Update to Catalina from High Sierra.

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Hi all,
As threatened I've started a new thread to save confusion... mostly mine. I searched for the download and found this page
https://support.apple.com/kb/DL2039?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US But it's only 2 point something Gb. I think that's too small. Is it purely an update rather than the entire OS? Any help appreciated.
 
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It is merely an update and not an upgrade like you need. Download from here and follow instructions to make an Installer with a +14GB thumb drive:-

 
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Thanks Harry. Before I go and buy a large thumb drive, I tried to download Catalina from the apple site you linked to and got the message that it isn't available in Australia. I had this when I went up to High Sierra and others found the same thing. Maybe apple punishes people for not upgrading when apple tells them to. :mad:
 
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Pete do you have an Apple ID which is necessary to use the App Store?

If you do try this and see how you go:-

 
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Hi again Harry,
I went to Safari instead of Firefox and Catalina came up. I took a chance and installed it and now have 10.15.7. Everything seems as it should. All my emails, app's, etc are there and working. I'm not trying to be smart, but why does everyone tell me to make a thumb drive installer ie; what does it do differently to what I've done.
Ps: I haven't used my CCC to reload anything, but when I do a CCC back up, will that go OK with the clone that's there all ready?
 

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Safari is associated with your Apple account whereas third party browsers are not. Whenever doing any downloading from Apple it's best to use Safari, especially since Big Sur.
 
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Safari is associated with your Apple account whereas third party browsers are not. Whenever doing any downloading from Apple it's best to use Safari, especially since Big Sur.
Thanks Rod.
 

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I'm not trying to be smart, but why does everyone tell me to make a thumb drive installer ie; what does it do differently to what I've done.

A very fair question, hoody.

You could, in fact, go through life with endless new Macs/Operating Systems and never bother with a Thumb Drive Installer. It is certainly not obligatory.

Why then would you bother? Well, it has certain advantages.

The installation of a new Operating System (OS) is necessarily time consuming and depends on a reasonably fast Broadband connection to get the new OS followed by the actual installation time.

And let's suppose that you have more than Mac in the family which you want to upgrade with the same OS.

You can use the USB Installer Drive to put that OS on as many Macs as you wish without downloading the OS for each one.

But it's more than that. When you make the initial download of the new OS and create a USB Installer which is bootable. A USB bootable Installer can, as above, be used to put the new OS on all your Macs. In addition, because the Installer is Bootable, it means that you can Boot into the Mac or Macs, go the Disk Utility (DU) and Erase the Mac's Internal Drive, then Install the new OS on to a "fresh" Internal Drive.

Thereafter, bring over all your data and settings from your backup. This is often called a "clean install" and is helpful if you feel that your Mac was not behaving as it should, perhaps because you had previously downloaded every new OS on top of the previous one.

But strictly speaking to do a proper Clean Install after you've Erased the Internal Drive, many would advise you to move all your data manually from your backup and reinstall all your additional apps from the web. This is a tedious and time consuming process, but it does get rid of all the remnants and scruff that can accumulate over time on your Mac.

But there's more. The Bootable USB Installer can be used to boot into your Mac and erase the Int Drive and reinstall a new, clean version of the same OS - that is the same OS as is on the USB Stick. So even though you aren't upgrading to a new OS, you can do an erase-and-reinstall of the current OS if you have a problem

If my explanation is less clear than you might want, this article from Apple may fill in the gaps:


Ian
 
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why does everyone tell me to make a thumb drive installer ie; what does it do differently to what I've done.
I make one for;

just in case....
 

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Sometimes a bootable macOS installer on a thumb drive will "save" you where nothing else can.
I once had a case where not only wasI unable to boot from my internal drive but my clone and my Time Machine backups as well.
I was able to boot erase my HD and install the previous operating system with the thumb drive. From thereI was able to upgrade to the current OS then load my files from the clone via drag an drop and Reinstal all my apps new from the various sources. That was nearly two years ago.
 
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Now I see why it's done. Thanks for the explanations, it's much appreciated. I suppose that if I get a suitable usb drive, I could still do it now for the 'just in case' scenario mentioned by Bob. Special thanks to Ian for taking the time to type that explanation.
 

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Or just do it next time, I mean it's unlikely you would come across my situation after all it's never happened to me before. The thing is you need to have the macOS installer from the app store to make one so it's best done when you perform an upgrade before you run the installation because after you run it it's gone.
 

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Another common issue is users who upgrade their macOS then decide they want to go back to the previous version. I usually don't advise this, sooner or later you have to upgrade but because Apple does not allow retrograde upgrades and tends to remove the previous macOS from the App Store after a new one is released this can cause a real problem. The only way to Install a previous macOS is to erase your Macintosh HD first.
Yes, the Restore Partition offers some solutions, but for older devices it can be problematic.
A recent post from a user is another example; he did not import his user account correctly at the setup of a new device. This resulted it two users both with the same name and all of his "Home" data on the second account. Really the only solution was to start again.
So any situation where erasing and reinstalling the previous or even current macOS again requires a bootable source and this is where the bootable thumb drive installer can save your bacon.
Lastly as a precaution you don't even need to make the bootable installer immediately, you can just make a copy of the installer to an external HD. So long as you have a copy you can make a bootable installer any time on any compatible device. I usually quit the macOS installer once it's downloaded, update my CCC clone (with safety net on) and that makes a copy of my HD prior to the upgrade (a good idea anyway) and a copy of the installer too.
 
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OK, I get it now thanks. I can't see me going on to BS as it's border line whether my macbook air can handle it, So I'll stick with Catalina
 

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I suppose I could just sum up by saying it's good insurance. Like insurance we have it with the hope we'll never need it.
Upgrades though are like death and taxes, you can stave them off but in the end they are inevitable. If your device runs Catalina okay it will run BS and if you are just installing over Catalina it should be seamless. I would consider it before the next major update, currently in its 7th beta release.
Of course if you're happy with Catalina stick with that.
 
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I am pretty happy with Catalina. I've just had a look at the apple site and it says my mid 2013 MBA can run BS OK. If I decide to give it a try I'll get a suitable sized usb drive and make the bootable mac os installer. Thanks to all for the help and I'll start yet another thread on another potential problem.
 

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