Catalina v Big Sur

[Airsculpture]

I have two external SSDs, one with Big Sur the other with Catalina.

I have been running Big Sur for about a month. No issues. I also didn't have issues on Catalina. I have an external HDD drive partitioned with both SSD drives cloned to it. All my apps which I use work on both.

I am debating whether to scrap the Catalina SSD drive and use it as a Big Sur back up ( speed for doing full clones after updates )

I was curious which OS people prefer ?

 

[0128672]

Big Sur. No issues on 11.2 on my M1 Air.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Simplistic take: Isn't each 'new version' just the old version with a new front end? I laughed when I saw the same stuff from earlier versions of Windows popping up in Windows 8, and 10. Who knows how much changed, really changed, from one version to another. They don't completely rewrite the OS with every x. release.

Speaking after updating everything to BS, I don't see much of a difference. The updates weren't without their drama, but one seems to be just as good/bad as the earlier one...

 

[Prince Akeem]

Big Sur (11.2 and above). While I'm still getting used to the more spacious UI (read: less usable screen real-estate), I was pleasantly surprised how fast it actually is! So far Big Sur is noticeable faster compared to Catalina on my test machine here: late 2013 MacBook Pro (15" Intel i7 model with dedicated graphics and maxed out ram).

There are some parts of the new UI design that I actually like, but other parts I don't like (like the unused space below the dock, and the annoying 1 pixel gap below the menu. I'll probably find ways to fix these in the long term.
I can imagine the decreased usable real estate can be more annoying on small (laptop) screens, but I'm glad I'm mainly using bigger external HiDPI monitors. Apart from these annoyances, other parts of the new design are pretty nice, it's faster than Catalina on this relatively old MacBook, and and so far I haven't had software or hardware compatibility or Bluetooth issues yet on 11.2.

 

[Airsculpture]

Thanks PA

 

[Airsculpture]

I've made the leap.

Reformatted my Catalina 500GB SSD drive and used CCC to clone my Big Sur 500GB SSD to it.

I had previously cloned to an external HDD which took 1hr and 31mins. This clone took just over 10 minutes to complete. Wow !!

 

[MBAir2010]

can we partition Mojave to work on a M1 MacBook?
did not think so...

 

[Airsculpture]

can we partition Mojave to work on a M1 MacBook?
did not think so...

Not sure what that has to do with the thread mate

 

[coldshot]

Hi A, I am ready for the Big Sur upgrade from Catalina, which is painfully slow on my 2017 iMac. I have a 500 GB SSD ready to go, but I am not sure how to boot/run my machine from it. Could you point me in the right direction? How can I optimize this process?

 

[Airsculpture]

I did an internet recovery and installed Big Sur on the external drive. Then migrated apps and home folder content during the process.

 

[coldshot]

I did an internet recovery and installed Big Sur on the external drive. Then migrated apps and home folder content during the process.

Thanks for the response. Ok, now I think I understand the external drive installation. I was wondering about the migrating apps part, and boot-up? What do I do with the Catalina still on my internal drive? Do I bypass it completely, booting from the SSD now?

 

[Airsculpture]

Yes.

when you first boot from the external, ie option boot up. Go into system preferences and select boot disk and select your external as the default

 

[decafjava]

Simplistic take: Isn't each 'new version' just the old version with a new front end? I laughed when I saw the same stuff from earlier versions of Windows popping up in Windows 8, and 10. Who knows how much changed, really changed, from one version to another. They don't completely rewrite the OS with every x. release.

Speaking after updating everything to BS, I don't see much of a difference. The updates weren't without their drama, but one seems to be just as good/bad as the earlier one...

A lot of stuff works better on Big Sur than Catalina at least on my setup. One minor example, an old remastered game I downloaded a few years back from the Mac App store, Imperium Galactica II, was broken by Catalina and would only display the top half of the screen. The devs or rather the company that got the rights and re-published the game were no help. Big Sur fixed this. FWIW.

 

[Isamilis]

I upgraded from catalina (original Os came with my MBA) to Big Sur. Tried for few months until 11.2.2. Finally I return back to Catalina due to Big Sur‘s slower overall response (i.e. opening app took about 8-10 seconds).

 

[coldshot]

Yes.

when you first boot from the external, ie option boot up. Go into system preferences and select boot disk and select your external as the default

Ok. Then use the migration assistant? Do you move everything over? Did you leave anything on the Catalina OS installed on the internal drive?

 

[Airsculpture]

Yes. MA is built into the install process. I personally didn’t leave anything on the internal as I’m not using it or backing it up

 

[planteater]

Big Sur (11.2 and above). While I'm still getting used to the more spacious UI (read: less usable screen real-estate), I was pleasantly surprised how fast it actually is! So far Big Sur is noticeable faster compared to Catalina on my test machine here: late 2013 MacBook Pro (15" Intel i7 model with dedicated graphics and maxed out ram).

There are some parts of the new UI design that I actually like, but other parts I don't like (like the unused space below the dock, and the annoying 1 pixel gap below the menu. I'll probably find ways to fix these in the long term.
I can imagine the decreased usable real estate can be more annoying on small (laptop) screens, but I'm glad I'm mainly using bigger external HiDPI monitors. Apart from these annoyances, other parts of the new design are pretty nice, it's faster than Catalina on this relatively old MacBook, and and so far I haven't had software or hardware compatibility or Bluetooth issues yet on 11.2.

Can you elaborate on the less usable real estate? What elements are you referring to?

 

[haddy]

I have two external SSDs, one with Big Sur the other with Catalina.

I have been running Big Sur for about a month. No issues. I also didn't have issues on Catalina. I have an external HDD drive partitioned with both SSD drives cloned to it. All my apps which I use work on both.

I am debating whether to scrap the Catalina SSD drive and use it as a Big Sur back up ( speed for doing full clones after updates )

I was curious which OS people prefer ?

My 2020 iMac came with 10.15.7. It works just fine. My startup drive now is a thunderbolt connected NVMe M.2 2TB SSD in an ORICO T3 enclosure running 10.15.7. It is fast and after years of experiences, both good and bad, with operating systems I now stick to the concept "if it ain't broke don't fix it" and also stay with the operating system that the machine came with.

 

[coldshot]

Yes. MA is built into the install process. I personally didn’t leave anything on the internal as I’m not using it or backing it up

Thanks for your responses. I just backed everything up and it states it's about 530 GB...which is larger than my 500 GB SSD. So shall I limit some items to migrate and see how it works?

 

[philosopherdog]

If you are running external displays stay with Catalina until they fix it.

 

[darngooddesign]

I am debating whether to scrap the Catalina SSD drive and use it as a Big Sur back up ( speed for doing full clones after updates )

Just archive it on a small external drive; it's not like small drives are very expensive.

 

[Airsculpture]

I've made the leap.

Reformatted my Catalina 500GB SSD drive and used CCC to clone my Big Sur 500GB SSD to it.

I had previously cloned to an external HDD which took 1hr and 31mins. This clone took just over 10 minutes to complete. Wow !!

Just archive it on a small external drive; it's not like small drives are very expensive.

Already did. Back ups now take 10 minutes

 

[darngooddesign]

Already did. Back ups now take 10 minutes

10 minutes for a one-time task really isn't a big deal. Just go make a cup of coffee.

I use TimeMachine, which just runs in the background, so the amount of time it takes to backup my working drive is irrelevant.

 

[Airsculpture]

Exactly. 10 minutes to another external SSD is fantastic. It was taking over an hour to an old desktop disk drive.

I don't use TM at all, used it once when it was introduced. I just reformat the SSD and take a new full clone after an update is installed.

 

[Prince Akeem]

Can you elaborate on the less usable real estate? What elements are you referring to?

Alright, for example:

• Toolbars of most apps (Safari, Finder, etc. etc.) are now much more spacious (larger vertical height). Even though they are larger, they don't offer more functionality, so this is purely aesthetic.
• Small Window top bars (like terminal, etc) are also slightly larger vertically, but not as much as the new toolbars.
• Big Sur also introduces a 1 pixel gap below the menu bar. So now, you'll always see a gap through which you see your wallpaper (unless you go full-screen). You can't drag windows any higher to the top to cover this gap.
• There now also is an unused vertical gap below the dock. Up until macOS Catalina, the dock "stuck" to the bottom of the screen, now it floats above it.

All of the above means you have less "usable" space on your screen, hence my analogy "less screen real estate". This can be especially noticable for people working on small macbook screens. I mostly work on larger external screens so it is less of an issue, and I'm pretty much used to the new aesthetics now (again, apart from the annoying 1 pixel gap below the menu).

It's now 1.5 months later than my previous post. I haven't had any real issues and it still feels faster than Catalina.