Experimenting with security 2021-002 beta update on an external USB SSD on my MBP5,2.
Not successful yet, but no alarming observations either.
First round: updating from 19H1009 to 2021-002 beta.
- ran CatalinaOTAswufix (jackluke) to find the update and patch during load, then start install
- this is a legacy USB machine, so boot macOS installer via OC 4b (jackluke) and let it finish
- boot (Apple boot selector) the installed system, no 1.4.4 patches done yet. Proceeds slowly but up to the login screen
- shutdown to apply the 1.4.4 patches (dosdude1) with forced cache rebuild
- boot (Apple boot selector): black-on-white progress bar OK, white-on-black also proceeds to the end but at that point no login screen shows up as it normally does. screen remains black with movable cursor
- 2nd boot attempt: same, 2nd 1.4.4 patch attempt: same.
I suspect that one of the 1.4.4 patches for the MBP5,2 is not compatible with this update; which is still a beta.
I've now installed 19H15 over the external SSD and patched it with 1.4.4 + cache rebuild. Runs normally.
Will soon do a 2nd round with 2021-002 beta to update 19H15 to do more careful diagnosis.
EDIT:
now done the 1st three bullets above to install 2021-002 beta over 19H15.
Can login to 2021-002 beta (19H1016), with reduced functionality (no network etc.) as 1.4.4 patches are not applied.
EDIT2:
then ran patcher 1.4.4 with part of the proposed patches. I left out Legacy Video Card Patch (plus Install Patch Updater, Recovery Partition Patch). The login screen came up, I could log in but didn't get any further.
Now back again on 19H15 on the external testing SSD. I'll wait for next beta or release of security update 2021-002.
Happily running 19H524 on the internal production SSD.