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How Stable is it?

Aeparker

Aeparker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2016
8
1
I'm am debating on installing the Mac OS Sierra public beta. All the new features look great. I held off on installing it because I didn't want to deal with bugs. This is the 7th update. How stable is it? I have a early 2015 iMac. I am a photographer, so I need my all of my Adobe software to work. Should I install or should I wait?
 
Revo Runner

Revo Runner

macrumors newbie
Jul 4, 2016
27
5
just partition your drive about 15gigs and install it there, this is what I did so if you don't like it you can just delete the partition. I really like it, I have beta 6 installed today. So far pretty stable and no malfunctions "yet"

if you are concerned about stableness and such never install beta any OS. I have been using Sierra exclusively for about 3 months now.
 
Aeparker

Aeparker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2016
8
1
I thought about doing the partition but I want to be able to use it with all of my current data. I guess I can migrate everything over. Then if I like it just get rid of the other partition.
 
A

ajay96

macrumors 6502a
Jul 29, 2013
605
255
New York, NY
You could use Carbon Copy Cloner to clone your entire hard drive onto an external device, and then upgrade. If you don't like it, you can always revert to the cloned device's contents.
 
flowrider

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,299
2,994
Unless you have a second drive and are backed up on that drive, I would not do it. With that being said, I have been using Sierra as my daily driver since PB4. It's stable and working quit well for me. However, I do have multiple drives, and have current start-up SSDs containing both El Cap and Yosemite. And my data os stored on a couple of HDDs.

Lou
 
Last edited:
L

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,409
19,491
I've been using the developer preview for weeks now, haven't had a single issue so far. For my purpose at least, its as stable as it gets.
 
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S

shoes222

macrumors member
Sep 4, 2012
87
4
As of Beta 6, Sierra has been extremely stable. There is very little difference in performance and stability in the latest beta vs release software.
 
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fisherking

fisherking

macrumors G4
Jul 16, 2010
11,234
5,544
ny somewhere
PB beta 6 here has been pretty stellar as well (had some bad experiences in PB beta 4...shudder). but presently, really good experience....
 
Fishrrman

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
28,983
13,036
Revo wrote:
"just partition your drive about 15gigs and install it there"

I'd suggest a slightly larger partition, say 20-24gb, for a bit more "headroom".
Or, install to a partition on an external drive, or even a USB flashdrive (will be slower, but usable).

I've only experimented a little with Sierra. My install seems stable, but my El Capitan install runs beautifully, stable, fast, so -- no real incentive to switch over to Sierra as of yet.

Just as a matter of opinion, seems like I prefer "the last, most stable version" of the OS to the latest-and-greatest. I don't mind being "behind the curve", but then again, I'm old and slow... ;)
 
dianeoforegon

dianeoforegon

macrumors 6502a
Apr 26, 2011
907
137
Oregon
Aeparker

Aeparker

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 27, 2016
8
1
flowrider said:
Unless you have a second drive and are backed up on that drive, I would not do it. With that being said, I have been using Sierra as my daily driver since PB4. It's stable and working quit well for me. However, I do have multiple drives, and have current start-up SSDs containing both El Cap and Yosemite. And my data os stored on a couple of HDDs.

Lou
Click to expand...

I keep my data on multiple drives. I'm currently installing macOS Sierra on a different partition. I'm going to migrate my data to the new partition and see how I like it. If it's stable enough and I like it, I will continue to use it.
 
martinocando

martinocando

macrumors 6502
Jun 12, 2013
277
52
Aeparker said:
I'm am debating on installing the Mac OS Sierra public beta. All the new features look great. I held off on installing it because I didn't want to deal with bugs. This is the 7th update. How stable is it? I have a early 2015 iMac. I am a photographer, so I need my all of my Adobe software to work. Should I install or should I wait?
Click to expand...
Also a photographer, and graphics artist here. No issues whatsoever. I also waited until it was stable enough, so I went from El Capitan all the way up to PB6. No issues with my full Creative Cloud suite. Only minor pitfall was the Colormunki display driver, which was crashing upon startup, but a removal and clean install fixed it.

Same thing with Mail. I simply deleted all the accounts, and reconfigured them. Working flawlessly ever since.
 
R

Roller

macrumors 68030
Jun 25, 2003
2,955
2,170
I installed Sierra on my MacBook Air last week. I don't use this computer as much as my desktops, so if things went south I could afford to be without it for a day or so. However, it was one of the smoothest OS X/macOS upgrades I've done in years. So far, I haven't found anything problematic.
 
chriscrowlee

chriscrowlee

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2015
1,333
1,468
San Diego, CA
Roller said:
I installed Sierra on my MacBook Air last week. I don't use this computer as much as my desktops, so if things went south I could afford to be without it for a day or so. However, it was one of the smoothest OS X/macOS upgrades I've done in years. So far, I haven't found anything problematic.
Click to expand...

I'm with you. In general, it's the most stable OS X beta path in years. Oops, I mean "mac OS" hehe.

But then again, the "new features" of .12, .11, .10 have been fewer and further between, so I'd expect this sort of cleaner transition. They're not building from the ground up, they're just enhancing previous versions.
 
mikecwest

mikecwest

macrumors 65816
Jul 7, 2013
1,193
496
Aeparker said:
I'm am debating on installing the Mac OS Sierra public beta. All the new features look great. I held off on installing it because I didn't want to deal with bugs. This is the 7th update. How stable is it? I have a early 2015 iMac. I am a photographer, so I need my all of my Adobe software to work. Should I install or should I wait?
Click to expand...


I always see that question asked, and to be honest, I would say that it is as equally stable as any other version released n the past 8 years. I always install the newest beta, at the earliest possible time. I never have stability issues.

I don't use expensive adobe products, so I can not vouch for them, but I know Acrobat works...
 
flowrider

flowrider

macrumors 604
Nov 23, 2012
7,299
2,994
^^^^Except Get Photos from Camera still doesn't work. You have to use Import from Device. Not convenient. Only downloads the jpg not the raw files. And does not put them in a folder. Adobe is aware of this and is avoiding fixing the issue, blaming Apple. It's been this way since El Cap. Shame on Adobe.

Lou
 
CRaSHeR36

CRaSHeR36

macrumors member
Jun 12, 2007
68
36
Montreal, Canada
flowrider said:
^^^^Except Get Photos from Camera still doesn't work. You have to use Import from Device. Not convenient. Only downloads the jpg not the raw files. And does not put them in a folder. Adobe is aware of this and is avoiding fixing the issue, blaming Apple. It's been this way since El Cap. Shame on Adobe.

Lou
Click to expand...
Yes you are correct.... but as this has been an issue since El Cap, it's not a new issue introduced by using the beta software.... so, to answer the original question, no, no issues introduced so far with using the PB of Sierra :)
 
KetchupRob

KetchupRob

macrumors newbie
Aug 31, 2016
19
4
Fishrrman said:
Revo wrote:
"just partition your drive about 15gigs and install it there"

I'd suggest a slightly larger partition, say 20-24gb, for a bit more "headroom".
Or, install to a partition on an external drive, or even a USB flashdrive (will be slower, but usable).

I've only experimented a little with Sierra. My install seems stable, but my El Capitan install runs beautifully, stable, fast, so -- no real incentive to switch over to Sierra as of yet.

Just as a matter of opinion, seems like I prefer "the last, most stable version" of the OS to the latest-and-greatest. I don't mind being "behind the curve", but then again, I'm old and slow... ;)
Click to expand...
I installed to an external drive a while back and it was just painfully slow.
 
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