My Upgrade Experience with macOS Big Sur

Topic

New Reply

I upgraded my iMac Pro to macOS Big Sur this week. Here’s a rundown of what new features I’ve personally tested, as well as what issues I’ve had since upgrading.

New Features:

• New Look, Menu Bar is now Clear, New App Icons resemble iOS, New Dock Design, Redesigned Sheets (Dialogs): Overall I’m adjusting to the new look well. I thought it would be more radically different than it is. While it is different, it’s still familiar enough where I have adjusted without it being a total shock.
• New System Sounds, Startup Chime Back: The new sounds are a nice tweak, but they still feel familiar. Love the fact that the startup chime is back.
• Widgets and Notification Center: Widgets and Notification Center are now combined into a single tab. Widgets now feel more like iOS 14.
• Control Center: Really enjoying Control Center. It has cleaned up my menu bar.
• AirPods Pro Automatic Switching: Really useful and now in sync with my iOS devices.
• “On my Mac” now listed under Finder Favorites which is another interesting document storage folder.
• Safari: Now offers-Website Translation, Customizable Start Page, Improved, Extensions, New Tab Design with Favicons and Previews, Import from Chrome, Password Monitoring, Privacy Report. Some of these features already came to Safari 14 on Catalina. I’ve used some of these features but not all of them. Still enjoying Safari in general.
• Messages: Now offers-Pinned Conversations, Improved Search, Enhanced Photo Picker, Inline Replies, Group Photos, Images, Memoji, Message Effects, now based on Project Catalyst. Really enjoying the improvements to Messages, although the app doesn’t feel dramatically different to the previous version. It simply now feels more on par with the iOS version.
• Maps: Now offers-Guides, Cycling Routes, Electric Vehicle Routing, Look Around, Indoor Maps, Detailed Maps Arriving to More Countries, Live Updates for Shared ETA, Congestion Zones and License Plate Restrictions, now based on Project Catalyst. Maps now simply feels more in line with the iOS app, and the new feature are useful.
• App Store Privacy Information (Coming Soon)
• HomeKit Secure Video Notifications. Useful since I own a HomeKit video camera.
• Music now adds Listen Now, Improved Music Search. Now more on par with iOS
• Improved Siri Knowledge. Always good to see more Siri knowledge.
• Faster Updates. Looking forward to testing this.
• Signed System Volume. Should make macOS even more secure.
• Apple Arcade Enhancements: Friends Playing Recommendations, Achievements, Continue Playing, See All Games and Filter and Coming Soon, Game Center In-Game Dashboard. I haven’t done much with Apple Arcade, but I do have a free trial and will test it over December and review it.
• Optimized Battery Charging and Battery Usage History. Nice for Mac laptop owners, although I don’t own a Mac laptop at the moment to test it out on.
• Sign Language Prominence in FaceTime. Useful accessibility feature
• HomeKit also adds: Home Status, Adaptive Lighting for Smart Bulbs, Face Recognition for Cameras, Activity Zones for Cameras. Some of these I’ve been using on iOS and look forward to having them on the Mac.
• Notes: Now offers-Improved Search, Quick Styles, Enhanced Scanning. Will be useful features to use.
  Photos: Now offers-Expanded Editing (Photos and Videos), Improved Retouch, Fluid Navigation, Add Context to Photos with Captions, Memories Enhancements. Looking forward to trying some of these.
• Listen Now feature in Podcasts. Puts it on par with iOS.
  Reminders: Now offers-Assign Reminders, Smart Suggestions, Personalized Lists with Emoji, Reminder Suggestions from Mail, Organize Smart Lists, New Keyboard Shortcuts, Improved Search. Useful features that will make Reminders even more handy.
• Spotlight: Now offers-Quick Look Support, Streamlined list, Spotlight now powers Find menu in apps. Looking forward to trying some of these.
  Voice Memos: Now offers-Folders, Smart Folders, Favorites, Enhance Recording. Useful tweaks to the app.
  Weather Widget: Now offers Dark Sky Precipitation Reports, Severe Weather Alerts, Significant Shifts. All useful for a weather guy like me.
• New International Features. Useful for some non-US customers.

Issues:

• My Keyboard Automatically Changed to one of my Custom Hebrew Keyboards out of the blue. That was an experience!
• I Needed to update Drobo Dashboard and Nota Bene before upgrading to Big Sur. Both are working well after the upgrade.
• I Needed to update GarageBand, Apple Classroom, and Remote Desktop after upgrading.
• I Needed to reboot after Google File Stream Update. I still need to reboot after reinstalling the Techsmith System Audio Extension.
• I Had to re-configure the new widgets to take advantage of them.
• I am having a strange Blank Menu Bar Item appear, that I believe is tied to my work’s Cisco AnyConnect VPN.
• SuperDuper is not supported yet.
• Adobe DNG Converter had a Blacked Out UI, updating resolved it.
• I may be having issues with Arq backup. Showing them my logs.
• Brave is Still Crashing when I use DuckDuckGo search under Private Browsing. This was occurring on Catalina. I have yet to resolve this.
• I had to Re-Sign into my Apple ID for the Apple Watch Unlock to work again.
• I had to Re-Enable iCloud Keychain.
• Cisco Active Advisor Desktop Scanner is Not Launching. I reported this to Cisco.
• I had a Techsmith Audio Issue with Camtasia and Snagit. I had to manually remove and reinstall the audio system extension.
• I had to Re-Upgrade my iMac Pro to Wi-Fi Calling.
• Flickr Uploadr Crashes upon launch. I have reported this to Flickr
• Excel, Outlook, OneNote had Update Errors with Microsoft AutoUpdate. Reinstalling Office for Mac (in place without removing the previous version) resolved the issue.
• Nisus Writer Pro UI Icons look strange. I have reported this to the developer.
• OneDrive Won’t Launch at all. I need to work on resolving this.
• I need to see if I need to Update HomeBrew.
• Retrospect Backup might be having issues. I have submitted my logs to Retrospect.
• I still need to Go Over System Preferences and see what changes to System Preferences are new to Big Sur.
• I am having issues creating eDrive and Protogo Drives in Tech Tool Pro. This has been reported to the developer.
• I couldn’t download newly purchased books in the Books App until I rebooted my iMac Pro.
• Waterfox Crashes completely. Updating the app doesn’t help. I may remove Waterfox entirely.
• Cisco AnyConnect VPN works, but it shows a Notification saying system extension blocked every time I startup my Mac, and it keeps running that message as a background process. I have reported this to my work.
• I have an unresolved question about Time Machine. I am trying to find out if Time Machine partitions on Thunderbolt drives are automatically converted to APFS after upgrading to Big Sur, or if this will need to be done manually.

As I resolve or encounter more issues on Big Sur, I will report back here with details.

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

Alex5723, DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Replies

Overall, it seems to have gone more smoothly than my upgrade to Catalina did.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

That is a lot of issues and it’s better than the Catalina upgrade?
AirPods Pro Automatic Switching seems like the only useful extra.

I wouldn’t be recommending the update to ordinary folk on that basis.

cheers, Paul

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Nathan, You wrote, in answer to a question I made recently in another thread (Ongoing List of Mac Apps …”), that Time Machine and Waterfox were “Big Sur ready.” Of course, that is what the makers of those applications were saying, not necessarily what will actually happen in practice. I know that. Now, as you are telling us, both are giving problems when running on Big Sur. This says to me that, right now, the spirit may be willing, but the flesh is still weak, as far as those two applications, or Big Sur, or all three combined, is concerned. Independently of all this, Waterfox seems to be going through a, perhaps, terminal bad patch, but it is a browser and can be replaced with another browser: no big deal. Time Machine, on the other hand, is the application for doing backups to and retrieving saved files from an external drive, so it is something where one really needs to have an uncomplicated transition. I think that the prudent course of action for me is, some months from now, to check again on the Big Sur vs. applications I really use compatibility situation, before deciding when and how to jump from Mojave to Big Sur. These unfortunate wrinkles, with some luck, might have been ironed out by then.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Big Sur Time Machine Migration

..updating to Big Sur comes down to 2 Time Machine choices: 1) the legacy HFS+ hard link way and, 2) The APFS snapshot way. There is no way to migrate from HFS+ Time Machine to APFS Time Machine except by starting afresh. The default Big Sur Time Machine setting formats a new disk as APFS as shown in the video. Goodbye HFS+ Time Machine backups….

Oakley’s key advice is this:

I also strongly recommend that, whether using HFS+ or APFS to store your Time Machine backups in future, you start making a fresh backup set with Big Sur. You’ll have to do that if you switch to using APFS anyway, but following the problems which occurred with Catalina, you’ll be much better off if you archive your old backup set and start afresh…

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Alex: ” you’ll be much better off if you archive your old backup set and start afresh…”

Considering that, when I am finally running Big Sur, I might want to get back some old version of a file backed up with Time Machine maybe years before moving to Big Sur, how would I “archive” what I have in my “old” Time Machine so it is still accessible when running Big Sur — and what exactly does to “archive” mean here?

I hope this does not mean that I need to get a PhD on hard disk formatting to be able to continue to retrieve the files I have in Time Machine no matter when it is that I install Big Sur. Because if such is the case, then that will be the day I say good by to Macs and move full time to Linux.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Re Paul: The good news is many of these issues I was able to either easily self-resolve, or they’ll be resolved with updates to my third party apps. Even though I waited months before upgrading to Catalina, I still had deeper, OS-level issues after upgrading. I haven’t seen those issues “yet”, although more time will tell.

I would say for those who haven’t upgraded to Catalina, it might be worth skipping it altogether and go for Big Sur once the remaining issues are resolved.

RE Oscar: Time Machine is fully optimized on Big Sur. In fact, mine is still working perfectly. I do know that Time Machine supports migrating to APFS instead of HFS+ for backups, so this was more of a question than a true “issue”. Waterfox is definitely crashing, so that’s an issue. For now I’ll probably totally remove it and just use Firefox. I still have Waterfox on my old High Sierra iMac if I absolutely need it.

RE Alex: I looked over the link. If I archive my Backups.backupdb on another hard drive, delete it on this hard drive, then re-setup Time Machine with a new backup, will that automatically create backups using APFS?

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Nathan:

“RE Oscar: Time Machine is fully optimized on Big Sur. In fact, mine is still working perfectly. I do know that Time Machine supports migrating to APFS instead of HFS+ for backups, so this was more of a question than a true “issue”.”

I am still not completely clear about this. So I would like to ask these two questions, as their answers might clarify things for me:

First question:

Would this work?

(1) I have Big Sur finally installed.

(2) I plug in my good old Time Machine external hard disk (1 TB, still largely unused.)

(2) I start Time Machine, so now its software is running and its GUI opens.

(3) I want to dig up an old version of a file, not the file as it is now, but as it was seven and a half months ago.

(4) I proceed to do this as I would do it, with the same TM disk, totally unchanged, when I was still running Mojave, as explained in the document below:

See section “How to recover [an older version of] a file from a Time Machine back up”:

https://www.macworld.co.uk/how-to/time-machine-restore-3449071/

Second question:

Could I also continue to use Time Machine to back up new files, or new versions of old files, in the same good old external hard disk that is now still exactly as it was before I installed Big Sur, with the same format, so with no hard drive reformatting surgery performed on it, while still remaining able, as mentioned above, to retrieve from the drive old versions of files, perhaps edited further later on, but without those later edits, as saved there when I was running first Sierra and then Mojave? Thanks.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

Nathan Parker, DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

OscarCP wrote:

I am still not completely clear about this.

Time Machine switches to APFS

In Catalina, you select an external volume connected via Thunderbolt or USB to use with Time Machine, and the partition is reformatted as an HFS+ volume; whether you encrypt it or not is up to you. Time Machine creates a Backups.backupdb folder on the drive, and inside of that folder is a bunch of other folders: one each for each Mac you’re backing up to that drive, and then within those, one for every discrete backup each Mac has made…..

That changes in Big Sur, at least when you set up a new Time Machine volume. According to The Eclectic Light Company’s Howard Oakley, who has taken it upon himself to describe Apple’s APFS changes in Big Sur in lieu of an official deep dive, Apple has added a new APFS volume role called “Backup” specifically for Time Machine backup volumes. Unless you’re backing up to a network drive or continuing to use an HFS+ Time Machine configuration that you set up in a previous version of macOS, Time Machine will only backup to one of these special APFS volumes. And once you’ve designated a disk as a Backup volume, you can’t do anything else with it. It’s used for Time Machine backups and nothing else, and you can’t back more than one Mac up to the same APFS volume (you get an error message if you try). That said, because of how APFS works, you can always use Disk Utility to create non-Backup APFS volumes in the same container to backup multiple Macs to the same drive or use the drive’s free space for other things….

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Thanks, Alex, or taking the time to answer, but that is not really the answer to my question. My question is whether I’ll be able or not to plug in my current Time Machine in whatever format it is now and has been since I bought my current Mac three and a half years ago, and still be able to retrieve, without any funny reformatting, partitioning or whatever, immediately and without further ado, earlier versions of any file backed up there from it when running Big Sur. As well as to continue using the same old TM external drive to make further backups when running Big Sur without any changes to the format, partitioning or whatever of this old TM external disk.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

I can answer Oscar’s original question. If you upgrade to Big Sur, Time Machine will continue to work as is without any changes, as mine is continuing to work as is without any changes. So you don’t have to reformat anything for Time Machine to continue working under Big Sur.

However, in my case, reformatting under APFS might benefit my workload, so my question for Alex is: If I archive my Backups.backupdb on another hard drive, delete it on this hard drive, then re-setup Time Machine with a new backup, will that automatically create backups using APFS?

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Nathan, Thanks for answering to my questions.

One more thing about this:

You wrote: “If you upgrade to Big Sur, Time Machine will continue to work as is without any changes, as mine is continuing to work as is without any changes. So you don’t have to reformat anything for Time Machine to continue working under Big Sur”  Does this include my continued use of TM’s current external hard disk after upgrading to Big Sur my current “Intel” Mac, right?

Moving to an M1 Mac with Big Sur on it, or with a macOS successor of Big Sur, that’s something I don’t plan to do for several years.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Yep, you’ve got it.

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Updates on my upgrade experience:

1. I managed to go over System Preferences tonight. Most preferences are generally the same. “Play Sound on Startup” under “Sounds” and the “Control Center” items under “Dock & Menu Bar” are the major changes. I did need to re-enable “Hey Siri” and my Guest account, since those disabled themselves during the upgrade.
2. I’ve removed Waterfox for now and just using Firefox in its place. By the way, my crashing issue was with Waterfox Classic. Haven’t tested with the more modern version of it.
3. Heard back from Micromat: Big Sur compatible upgrades in the works for ATOMIC and TechTool Pro. Checkmate will take a little longer.
4. Heard back from Nisus. The Nisus Writer Pro UI issue is a bug that’s related to another bug they had, but still newly-reported. They plan to send me a beta to test once they believe they have it resolved.
5. My Retrospect issue may potentially be resolved. Macintosh HD was showing up twice under my backup sources, so I had to remove the old one, edit my backup script to add the new one, and I will test the backup tomorrow and see what happens.
6. Cisco Active Advisor crashing is a known issue. Updating Java doesn’t resolve it. Same with Flickr Uploader. Updates are in the works.
7. Biggest amusement was when I was going to try to abbreviate Big Sur tonight in my notes. Apple might have wanted to think through their OS name “Big Sur” a little more, since it can get amusing to abbreviate it. Hopefully it’ll live up to be more reliable where the abbreviation doesn’t stick. 🙂

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

OscarCP, DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Nathan, Thanks for carrying out these tests and appraising us of their outcomes; knowing the results you get without one having to experiment with one’s poor own Mac is very helpful. Not to mention safe.

As to the result of typing the initials rather than the full name: I hope that’s just an amusing coincidence and does not reflect a sadder truth. On way or another, we are going to find out.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

Nathan Parker, DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Nathan Parker wrote:

delete it on this hard drive, then re-setup Time Machine with a new backup, will that automatically create backups using APFS?

Yes. And this drive will be used by Time Machine only for that particular MAC unless you create additional APFS partitions on the drive.

To OscarCP. First you can continue using Big Sur’s Time Machine backups to your current HFS+ drives, and restore.
As Big Sur’s Time Machine supports HFS+ I would imagine that recovering files from Time Machine archives is possible.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Nathan Parker, DrBonzo, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Good to know Alex. I’ll try it this week.

I heard back from Arq, and they are sending me a new pre-release build of Arq 7 to test to see if I have better reliability with cloud backups on Big Sur.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

I just remembered that I had not done something I was supposed to do and so here comes a new question when I thought we were all done with the issue of “can I continuing to use my good old TM external hard disk to keep doing backups when I switch to Big Sur, still using my good old Intel Mac, that might live ten thousand years before I need to get a new one, be it an M1 or whatever?”

So this is what I had forgotten to do and did just now: check what format my 4 TB Seagate Back Up Plus model SRD00F1 had when I bought. It turns out it was, most likely, exFAT, a format that works with both Macs and Windows PCs, because I do not remember reformatting to HFS+ when I started to use it. But after more than three and a half years, can’t be all that sure about that right now.

If it is exFAT and not HFS+, would Big Sur let my Intel Mac continue using this good old disk with Time Machine as if I had never left Mojave?

Profuse apologies for bringing back this issue.

https://www.seagate.com/files/www-content/manuals/backup-plus-portable/pdf/backup-plus-portable-en_US.pdf

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Time machine does not work with exfat.   After plugging the drive in, you can run disk utility to see what partitions and filesystems are on it.

It may be possible to create a filesystem-in-a-file on an exfat fs and point time machine at that.  Not supported, but here’s a description if you want to live on the edge.

3 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Thanks, Anonymous. Your answer, supported by the result of a little research I’ve just done on the Web, puts my mind to rest: No need for me to do anything, once Big Sur is running on my Intel Mac beyond plugging the good old external Seagate disk, launching Time Machine and just carrying on backing up the data kept on the Mac’s SSD, or retrieving old files backed up previously, as usual.

Here is what at Seagate they have to say about the file formats of external disks compatible with Time Machine, as well as how to format an exFAT disk to be used with Time Machine (something I am not contemplating, or according to the above, need to do):

https://www.seagate.com/support/kb/how-to-format-your-drive-exfat-on-macos-1011-el-capitan-and-higher/

 

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Time Machine either reformatted your partition to HFS+, or it created a virtual disk on there for your backups formatted as HFS+. Anonymous is right, no exFAT support for Time Machine.

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

My issues with Retrospect are resolved, so one more issue off my list resolved.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

And the fix was?

cheers, Paul

1 user thanked author for this post.

Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

I posted it earlier, but it is a little hard to find. Here it is again:

My Retrospect issue may potentially be resolved. Macintosh HD was showing up twice under my backup sources, so I had to remove the old one, edit my backup script to add the new one, and I will test the backup tomorrow and see what happens.

I also resolved the OneDrive issue. Just needed to reinstall OneDrive by removing just the app from the folder (no other files) and reinstall OneDrive.

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Paul T

Reply | Quote

Nathan, Would it be right to say that your problems, so far, have been mostly, or even entirely, not with the OS (Big Sur), but with the software (applications and scripts) that you were trying to run on it?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

Mostly to do with third-party apps that needed to be updated to work with Big Sur, or a few minor adjustments I needed to make with third-party apps after upgrading to Big Sur. I had to make a few adjustments to macOS itself after upgrading (notated gradually above), but so far, most of my issues have been minor and easily resolvable.

On Nisus Writer Pro, they sent me a beta that corrects the UI awkwardness, so another issue resolved off my list.

Nathan Parker

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Do you guys think I should make the plunge and upgrade this December? I’m currently on Catalina but would like to get upgrading out of the way before the start of the new year due to work term commitments (don’t want to upgrade during my work term). Most of the apps I use are either already updated for Big Sur or will receive updates in the future (or don’t need updates to work). I normally wait several months for major upgrades (as I do with Windows 10 upgrades) but I want to get this out of the way. Should I upgrade once the 11.1 update is released?

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

My understanding is that you can upgrade to a new version of macOS at anytime within the three years after the one you are using now was introduced (i.e. before the 3rd version of macOS following yours comes out, most likely around October of that year). So, given that you are running Catalina, if your term commitments will take you less than two uninterrupted years, I would suggest that you wait until you have a break from those commitments to install Big Sur, but only after you are reasonably sure doing that will not bring you serious problems, rather than to do it as soon as the first incremental update of it comes out. For example, I am going to wait until the second update and even later, keeping my ear to the ground while I am waiting, for any news of bad trouble people that use their Macs the way I do are encountering.

In the case of Big Sur, there has been a substantial redesign of macOS, which makes it likely that there will be more bugs and wrinkles than usual that need time to be found and fixed by Apple and, or to find workarounds for some of them.

Upgrading to a completely new macOS version so far has taken me less than one hour and, once the new system is ready for one’s use, has been pretty seamless. So, once one is sure no major issues can be expected, updating macOS, so far, has not been a big deal for me. I have done this once already going from Sierra to Mojave and skipping High Sierra, and I am waiting to go directly to Big Sur, skipping Catalina, when I think the time is right. Which, in my opinion, is not right away.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

2 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

So far my upgrade from Catalina to Big Sur has gone more smoothly than my upgrade from Mojave to Catalina. Even though there is a new design, I was able to get used to it quickly, and it doesn’t feel as radical as a design as I thought it would be.

You should be safe to upgrade over December. Overall, I have been.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Update. To convert Time Machine from HFS+ to APFS, it requires more than simply removing the Backup folder and re-creating the Time Machine backup. It requires re-formatting the drive as APFS. Some details on APFS and Time Machine are found here.

I reformatted my Time Machine drive as APFS this weekend and created a new Time Machine backup from scratch. Honestly, it’s worth the effort. My Time Machine backups are way faster now. It backed up about 250GB of data in about 20 minutes (used to take hours), and now incremental backups are so fast they’re finished almost before I can blink. The new format changes in Time Machine over APFS are so vastly superior to Time Machine over HFS+, that I’m glad I went for the change.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Nathan, Converting time Machine to the APFS format, I think, is not for everyone.

From the article:

“But [before] you format a Time Machine drive to APFS, there are a few things to consider.

There’s no way to convert an HFS+ Time Machine volume to one that uses APFS without erasing it.“

So there goes whatever had been patiently saved in the Time Machine external drive, from the first day TM was used to the very moment when one pushes the “reformat” button? Fortunately the previous discussion on this issue has reached already the conclusion that leaving Time Machine in the HFS+ format it has always had since there has been a Time Machine, is just fine with Big Sur: this way one gets to keep what was there already and can continue backing up, as usual and in HFS+, whatever comes afterwards when using Big Sur. I much prefer going this way, even if it means the backups take longer. I am sure, by now, that I can live with that.

Another question on macOS upgrades: I am still on Mojave and have received, a few days ago, the 2020-007 update and the 14.1 update of Safari, but have not installed either yet. Do you have a machine still running Mojave to test the updates, or are in touch with people who have those, so as to let us know how well these two updates work, or don’t?

Thanks for all your patient explanations, and Happy Holidays to you and yours, just in case we are not in touch again until afterwards, because one never knows.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

3 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, bassmanzam, Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

One workaround would be to leave your old hard drive on HFS+ for your archives and get a new one you can use for APFS if you wanted the faster backups, although since HFS+ still works well in Big Sur, it might not be worth the investment.

I don’t have a way to test Mojave at the moment since my old Mac is stuck on High Sierra, and my new one can run Big Sur. Anyone here want to come in on the Mojave updates, that would be great.

I’ll probably be saying a few things before December 25th. 🙂

Nathan Parker

3 users thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo, bassmanzam, OscarCP

Reply | Quote

Upgraded to Big Sur yesterday.  No problems at all.  95 minutes total time…download and install.  My first OS upgrade.  Glad I did it.  My iMac is a 2019 base model.  Only 3rd party software is Malwarebytes, Chrome, Firefox, and a HP Envy printer.  Chrome was slow at first, but is OK now.  No changes to items I had in the Menu bar or Dock.  All seems to be the same.  I have no use for the Control Center or new Notifications.

4 users thanked author for this post.

bassmanzam, Nathan Parker, OscarCP, DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Seeing two issues with Big Sur I wanted to report here:

1. Launching apps sometimes are problematic. I thought this was exclusively with LaunchBar (third party app), but I’ve also encountered an issue with the built-in Launchpad as well. With LaunchBar, it occasionally freezes when attempting to launch an app, then generates a crash report for the app I’m trying to launch, plus an error message saying can’t open the app. The issue I’m having with Launchpad is it also freezes, then an error message appears saying “you don’t have permission to launch the app”.
2. AirPods Pro hand off is a little flakey when working between my Mac and iPhone. I’ll place a call with my iPhone, be clicking/typing something on my Mac at the same time, and the AirPods Pro will transfer the audio back to the Mac, then delay transferring back to the iPhone, leaving the caller on the other end saying “hello, hello” until I can finally hear them and answer.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

DrBonzo

Reply | Quote

Nathan, all your reports on BigSur on problems you encounter using it have been, are, and are likely to be for some time to come, when running this OS on an Intel Mac?

(If you do run it on an M1 Mac, I imagine you’ll probably mention it, to avoid confusion, so I am asking the above just in case.)

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

1 user thanked author for this post.

Nathan Parker

Reply | Quote

They are on an Intel Mac, my iMac Pro to be exact.

I don’t have an Apple Silicon Mac, and I won’t have one for years to come for two reasons:

1. I have a ton of life left on my iMac Pro I need to get out of my high-end purchase of it.
2. I want to wait and move to Apple Silicon after all of the rough patches are ironed out, all major apps are Universal, and I know I can sail smoothly into an Apple Silicon Mac. I also will need a Pro-level Mac with more than the M1 chip. While the M1 chip is impressive, I’ll still need a M series chip that offers serious Pro performance.

Nathan Parker

1 user thanked author for this post.

OscarCP

Reply | Quote