Should I upgrade or not?

[MrSimonB]

Hi

I have a dilemma, what would you do?

I have a macbook pro 15inch (early 2013) on Mojave. I can upgrade to Catalina, but should i?

My macbook runs beautifully (and i use photoshop and all sorts).
I know Catalina is the last MAC OS upgrade i will get.

1. Should i upgrade to Cataline?

2. If i dont do it before the next OS, will I lose my chance to upgrade, or will Catalina always be available to me in the future?

I cant decide, any help appreciated.

P.S. My battery has done over 1200 cycles, cant seem to get that replaced by Apple now or a approved repairer. Its the start of the end?

 

[Juicy Box]

1. Should i upgrade to Cataline?

I would suggest not to. While many say it is fine, there seems to be a higher than usual issues with 10.15.

If you are happy with 10.14, and there isn't anything you need on 10.15, I would just stay with what you have.

2. If i dont do it before the next OS, will I lose my chance to upgrade, or will Catalina always be available to me in the future?

No, with MacOS you will not lose your chance to upgrade, well, unless Apple changes things.

People install old MacOS versions all the time.

(and i use photoshop and all sorts).

Catalina doesn't work with a lot of older SW, and I am pretty sure that include Photoshop and CS6.
Maybe someone can comment.

BOTTOM LINE:

My macbook runs beautifully

Don't try to fix what is not broken.

If you are happy with how your Mac runs now, I wouldn't update. If I decided to update, I would have bootable copies of my OS before updating.

 

[MrSimonB]

Thanks for the advise. My software is always the latest as im on subscripton. so thats not a problem. Bootable copies of OS, that sounds like a whole lotta time working that one out lol. Whilst i am an ex IT guy, that was on windows.

 

[Juicy Box]

Bootable copies of OS, that sounds like a whole lotta time working that one out lol.

Not really. I use CCC, and a lot of people use it on here too. It makes making a bootable clone really easy.

Especially with how Apple's SW has been lately, I would NEVER do a major update of my OS without a recent clone or at least a back up.

If you do update, I would highly suggest doing a recent back up, at a minimum.

My software is always the latest as im on subscripton.

Maybe this won't be an issue then, but I personally wouldn't update unless there is something you need from 10.15.

 

[MrSimonB]

ohh whats CCC, where do i look?
Yeah i'm not desperate for any features but i like the idea of an OS backup. or even running catalina from a USB drive????

I think ive found it Carbon Copy Cloner 5? darn i thought it was free.

 

[Juicy Box]

ohh whats CCC

I think ive found it Carbon Copy Cloner 5?

Yup, that is it.

darn i thought it was free

IIRC, it is free for the first month. IMO, it is well worth the cost. Super easy to use, and it is always nice to have bootable clones for stuff, especially trouble shooting.

or even running catalina from a USB drive????

People run Mac OS from external drives all the time, and you don't need any fancy software to do that. Just download the installer, and install to an external SSD, (after it is formatted correctly).

I have been using external boot drives for a very long time. I can't remember when I started, but I did use to use an iPod Photo and an iPod Mini as boot drives maybe 15 years ago.

Many people buy cheaper Macs with a slow HDD in it and just use an external drive as their boot drive. Still fast, but much cheaper than Apple's SSD prices.

 

[MrSimonB]

so i could run catalina off a USB3 stick? at least to try it?

 

[Juicy Box]

so i could run catalina off a USB3 stick? at least to try it?

Yup.

You can use a thumb drive for the MacOS. You can use an SD card for the OS too. I am not sure if they are optimise for the read and writes of a OS, but they will work.

That said, to get the best experience, I would use a fast storage.

 

[MrSimonB]

Thanks for the help, im trying to do a clone on a USB stick, as thats all i have right now.
So ill do a clone on one stick, and a Catalina fresh install on another.
Ive always got my data backed up separately onto portable HDs and online backup.

 

[MrSimonB]

Yup.

You can use a thumb drive for the MacOS. You can use an SD card for the OS too. I am not sure if they are optimise for the read and writes of a OS, but they will work.

That said, to get the best experience, I would use a fast storage.

OK clone has finished , took 4.5 hours onto a USB stick. So what can i do with it now lol? can i boot from it to test it? or is it only for rebuilding a new hard drive?

 

[Fishrrman]

Stay with Mojave -- much better OS.

 

[MrSimonB]

hmmm clone wont boot. Only see the SSD internal drive for booting (option key on startup)

 

[Juicy Box]

hmmm clone wont boot. Only see the SSD internal drive for booting (option key on startup)

When you say "USB stick", do you mean like a thumb drive?

Assuming you did everything correctly, formatted to APFS, some thumb drives just do not work as boot drives.

It is random by model, too. I have had some Sandisk thumb drives work and some that don't.

That is why I suggested using something faster like a SSD, but if you don't have a spare SSD, but have a different thumb drive around, give that a try.

Or, you could just go with many people's advice, including my own:

Stay with Mojave -- much better OS.

 

[MrSimonB]

its a memory stick that goes in the USB slot, so if thats a thumb drive then yes. Looks like CCC site basically says dont bother with USB memory sticks as bootable drives, unreliable and slow. Ah well.

I dont have a spare SSD, but i do have portable HDD's i should try that at some point.

thanks for the help