may install catalina. Is there anything I need to be aware of?

[paul-ny]

I am hardly an expert in this, and there's already been good advice given, but I want to warn you to be very sure to have your computer well backed up before trying to upgrade to Catalina. I chose to upgrade from Mojave on my one-year-old MacBook Pro; there was the usual alert that the computer would turn off, but it turned out to have turned itself off permanently. No amount of AppleCare help could get a flicker out of it. I had to send the laptop in, and got it back with a new logic board (and keyboard assembly, since I was already having keyboard problems before this untimely death). The repaired machine was wiped clean; Migration assistant did nothing (apparently because the Carbon Copy Clone backup and the laptop had different OS's? I didn't understand this), In addition to reinstalling all apps from new downloads, I had numerous problems restoring libraries-- the Photos app and Mail and I think some other things, from my backup. I tried to read a little about reasons to or not to upgrade to Catalina before starting it, but I did not do a good job, or I would have stayed away. Apparently if your computer has a T2 chip as mine does, there is a chance that upgrading to Catalina will brick the thing.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I am hardly an expert in this, and there's already been good advice given, but I want to warn you to be very sure to have your computer well backed up before trying to upgrade to Catalina. I chose to upgrade from Mojave on my one-year-old MacBook Pro; there was the usual alert that the computer would turn off, but it turned out to have turned itself off permanently. No amount of AppleCare help could get a flicker out of it. I had to send the laptop in, and got it back with a new logic board (and keyboard assembly, since I was already having keyboard problems before this untimely death). The repaired machine was wiped clean; Migration assistant did nothing (apparently because the Carbon Copy Clone backup and the laptop had different OS's? I didn't understand this), In addition to reinstalling all apps from new downloads, I had numerous problems restoring libraries-- the Photos app and Mail and I think some other things, from my backup. I tried to read a little about reasons to or not to upgrade to Catalina before starting it, but I did not do a good job, or I would have stayed away. Apparently if your computer has a T2 chip as mine does, there is a chance that upgrading to Catalina will brick the thing.

If your logic board was on its way out, I think it's just unfortunate timing that you happened to be doing an upgrade at the same time.

Either way, the advice of having a tested and valid backup is important. Lots of us THINK we are backing up our stuff and don't look into it until we need it only to find that it isn't what we thought or doesn't work at all.

 

[macgig]

Apparently if your computer has a T2 chip as mine does, there is a chance that upgrading to Catalina will brick the thing.

thanks for the heads up... no T2 chip on my iMac. so far my upgrade has been fine... I do have a full time machine backup of my hard drive with Mojave on it, just in case.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

I am hardly an expert in this, and there's already been good advice given, but I want to warn you to be very sure to have your computer well backed up before trying to upgrade to Catalina. I chose to upgrade from Mojave on my one-year-old MacBook Pro; there was the usual alert that the computer would turn off, but it turned out to have turned itself off permanently. No amount of AppleCare help could get a flicker out of it. I had to send the laptop in, and got it back with a new logic board (and keyboard assembly, since I was already having keyboard problems before this untimely death). The repaired machine was wiped clean; Migration assistant did nothing (apparently because the Carbon Copy Clone backup and the laptop had different OS's? I didn't understand this), In addition to reinstalling all apps from new downloads, I had numerous problems restoring libraries-- the Photos app and Mail and I think some other things, from my backup. I tried to read a little about reasons to or not to upgrade to Catalina before starting it, but I did not do a good job, or I would have stayed away. Apparently if your computer has a T2 chip as mine does, there is a chance that upgrading to Catalina will brick the thing.

For future reference, unless I am missing something here, you should have been able to boot from the Carbon Copy Clone backup regardless of what version of macOS was on the MacBook after it was returned to you and cloned it back to the internal drive.

 

[Slydude]

You are correct LB. It's normally possible to use Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper for that matter, to reverse the cloning process and clone information from the backup to the boot drive. Assuming of course that the clone completed properly.

When the process is finished you're left with whatever OS was on the Mac when the most recent clone was made.

 

[chscag]

You are correct LB. It's normally possible to use Carbon Copy Cloner, or SuperDuper for that matter, to reverse the cloning process and clone information from the backup to the boot drive. Assuming of course that the clone completed properly.

Normally I would agree with the both of you. But the T2 chip changes things and the way the system can be cloned back. Once that T2 chip shuts down the system, there is no way to clone the old system back. You essentially have a brick until you follow Apple's procedures for unbricking the machine.

The T2 chip is in all the newer Macs and will also be in the new 2020 iMac. (supposedly it will be released in Sept.)

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for that reminder Charlie. I forgot about the T2 problem.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...Apparently if your computer has a T2 chip as mine does, there is a chance that upgrading to Catalina will brick the thing.

Yes, this is a known problem. Apple may have gone overboard with security with the T2 chip, and combined with Catalina it can cause disastrous results.

Not "a lot" of people are having problems with Catalina, but for some Catalina has huge bugs. I've taken to warning people away from upgrading to Catalina.

Catalina-Update killed my Mac mini late 2… - Apple Community

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Normally I would agree with the both of you. But the T2 chip changes things and the way the system can be cloned back. Once that T2 chip shuts down the system, there is no way to clone the old system back. You essentially have a brick until you follow Apple's procedures for unbricking the machine.

The T2 chip is in all the newer Macs and will also be in the new 2020 iMac. (supposedly it will be released in Sept.)

Correctamundo. I have the 2019 MacBook Air with the T2 chip but this is trivial to do. Just log into the firmware; make the needed security change to allow booting off an external device; then proceed and do exactly that. I forgot I went through this. When I first purchased that model, I wound up returning it due to buggy behavior and got an identical replacement. This is what I had to do to get the clone of the first onto the replacement.

 

[krs]

Catalina-Update killed my Mac mini late 2… - Apple Community

This reply struck me in the above link:

.......but also frustrating me after a helpless Apple Support phone call it was something I could have fixed on my own all along but never would have known about the procedure.

I have read this now numerous times that Apple Support seems to be clueless.

Not good for customer satisfaction.

 

[chscag]

Yeah, I've read of several reports of the same thing happening. It's really frustrating because Apple Stores have now begun to close again throughout many places in the US and you can no longer make a genius appointment. I needed a new battery in our spare iPhone 7+ and Apple made an appointment for me at a local Best Buy store nearby my home.

Best Buy is an Authorized Apple Repair Servicer and Apple is sending folks to Best Buy to have certain repairs done. Changing a battery in an iPhone is one thing, but there is no way I would trust the Geek Squad to do repairs on my Mac if it was needed.

By the way, they did change the battery for me and did a good job. Same cost: $49.00 + tax.

 

[IWT]

Correctamundo. I have the 2019 MacBook Air with the T2 chip but this is trivial to do. Just log into the firmware; make the needed security change to allow booting off an external device; then proceed and do exactly that. I forgot I went through this. When I first purchased that model, I wound up returning it due to buggy behavior and got an identical replacement. This is what I had to do to get the clone of the first onto the replacement.

Just in case folks don't know how to do this, here is a YouTube Video. At the very bottom of the page shown is "External Boot" and you need to check "Allow booting from external media".

YouTube

Ian

 

[jga40]

Hi I'm on osMac 10.15.5. The first time I installed the first release, I had to install it three times, but it's fine now.

What I can tell you is that on it's next major upgrade Apple will be abandoning the use of kernels. Most of the problems I've had over the years have been due to kernel panics. This information was given to me by an Apple software developer who produces Malwarebytes.

Good luck with the installation.

 

[jga40]

I replied to a post about Catalina, but it's not appeared. Was it wrong of me to let the forum know that the Developer of Malwarebytes informed me that at it's next major upgrade in the Autumn, Apple was planning a new system which didn't need kernels, the major cause of most problems I've had with Mac for several years.

 

[usagora]

I replied to a post about Catalina, but it's not appeared. Was it wrong of me to let the forum know that the Developer of Malwarebytes informed me that at it's next major upgrade in the Autumn, Apple was planning a new system which didn't need kernels, the major cause of most problems I've had with Mac for several years.

Both your posts are showing up.

 

[krs]

I replied to a post about Catalina, but it's not appeared. Was it wrong of me to let the forum know that the Developer of Malwarebytes informed me that at it's next major upgrade in the Autumn, Apple was planning a new system which didn't need kernels, the major cause of most problems I've had with Mac for several years.

I think Apple has bigger problems with Mac software than kernel panics.
We have almost a dozen Macs, laptops and desktops, in the family covering Macs from 2008 to 2019, and I can't remember the last time anyone reported a kernel panic.
The "problem" I see most often in our little circle are complaints about features that either disappear or get changed drastically from OS to OS.
Apple's intent seems to be to provide more options but often at the expense of basic functionality.

 

[paul-ny]

Thank you! It's always hard to believe that causes may not be what I think they are, but I guess things do work that way! The laptop was less than a year old; its logic board shouldn't have been ready for death.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

I replied to a post about Catalina, but it's not appeared. Was it wrong of me to let the forum know that the Developer of Malwarebytes informed me that at it's next major upgrade in the Autumn, Apple was planning a new system which didn't need kernels, the major cause of most problems I've had with Mac for several years.

It's been a topic of general discussion among developers. In fact, recently Apple has backtracked on what they are saying about this. In the short term, it looks like Kernel Extensions won't entirely disappear.

 

[jga40]

It's been a topic of general discussion among developers. In fact, recently Apple has backtracked on what they are saying about this. In the short term, it looks like Kernel Extensions won't entirely disappear.

Thanks for that. I have Malwarebytes and when I launch it I sometimes get a splash screen warning that Malwarebytes will not support the next major OS upgrade due in the Autumn, it was they that told me that Apple were dropping kernels.

BTW. As a Mac user since 1992, my first Mac was an LC III with 2 MB Ram and 160 MB Hard Drive, you have no idea how much The Macintosh Bible has helped me over the years, thank you

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Thanks for that. I have Malwarebytes and when I launch it I sometimes get a splash screen warning that Malwarebytes will not support the next major OS upgrade due in the Autumn, it was they that told me that Apple were dropping kernels.

I recommend that you jetison Malwarebytes (I don't trust the company anyway) and instead use this very similar app:

DetectX Swift (free)
DetectX – sqwarq | security for your mac

DetectX does not install any kernel extensions.

BTW. As a Mac user since 1992, my first Mac was an LC III with 2 MB Ram and 160 MB Hard Drive, you have no idea how much The Macintosh Bible has helped me over the years, thank you

How nice of you to say!

When I started writing for TMB I didn't think much of it. Then I started going to Macworld Expo and other Mac gatherings, and tons of strangers suddenly all felt like they knew me. I had no idea how many people bought and read that book from cover to cover. I miss TMB (it got sold to a new publisher years ago who destroyed it) and meeting all of the nice people like yourself who enjoyed it.