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Life after High Sierra support ends
- Thread starter grwren
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Yes—anything you want to keep. It'll be as if you got your computer replaced.
While you could also copy the user folder directly, the goal here is to start off with a clean slate, not to bring all the cruft over to your new install. So, I would manually go through your stuff and see what you need, instead of copying the folder directly. In particular, this means configuration files don't get brought over.
Note this is something more of an art than a science—it's not 100% clear why computers slow down over time even with the same software, although they all quite clearly do. A clean install is a way to undo that, and it usually helps.
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I have a great computer place here. My best bet may be to back it up and take it to them for a new SS drive. I'll call tomorrow and get an estimate. Then I'd have a clean install too. Thanks so much for all the replies. It has given me a lot to consider.
Yes, why wouldn't you? the explanation that you can is: It only needs to hold the image infomation tat is required to display the screen, not some GB of memory to hold textures of games. The minimum memory would be 2560x1440x3 [Bytes]. Games use additional memory so store textures. Normal apps don't make use of that.
Now I'd like to hear from you the explanation why you can't run apps.
Soulflower wrote:
"But, reading it, it sounds pretty simple. I might try it. It won't hurt! Thank you so much for the help! Which drive would be your pick?"
It IS simple. Even I could do it.
Just take things "one step at a time".
I like Crucial and Sandisk SSDs, but I've also used "no-name" brands and they seem to work as well.
The enclosure is easy. Open case, attach drive to connector, put top back on and close, connect cable and plug into iMac.
If you use CarbonCopyCloner, it makes AN EXACT COPY of the internal drive to the SSD, even the recovery partition.
The only difference is, the SSD is FASTER.
You'll notice this immediately.
"But, reading it, it sounds pretty simple. I might try it. It won't hurt! Thank you so much for the help! Which drive would be your pick?"
It IS simple. Even I could do it.
Just take things "one step at a time".
I like Crucial and Sandisk SSDs, but I've also used "no-name" brands and they seem to work as well.
The enclosure is easy. Open case, attach drive to connector, put top back on and close, connect cable and plug into iMac.
If you use CarbonCopyCloner, it makes AN EXACT COPY of the internal drive to the SSD, even the recovery partition.
The only difference is, the SSD is FASTER.
You'll notice this immediately.
It depends of the year.
I think prior 2012 it was magnet and pretty easy to open.
But since retina era the display is sealed to the rest. It’s harder to make the upgrade.
I kind of agree with the overblown concerns with viruses and malware with Mac OS.
As long as you are wise with what websites that you go and visit, especially what apps you download etc., generally you are fine. I don't like Crome, for it is a resource hog (though it is getting better) and who knows what information Goggle is harvesting... Regardless, there are options that will continue for some time for web browsers that will support High Sierra, so if you are so concerned about it, find a supported browser and you should be fine.
This concept of leaving to go to another OS because a few year old OS is not receiving security updates is very exaggerated in my opinion. Many bloggers on these forums are from those "enthusiasts" who like to do things that are not the norm for most users and is why the concern for security etc. and will inform people to update or go to Linux (understandable). My concept is "You play...you pay..."
These are wise and good options (if you play), but for normal typical users, there is no need or really any concerns.If you are a light user (and don't go to obscure websites, hack or pirate software etc.) then you probably will not experience probably any viruses or malware. Currently with internet technology viruses and malware cannot just "jump" on your system with Mac OS UNLESS you invite it through downloading or clicking pop up boxes etc. that you are not familiar with.
All of that said, unless you are an adventurist or do non-typical things with you Mac, using older OS's are generally ok.
High Sierra is a decent OS, so if it works for you then there is not reason to even update or change. Just get a supported current browser if you are concerned. macOS Mojave is a good option if your system can handle it. Probably the best in recent years overall for most "normal" users. I still use Snow Leopard for some programs and IF I need internet, I use Arctic Fox browser that is the only one that I have found that still supports the OS. No issues, but I know what to avoid...
Doing the same thing with my 2012-late iMac. Updating the CPU, SSD etc. hoping that age and heat has not caused any cracks to the inner boards or screws etc., so I can take it all apart, clean and update, keeping it flowing for a few more years. Then...save some cash so after Apple Silicon gets stable (after a few versions), buy a new system.
Download Carbon Copy Cloner onto your current iMac 21.5-inch Late 2012.
Buy a Samsung T5 with sufficient capacity to hold all your stuff (500GB, 1TB or 2TB)
Plug Samsung T5 into a USB port on your iMac.
Launch Disk Utility.
Erase Samsung T5 and format as Mac OS Extended (journaled).
Launch Carbon Copy Cloner.
Tell it you want the internal hard drive on your iMac to be the source disk and the Samsung T5 to be the Target disk.
Press 'Clone'
When operation is finished shut down iMac
Restart iMac but pressing the 'option' key.
You will now be presented with a number of volumes you can choose to boot from.
Choose the Samsung T5 (it will be called whatever you chose to call it during the Disk Utility part of the operation)
Then you will be booted from the Samsung T5.
If your Mac is now faster you can set the Samsung T5 to be your start up disk by going to System preferences and selecting it there (click padlock first).
If you start your iMac but have forgotten to plug in the Samsung T5 then it will simply find and boot from your internal hard drive.
Very little chance of losing any data this way at all
By the way, anyone know what the procedure would be if you had a Samsung T7 Touch? If you
Launch Disk Utility and erase a Samsung T7 Touch and format it as Mac OS Extended (journaled) I guess the encryption volume will be nuked. Do you just erase the part of the disk without the Samsung encryption software on it and then carbon copy clone to there? Do you have to install and run the Samsung encryption software first and secure the whole disk then decrypt and reformat in Disk utility? Can the Samsung T7 encrypt data already on it or does the encryption process erase any pre-installed data? Basically, are there any people who are using a Samsung T7 Touch as a boot drive with fingerprint encryption enabled and how did they do it? I have one arriving in the post....
Launch Disk Utility and erase a Samsung T7 Touch and format it as Mac OS Extended (journaled) I guess the encryption volume will be nuked. Do you just erase the part of the disk without the Samsung encryption software on it and then carbon copy clone to there? Do you have to install and run the Samsung encryption software first and secure the whole disk then decrypt and reformat in Disk utility? Can the Samsung T7 encrypt data already on it or does the encryption process erase any pre-installed data? Basically, are there any people who are using a Samsung T7 Touch as a boot drive with fingerprint encryption enabled and how did they do it? I have one arriving in the post....
I have a 27” iMac late 2009 i7 running Mojave flawlessly. I added a SSD awhile ago and the speed is still great.
You can go to Catalina if you want
Thanks. I've run across a number of threads/articles where people have upgraded their older imacs to newer os's without too much trouble so I suppose it is possible. As I stated earlier I'm perfectly happy with HS as it seems to work perfectly fine for my limited use and from all I can gather it's pretty safe to continue to use. So, I don't really know what a new os would offer me to justify an upgrade. So for now I'm just staying with HS and possibly one day down the road I'll consider upgrading it with an ssd, more memory the maybe a new os. Thanks for your input,
If HS works then definitely stay with it. For me the final straw was that a lot of software I needed couldn’t be upgraded on HS which is why I moved
I would make my decision on other terms.
Main Point: What is my hardware? If it is a "low budged" macmini 2014 with 4GB I would stick to HS. Any "high end"-mac would do fine with at least catalina.
In my opinion: don't use Big sur unless you desparately need to. As it is most likely unicode, any "low end"-mac will probably get problems. Moreover many non app-store apps will most likely stop working, not to mention the other problems like file-sharing via usb-sticks which might occur. I think that it will take some releases until doesn't matter if you are on Big Sur on a "high end"-mac or not.
As of now also Mojave in some scopes has stopped getting updates from some developers along with HS (they put catalina in the front line), which for me is another reason to stick with HS,m for i don't need Side-Car.
Moreover Macos down to 10.9, I presume, still gets security updates like MRT or Gatekeeper. Only EFI ends some time. In most cases macOS updates these on its own, but if you want to take control you can use some third-party apps like silent-knight
Main Point: What is my hardware? If it is a "low budged" macmini 2014 with 4GB I would stick to HS. Any "high end"-mac would do fine with at least catalina.
In my opinion: don't use Big sur unless you desparately need to. As it is most likely unicode, any "low end"-mac will probably get problems. Moreover many non app-store apps will most likely stop working, not to mention the other problems like file-sharing via usb-sticks which might occur. I think that it will take some releases until doesn't matter if you are on Big Sur on a "high end"-mac or not.
As of now also Mojave in some scopes has stopped getting updates from some developers along with HS (they put catalina in the front line), which for me is another reason to stick with HS,m for i don't need Side-Car.
Moreover Macos down to 10.9, I presume, still gets security updates like MRT or Gatekeeper. Only EFI ends some time. In most cases macOS updates these on its own, but if you want to take control you can use some third-party apps like silent-knight
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Ya, just installed it. There was an update removing problens with starting some 32-bit-apps, too