Planning to upgrade to Catalina, back up?

Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
587
Reaction score
32
Points
28
Location
Western North Carolina (NJ transplant)
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 13", 2020, 2.3 Ghz, Quad core i7, 16gb, 1 TB, Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB , Sonoma 14.1.1
A couple of quick questions. I have Super Duper and a 1 TB WD drive. When I tried to upgrade Super Duper from the program itself, I got an error "Product does not exist!". Any ideas? Is there a better alternative, and does the back-up program also have to be 64 bit?

I also have Time Machine, so I assume that is compatible to restore the OS in the event something goes awry. I did a restore from Time Machine a few years ago and that was a very time consuming process.

I also see that there is a supplemental upgrade to Catalina, is that automatic, or do I have to download that separately?

ken
 
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
15,455
Reaction score
3,811
Points
113
Location
Winchester, VA
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 16" 2023 (M3 Pro), iPhone 15 Pro, plus ATVs, AWatch, MacMinis (multiple)
@ken, Carbon Copy Cloner is another clone program. Works well. Supports Catalina.

Yes, the backup program must be 64-bit to run under Catalina (to do the restore). TM should work.

If you download Catalina today, you should be getting the latest version.

One thing about Catalina. It changes the way the system and user data is stored on the HD/SSD. Using the new APFS, it creates a container for the drive, then two Volumes in that container, one for the OS itself and one for the User data. The OS volume is read-only, as a security measure. CCC takes that all into account as it clones, and SD! should do the same, but I don't use SD!, so I can't say for sure. And Catalina deals with the two volumes as if they were one in operations, so you shouldn't have to deal with them as separate, but if you get into Disk Utility you can see both.
 
Joined
Nov 28, 2007
Messages
25,564
Reaction score
486
Points
83
Location
Blue Mountains NSW Australia
Your Mac's Specs
Silver M1 iMac 512/16/8/8 macOS 11.6
SD is 64bit and backs my OS to up my two Catalina external SSDs.
 
H

honestone33

Guest
SuperDuper! is not yet compatible with Catalina, so it is best to not use it. Also, the initial release of Catalina has a number of bugs, and the Supplemental Update that came out yesterday did not address many of them. OS 10.15.1 should be released shortly, so it is best to wait until at least when it is released. I myself will not upgrade to Catalina until at least V10.15.2 arrives, which will (most likely) be in November.
 
OP
hempomatic
Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
587
Reaction score
32
Points
28
Location
Western North Carolina (NJ transplant)
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 13", 2020, 2.3 Ghz, Quad core i7, 16gb, 1 TB, Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB , Sonoma 14.1.1
Here in the mountains of North Carolina, internet is not particularly reliable, or particularly fast. My phone is generally a bit faster, but I have very limited data. After 12 hours I'm still about 20 hours from completing the download and I lost the data connection a few times. Is that a problem? I assume the download starts where it left off. Would I be better off starting from scratch if I take the computer to a Starbucks and try from there? I'm the better part of an hour from high speed internet. I'm just a little nervous that all this starting and stopping will corrupt the download.
 
OP
hempomatic
Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
587
Reaction score
32
Points
28
Location
Western North Carolina (NJ transplant)
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 13", 2020, 2.3 Ghz, Quad core i7, 16gb, 1 TB, Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB , Sonoma 14.1.1
OK, I found a better spot to download from and finished the download. Should I give up and try again another time? All the starts and stops is giving me the heebee jeebees.
 
Joined
Jul 14, 2008
Messages
1,227
Reaction score
8
Points
38
Location
UK
Your Mac's Specs
iMac 2.66 GHz 20", iPad Mini2 32GB, iPhone6 64GB, Watch Sport 42mm Black, iPad Air 2 128GB
If the downloaded installer actually opens then the breaks in download shouldn’t make any difference. If it doesn’t open then it is corrupted


Sent from my iPad using Mac-Forums
 

chscag

Well-known member
Staff member
Admin
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
65,248
Reaction score
1,833
Points
113
Location
Keller, Texas
Your Mac's Specs
2017 27" iMac, 10.5" iPad Pro, iPhone 8, iPhone 11, iPhone 12 Mini, Numerous iPods, Monterey
I also see that there is a supplemental upgrade to Catalina, is that automatic, or do I have to download that separately?

It's a separate download. But, do you really need Catalina? Think about that real hard.... with all the glitches being reported, might be a good idea to wait for additional updates. I usually am the first to charge headlong and download a new version of macOS, but I'm waiting this one out and staying with Mojave for awhile.
 
OP
hempomatic
Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
587
Reaction score
32
Points
28
Location
Western North Carolina (NJ transplant)
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 13", 2020, 2.3 Ghz, Quad core i7, 16gb, 1 TB, Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB , Sonoma 14.1.1
It's a separate download. But, do you really need Catalina? Think about that real hard.... with all the glitches being reported, might be a good idea to wait for additional updates. I usually am the first to charge headlong and download a new version of macOS, but I'm waiting this one out and staying with Mojave for awhile.

It's a bit of a conundrum. The only real problem I have now is coming out of sleep mode. It doesn't. I have to press the power button a few times to wake it up. Occasionally, it actually reboots. I know I'm not the only one and that this has been a problem because there were supplemental upgrades to address this issue. I just get a little nervous (paranoid) every time that happens which is every time it comes out of sleep mode. Do I NEED Catalina? Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I don't think there are any of the new features I have any interest in. I'm more concerned about stability and security.
 
Joined
May 21, 2012
Messages
10,703
Reaction score
1,158
Points
113
Location
Rhode Island
Your Mac's Specs
M1 Mac Studio, 11" iPad Pro 3rdGen, iPhone 13 ProMax, Watch S7, 2018 15" MBP, AirPods Pro
OP
hempomatic
Joined
Oct 18, 2014
Messages
587
Reaction score
32
Points
28
Location
Western North Carolina (NJ transplant)
Your Mac's Specs
MBP 13", 2020, 2.3 Ghz, Quad core i7, 16gb, 1 TB, Iris Plus Graphics 1536 MB , Sonoma 14.1.1


Thanks, I appreciate that, but I've tried it numerous times, the end result being no change. The only way I've been able to avoid it from happening is to set computer and display sleep at never.
 

Shop Amazon


Shop for your Apple, Mac, iPhone and other computer products on Amazon.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Top