Is Sonoma safe to install?

[OpenSource03]

Hi everyone!

I've been looking forward to updating to Sonoma, but I would first like to check if anybody has found any critical issues that would stop one from their normal workflow?

For example, last year, I had issues with thunderbolt to HDMI not working properly, and that's about it for the critical issues I experienced, I guess... Is there something similar so far yet on Sonoma?

I'm on M1 Max Mac Studio, so comments from people running M1 Max on Macbook or Mac Studio are highly appreciated, although, any comments in general are welcome

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

You should always upgrade your work machines to the newest betas, just for that extra excitement it gives when random things break and you loose a lot of production hours, which you can then spend instead on drinking coffee and telling your customers that it was all Apples fault. So yes.

 

[fisherking]

working well here (one important app notwithstanding). but it's a beta, developer beta 2; very early in the cycle. if you're not up for troubleshooting, workarounds, etc... in other words, if you're not prepared to deal with the issues & risks of a beta... don't.

 

[xaqt93]

My take on it. I have beta 2 installed and I have had to restart my computer a couple of times since I installed it because of simple bugs. Like, one bug, my desktop disappeared and I could click out of safari. I relaunched Finder and nothing happened. Overall, it is pretty stable. I am also a developer working on an app and needed the beta...I only have one machine, so it's annoying.

But if has bugs. And I am sure there are some I have not found or haven't been an issue for me yet. It's a beta, so install at your own risk.

 

[Shazaam!]

My experience with a previous beta MacOS is tears.

 

[Realityck]

You should always upgrade your work machines to the newest betas, just for that extra excitement it gives when random things break and you loose a lot of production hours, which you can then spend instead on drinking coffee and telling your customers that it was all Apples fault. So yes.

Why do you assume it's always about work machines? It's not always the case. If a user backs up his volume to an external ASR volume using a backup utility it's pretty trivial, but yes depending on stored content some time involved for complete restore. It's like people spend a lot more time and money pursuing their iPhone usage and most never have those backed up.

PS MacOS 14.O beta was very smooth to use compared to previous MacOS dev betas, beta 2 introduced some minor changes but nothing that has caused any real issues on a AS Mac like a Mac Studio using M1 Max.

 

[eoblaed]

Couldn't vote in the poll because it was missing the 'No. Despite being reasonably solid, it's still an early beta'.

Yes, I installed b1, installed b2 when it was available, and have so far not been blocked anywhere. That said, this is still an early beta and is therefore, by definition, not safe.

 

[LIVEFRMNYC]

On my MBP 16' M1 Max it runs flawless so far. No issues found yet.

On my MBA M1 I have to reapply the wallpaper everytime I manually lock the screen. Other than that, no issues.

 

[T'hain Esh Kelch]

Why do you assume it's always about work machines? It's not always the case.

The guy mentions “normal workflow”, so unless his normal workflow is to tinker with beta software, then yes, it is a work machine.

 

[OpenSource03]

You should always upgrade your work machines to the newest betas, just for that extra excitement it gives when random things break and you loose a lot of production hours, which you can then spend instead on drinking coffee and telling your customers that it was all Apples fault. So yes.

As long as my data doesn't disappear from icloud I can always rollback. From my experience from all of the previous betas, it had never happened that I lose any data or have to completely wipe the whole system. Even developer betas are at least tested to the point that you can backup everything and get back to the previous version in case of such disaster. I find no place for this comment. I asked if it has any major bugs so far, that's all. I perfectly know it can be dangerous to run betas and I really don't need you to understand that.

 

[fisherking]

As long as my data doesn't disappear from icloud I can always rollback. From my experience from all of the previous betas, it had never happened that I lose any data or have to completely wipe the whole system. Even developer betas are at least tested to the point that you can backup everything and get back to the previous version in case of such disaster. I find no place for this comment. I asked if it has any major bugs so far, that's all. I perfectly know it can be dangerous to run betas and I really don't need you to understand that.

ppl here are answering your original question; no need to them slam them for trying to help.

and you can't simply 'rollback from icloud backups'. make sure you have time machine (or something like carbon copy cloner) in your workflow...

 

[gmanist1000]

Install on separate partition. This is honestly the only answer.

Never upgrade your main partition to a developer or public beta.

 

[fisherking]

Install on separate partition. This is honestly the only answer.

Never upgrade your main partition to a developer or public beta.

i've run the (public betas) on my macs since the program started. my work/life macs. it's my prerogative, and i accept responsibility. and i've lived/worked thru all the betas.

we can do what we want (as long as we accept the consequences). 👍

 

[gmanist1000]

i've run the (public betas) on my macs since the program started. my work/life macs. it's my prerogative, and i accept responsibility. and i've lived/worked thru all the betas.

we can do what we want (as long as we accept the consequences). 👍

It is a free country and you can install anything you want on the device you own.

I, however would prefer not to be at risk of data loss and/or data corruption using my main partition with a developer beta. It is so easy to install on a separate partition, I'm not sure why that would not be the default for everyone. Given how important my iCloud data is to my entire livelihood, I will never sign into iCloud during the beta period.

 

[fisherking]

It is a free country and you can install anything you want on the device you own.

I, however would prefer not to be at risk of data loss and/or data corruption using my main partition with a developer beta. It is so easy to install on a separate partition, I'm not sure why that would not be the default for everyone. Given how important my iCloud data is to my entire livelihood, I will never sign into iCloud during the beta period.

all of my content is backed up (with carbon copy cloner, and with drive online). never lost anything.

am glad you have a process that works for you; i feel good that i have a working process as well. and no one here should get to decide what we 'all should be doing'...

 

[gmanist1000]

all of my content is backed up (with carbon copy cloner, and with drive online). never lost anything.

am glad you have a process that works for you; i feel good that i have a working process as well. and no one here should get to decide what we 'all should be doing'...

Yeah... it's not that I am telling you what you should do... it's a strong recommendation. Even if you back up your data regularly, there is always the possibility that you could lose something important. For example, if you have a bug that corrupts your file system, you could lose all of your data, even if you have a recent backup. I understand that you have been running beta software on your main partition for a long time without any problems. However, it is important to remember that everyone's experience is different. Just because you have not had any problems does not mean that someone else will not.

 

[Realityck]

all of my content is backed up (with carbon copy cloner, and with drive online). never lost anything.

am glad you have a process that works for you; i feel good that i have a working process as well. and no one here should get to decide what we 'all should be doing'...

On that note be advised that beta 2 broke the click on disk volume info (contextual menu) that shows legacy bootable backup option for latest CCC. Just do standard ASR backups as needed. CCC 6.1.7-b3 (7545) disables that pop-up menu until resolved by next beta 3 likely. I anticipate it will happen on July 6th by Apple.

 

[fisherking]

Yeah... it's not that I am telling you what you should do... it's a strong recommendation. Even if you back up your data regularly, there is always the possibility that you could lose something important. For example, if you have a bug that corrupts your file system, you could lose all of your data, even if you have a recent backup. I understand that you have been running beta software on your main partition for a long time without any problems. However, it is important to remember that everyone's experience is different. Just because you have not had any problems does not mean that someone else will not.

have never claimed i've run all the betas without problems! and am careful with my backups.

just bear in mind, that 'strong recommendation' is your 'strong recommendation'... and no harm in that.

 

[aevan]

Never upgrade your main partition to a developer or public beta.

It's not universal advice, depends on the user and how they keep their data. The worst that can happen to me is that I have to do a clean install.

 

[OpenSource03]

ppl here are answering your original question; no need to them slam them for trying to help.

and you can't simply 'rollback from icloud backups'. make sure you have time machine (or something like carbon copy cloner) in your workflow...

To be clear, I’m not asking if it is safe to install betas. I know it’s most certainly not. I’m just asking if there is any critical issue in the current beta that would stop one from using it normally. Not asking if the next beta may corrupt my system, or if I should take backups or not. I just want to know how many problems the current beta have so I can make a decision if it would be worth switching to it or not. My backups and my data are my problem and this thread is totally not about that

 

[fisherking]

To be clear, I’m not asking if it is safe to install betas. I know it’s most certainly not. I’m just asking if there is any critical issue in the current beta that would stop one from using it normally. Not asking if the next beta may corrupt my system, or if I should take backups or not. I just want to know how many problems the current beta have so I can make a decision if it would be worth switching to it or not. My backups and my data are my problem and this thread is totally not about that

sure, but there's no one answer. you might have a stellar experience on the sonoma beta (here, it's pretty good). but.. look thru this forum; lots of people have lots of issues.

no one can guarantee what it will be like for you; only you can decide if it's worthwhile to install now, or wait for the official release.

 

[Realityck]

I’m just asking if there is any critical issue in the current beta that would stop one from using it normally.

Just look at this from your software side, do a search online against MacOS 14 beta with all the software you normally use. If you don’t find much related then likely you won’t have that much to contend with particularly a recent M1 Max based Mac. I have the beta 2 running on two AS Macs.

I don’t rely on iCloud data backups rather use CCC to make a local external ASR volume for backup purpose in case I have some unusual issue where I need to do a factory reset (DFU restore-full wipe) then use the ASR backup volume to fully restore everything. That’s really the most important aspect of being a savvy beta tester, that if by chance something happens, you really have nothing to worry about except a few hours of time.

Some here make use of third party MacOS utility extensions such as additional outgoing firewall, Safari Ad blocking, VPN software. That’s what usually can break because it’s a new MacOS. I don’t use those. For me Sonoma experiences so far are minor. But as mentioned everyone is different particularly if you use a lot of creative software from legacy Software Developers that are renowned at being slow to make them compatible with each MacOS version. Like Adobe suite as a example or some music production software.

So if you not one who experienced this in the past with Monterey you already can have a less risky experience one could say.
Cheers.