Still on Catalina, Should I Update to Big Sur 11.1?

[TPadden]

I've pretty much decided High Sierra will be my last OS for 2013 MBA and 2014 Mac Mini.

 

[Jack Neill]

Both of my college age kids made the unfortunate mistake of upgrading their Intel based Macbook Air's to Big Sur. I had to erase Big Sur from both of the Intel based Macbook Air laptops and do fresh installs of Catalina. Too many problems with Big Sur to list. Big Sur was not intended for Intel based Macs. Don't do it.

My 2020 Air runs the Sur with zero issue. Both my 2012 Pro and Air also run without incident. Intel Macs work fine with Big Sur.

 

[svenmany]

Since upgrading to Big Sur, I've had a few middle-of-the-night crashes; my computer is off in the morning. After starting it Apple reports the computer was restarted due to an error. (I think it doesn't finish restarting in the middle of the night because of File Vault.)

I'm not prepared to assert that the crashes now are more frequent than I've had in the past, except that for quite a few months things have been stable. Installing Big Sur has shaken things up a bit.

I believe the crashes are related to the external drives I have attached (four in total). In general, my 2018 MacBook Pro struggles with many external drives (happy to go into detail if anyone cares). Last night the crash happened just as a Carbon Copy clone was beginning. This is the first time that has happened. I clone every night and have never had it fail before; the crashes usually come sometime after Carbon Copy has finished. The crash corrupted the external disk.

Funny thing - given all that, I'm still a fan of my MacBook Pro and Big Sur

 

[svenmany]

This is simply false and not supported anywhere else on the internet (unless it's company selling their software to do just this). The one place you don't need to worry about is the place that Apple has complete control over: The OS installation. Clean installations are about removing junk and clutter, which means stuff added by the user.

Unless you are actually experiencing problems, doing a clean install every year is really overkill. As one user put it: It's like taking penicillin when you're not sick.

I don't know if there's room for religion on either side of this argument. The devil is in the details.

As a software developer I'm often involved with the design of a new version of some program and then, as a separate exercise, the design of how to transition the artifacts of various old versions to be supported by the new version. If you throw that second part away, then there will be fewer bugs. Apple has bugs in this transition and individual application developers do too.

Apple generates system level junk and clutter. That is, there is stuff on the data volume that's completely within the purview of Apple and that stuff evolves with usage. Some of the stuff will be irrelevant and some will be inconsistent with a new version of the OS.

I just feel that it's kind of a crap shoot whether it's worth the effort to start fresh with the Apple stuff or just let the Apple stuff upgrade in place. I'd say the same for individual applications. It depends on whether the way an individual uses their computer causes them to stumble over the bugs and how much time they want to spend safeguarding against problems that might never arise. And just because one answer is right for the A -> B upgrade, it could be the wrong for the B -> C upgrade.

I've chosen to generally trust Apple and the developers of the applications I use and cross my fingers. I don't start fresh when I do an OS upgrade. I do start fresh with all my applications when I buy a new computer; I migrate nothing. I really can't justify this decision easily, just a gut feeling that new hardware deserves a fresh start.

 

[mwidjaya]

I just feel that it's kind of a crap shoot whether it's worth the effort to start fresh

Generally, upgrades (in-place) are fine.

It is when there are major changes that I would consider clean install. Knowing the step changes in Big Sur, it was clear to me a full-on clean install is called for.

Apple gave us a hint too. It is called version 11 instead of 10.16.

It has been really smooth running on Big Sur for me. Would like to think that drawing a line in the sand helped.

 

[Cheffy Dave]

I've been trying to hold off on updating to Bir Sur for as long as possible, but I really want to do it now. I see Big Sur 11.1 is available and am wanting to install It on my 2017 rMBP, hoping for minimal bugs.\

Should I do it or best to wait another few months?

LOVE Big Sur!

 

[Cheffy Dave]

2013 MBA

That is the year of mine, Big Sir installed without problems, and is wicked fast!

 

[TechRunner]

I do start fresh with all my applications when I buy a new computer; I migrate nothing. I really can't justify this decision easily, just a gut feeling that new hardware deserves a fresh start.

Same. I figure starting fresh every four or five years when I buy new Apple hardware is enough to keep an overabundance of fluff out of my system.

 

[ericwn]

This is what happens when a computer and software company go off and build $550 headphones and an APPLE CAR.

Their CORE PRODUCTS suffer and turn into lemons.

Computers in every instance. No problem here but hot air.

 

[macswitcha2]

Catalina is more crappier. Go all the way down to mojave. No issues here.

Interestingly, I've downgraded all the way down to Mojave, and it did restart once during the process but since being installed, it seems solid. What is going on? If the kernel panics do cease under Mojave, then it has to be something with my computer in relationship to Catalina and Big Sur. But what?

 

[saudor]

Interestingly, I've downgraded all the way down to Mojave, and it did restart once during the process but since being installed, it seems solid. What is going on? If the kernel panics do cease under Mojave, then it has to be something with my computer in relationship to Catalina and Big Sur. But what?

The reason is a simple one. They stopped caring about quality and want to just push out updates for the sake of updates without testing as much. Also, intel macs are yesterday’s news. It’s all about M1, AirPods, watch and anything else that has an intimate tie with their subscription services.

 

[macswitcha2]

The reason is a simple one. They stopped caring about quality and want to just push out updates for the sake of updates without testing as much. Also, intel macs are yesterday’s news. It’s all about M1, AirPods, watch and anything else that has an intimate tie with their subscription services.

While their services are the focus these days, I don't think it's due to quality. It's not a widespread issue. The number of people experiencing my problems are small in comparison to those who are not. There are a lot of individuals and businesses that use intel computers. I would think they would still want to impress these particular end users. But, I could be wrong. BTW, not one kernel panic since I've went back.

 

[michaelsviews]

Have a MBA M1 8/8/512, did the upgrade in Big Sur to 11.1 and it would not install anything from the App Store or downloads. Apple walked me through the reinstall about 40 minutes later it was done rebooted 2 times and I have been using it since. New MBA is great, not sure if I'm keeping it or going to a 16GB but I like it more than the 16" I have which is going away.

 

[MacsRSour]

I have a mac mini with EGPU setup on Catalina, somewhat unreliable issues (does not sleep, does not start up 100%)
I took the plunge to 11.1 (wanted to wait for 11.2).
11.1 fixed the sleeping and start up issues. This worked out for me.
I'm somewhat surprised how things 'just work' again since Catalina with HDMI - EGPU was an irritating experience.

 

[macswitcha2]

Well, Mojave finally crashed on me. I'm thinking it's something having to do with Photos and iCloud. In all of my experiences with Kernel Panics, I was using Photos and browsing Safari. I added another login account just to see if anything happens there.

 

[alzca]

I installed Big Sur yesterday on my MBP 13" late 2013 16gb RAM to realize it's about time to get a new computer soon.

It runs well but the cpu temperature has risen easily 7 or 10 degrees compared to Catalina. Yeah, it seems they did a good job but exposé animations, for example, get somewhat sluggish when I have more than 4 apps opened at the same time.

Let's wait for 11.3 or 11.4 to see if the cpu temperature goes back to normal temps in winter (56º-58º degrees, not 65º like now).

 

[macswitcha2]

Ok, I've been on a new login account for the last 48 hours and Mojave has not crashed. However, I have not used Photos. Should I? It seems stable this new login. Should I delete the administrator account and make the new one an administer?

 

[dmrowley]

I installed 11.1 over Catalina about three weeks ago. I haven't had a single issue or concern running on my 2017 5K 27" iMac. I'm booting off of an external SSD, and it is super fast...

 

[macswitcha2]

I installed 11.1 over Catalina about three weeks ago. I haven't had a single issue or concern running on my 2017 5K 27" iMac. I'm booting off of an external SSD, and it is super fast...

You may have a solid machine or the cat out the bag is that you're running the OS from an external SSD and therefore it hasn't the opportunity to cause issues inside. I think my issue is software since test on the machines have all showed not hardware issues.

 

[macswitcha2]

Ok, I've been on a new login account for the last 48 hours and Mojave has not crashed. However, I have not used Photos. Should I? It seems stable this new login. Should I delete the administrator account and make the new one an administer?

Does anyone who is familiar with kernel panics suggest this idea? I've been using a new login account and have not crashed. Should I slowly introduce the application I was using that I think have caused the crashes on my admin account?

 

[pommephone]

Whether one does a clean, fresh installation, or just an upgrade "in place", one must ALWAYS make the following preparations:

1. Do as much disk cleanup on your own as possible, Actually, that needs to be a daily task.
2. Insure that all the third party applications one uses are compatible with the new OS.
3. And the most important one: make backups, make backups, make backups. Time Machine is oK, but I prefer SuperDuper! (SD) (Carbon Copy Cloner (CCC) is a similar, stellar program).

As for a clean installation, using a backup program like SD or CCC makes it much easier. Here are the steps to take:

1. Download the full clean installer file of the OS (or version) one wants.
2. Copy it to another location on your Mac's internal device.
3. Remove the one in your Applications folder (why waste space?).
4. Myself, I use Onyx and Tech Tool Pro to assist with disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. Hence, I run them.
5. Launch SuperDuper! and make a bootable backup/clone to my external SSD.
6. Restart my Mac from that SD clone.
7. Use Disk Utility there to Erase and Format the internal device on my Mac.
8. Navigate to the location of the OS file downloaded above, launch it, and do a clean, fresh installation of that OS (or new version) onto the Mac's internal device.
9. At the end, you'll be offered the opportunity to migrate files, folders, settings, apps, etc. from one of 3 sources: a Time Machine backup, another Mac, or another backup. I of course would choose that third one, ie, the just completed SD backup, and perform the migration form it.
10. When that completes, restart my Mac from its internal device.

All done! I have used that method so many, many times, all the time with flawless success.

I have a question about step 8: Will the installer give the option of where to install (to the internal SSD)? Obviously, I don't want it to install on the external SSD that I'm running from. Should I select 'APPLE SSD AP1024N Media' or 'Macintosh HD' under Container disk1?

 

[skiabox]

If you use an external monitor please don't leave from catalina yet!

 

[jagolden]

Both of my college age kids made the unfortunate mistake of upgrading their Intel based Macbook Air's to Big Sur. I had to erase Big Sur from both of the Intel based Macbook Air laptops and do fresh installs of Catalina. Too many problems with Big Sur to list. Big Sur was not intended for Intel based Macs. Don't do it.

Big Sur is pretty much purring along on my 2017 iMac, 27” 5K Retina, 64 gig.
I am really enjoying it.
Was a very long installation, but I just set it in motion and let it upgrade.
Don’t be afraid if your Mac can handle it. But, be prepared with a backup if something goes south.

 

[JohnnyWalker]

Got to say, Big Sur was the one release I was avoiding... but since I've upgraded I've never looked back. I actually really like it (apart from the odd AWFUL icon). Seriously happy to have upgraded. It's a lovely OS.

 

[pommephone]

Another 👍🏻 for Big Sur. Previously on Catalina with no problems. I did a clean install of B.S. 11.1, then upgraded to 11.2 beta 2, then 11.2 beta 2 RC (Release Candidate). This OS is super-fast and I have had zero problems of any kind. Also, my Windows 10 VM on Parallels Desktop Version 16.1.2 (49151) runs beautifully.

Since most of us come to these forums with problems to solve, it's important to remember that for every person with a problem there are many more like me with no issues whatsoever.