developed workarounds; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shirtpocket.com\/blog\/index.php\/shadedgrey\/comments\/thats_big_sir_to_you\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SuperDuper<\/a> remains incompatible at this point, although an older version can create data-only backups. If you rely on one of these apps for critical backups, make sure you know what you\u2019re getting into before upgrading or <a href=\"https:\/\/tidbits.com\/2021\/02\/23\/the-role-of-bootable-duplicates-in-a-modern-backup-strategy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reassess your backup strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Before You Upgrade<\/h3>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve decided to upgrade to Big Sur, you have three main tasks:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Update apps:<\/b> Make sure all your apps are as up-to-date as possible. If you regularly put off updates, now\u2019s the time to let them complete so you have Big Sur-compatible versions.<\/li>\n<li><b>Clear space:<\/b> Big Sur needs a minimum of 35.5 GB to upgrade, and as of macOS 11.2.1, the installer won\u2019t proceed unless there\u2019s enough space. Don\u2019t cut this close\u2014you should always have at least 10\u201320% free space for virtual memory, cache files, and breathing room.<\/li>\n<li><b>Make a backup:<\/b> Never, ever install a major upgrade to macOS without ensuring that you have at least one current backup first. In an ideal world, you\u2019d have an updated Time Machine backup, a bootable duplicate, and an Internet backup. That way, if something goes wrong as thousands of files are moved around on your drive, you can easily restore.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After those tasks are complete, make sure you don\u2019t need your Mac for a few hours. There\u2019s no telling exactly how long the upgrade will take, especially if it has to convert your drive to APFS, so never start an upgrade if you need the Mac soon.<\/p>\n<p>Initiating the upgrade is just a matter of opening System Preferences &gt; Software Update, clicking the Upgrade Now button, and following the instructions.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8415\" src=\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/its-time-to-consider-upgrading-to-macos-11-big-sur.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/its-time-to-consider-upgrading-to-macos-11-big-sur.png 598w, https:\/\/macworks.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/its-time-to-consider-upgrading-to-macos-11-big-sur-1.png 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) 598px, 100vw\"><\/p>\n<h3>After You Upgrade<\/h3>\n<p>Part of the reason to set aside plenty of time for your Big Sur upgrade is that there are always clean-up tasks afterward. We can\u2019t predict precisely what you\u2019ll run into, but here are a few situations we\u2019ve noticed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>macOS will probably need to update its authentication situation by asking for your Apple ID password, your Mac\u2019s password, and if you have another Mac, its password too. Don\u2019t worry that this is a security breach\u2014it\u2019s fine.<\/li>\n<li>Some apps may have to ask for permission to access your contacts and calendar even though you previously granted permission. Again, that\u2019s fine.<\/li>\n<li>If you use your Apple Watch to unlock your Mac and apps (and you should, it\u2019s great!), you\u2019ll need to re-enable that in System Preferences &gt; Security &amp; Privacy &gt; General.<\/li>\n<li>If you use Gmail or Google Calendar or other Google services, you may need to log in to your Google account again.<\/li>\n<li>Websites that usually remember your login state will likely require that you log in again. If you\u2019re using a password manager like <a href=\"https:\/\/1password.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1Password<\/a>, that\u2019s easy.<\/li>\n<li>You may have to re-enable text-message forwarding to your Mac on your iPhone in Settings &gt; Messages &gt; Text Message Forwarding.<\/li>\n<li>Those who use Backblaze for Internet backups will find their backups have been \u201csafety frozen.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/help.backblaze.com\/hc\/en-us\/articles\/217666178-Safety-Freeze-Your-Backup-is-Safety-Frozen-\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Follow these instructions<\/a> for thawing your account.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, Time Machine in Big Sur now <a href=\"https:\/\/support.apple.com\/guide\/mac-help\/types-of-disks-you-can-use-with-time-machine-mh15139\/mac\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">supports and prefers APFS-formatted drives<\/a>, and all of Apple\u2019s development is going in that direction now. You can keep using your existing Time Machine backup in Big Sur, but after you\u2019re confident that everything is working well\u2014and you have another backup\u2014it\u2019s worth removing your Time Machine backup drive in System Preferences &gt; Time Machine &gt; Select Disk, reformatting the drive as APFS in Disk Utility, and restarting the backup in the Time Machine preference pane.<\/p>\n<p>With all that housekeeping done, it\u2019s time to check out all the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apple.com\/macos\/big-sur\/features\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">new features in Big Sur<\/a>!<\/p>\n<p>(Featured image based on originals by Apple)<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Social Media: Should you upgrade to macOS 11 Big Sur? There\u2019s no need to do so yet, but it should be safe for most people, so if you\u2019re excited about the new look and the new features, this is a good time to upgrade. Read on for our pre- and post-upgrade tasks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re cautious when it comes to recommending upgrades to new versions of macOS. Apple makes the upgrade process easy\u2014though it can be time-consuming\u2014but upgrading can create workflow interruptions, render favorite apps inoperable, and have other consequences. At the same time, it\u2019s important to stay in sight of the cutting edge for security reasons and to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,69,106,25,112,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-apple","category-apple-consulting-ct","category-apple-support-ct","category-mac","category-mac-support-ct","category-mactech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7991"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8025,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7991\/revisions\/8025"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}