MP 7,1 Upgrading from Big Sur to either Tahoe or Sequoia on 7,1 8 Core

[Toebex]

Yes, i've waited way too long to do this. Yes, I hate upgrading tech. Yes, i'm paranoid. Yes, my phone no longer backs up/is recognised by my computer to back up properly. Yes, I am being ridiculous about this. I had some pretty traumatic experiences upgrading my OS back in the day and I now resent ever having to upgrade. However the time has come and I cannot afford for this to go wrong, financially and emotionally.

I have a Mac Pro 7,1 8-core running Big Sur. Got it in 2021, its been steady and strong since. Now, however, I feel I need something more up to date as I see Apple will stop supporting intel. Tahoe seems hardware intensive, and i've seen countless issues with it running on Intel, as well as using adobe apps (an essential for me), but others say its totally fine, especially on Mac Pro. Sequoia seems to be the best option, but that could just be my paranoid mind speaking. I am probably just going to do Sequoia.

I have been backing up on time machine since I got it. I backup my super super important files manually to Google Drive and various external HD's. I don't think this is an issue and it never has been.

The last time I ever upgraded an OS was on my 4,1 from Snow Leopard (my favourite) to Yosemite. Went off flawlessly, I remember how happy I felt just looking at the new OS.

So, what do I do. Tahoe? Or Sequoia? Who else has experience with this? I worry that posting this will only make me more paranoid. Cant afford to buy more hard drives to double-boot or whatever.

 

[MarkC426]

My recommendation would be Sequoia.
As you say, there are numerous threads related to Tahoe issues/slow downs on 7.1.
Upgrading to Sequoia should be flawless.
You could even install Tahoe onto an external drive as a test.
Sequoia will still receive updates for another year (after GG is released).

I have stayed on Sequoia on my AS Studio, and will probably jump straight to GG eventually (pending my software supporting it).

 

[Toebex]

My recommendation would be Sequoia.
As you say, there are numerous threads related to Tahoe issues/slow downs on 7.1.
Upgrading to Sequoia should be flawless.
You could even install Tahoe onto an external drive as a test.
Sequoia will still receive updates for another year (after GG is released).

I have stayed on Sequoia on my AS Studio, and will probably jump straight to GG eventually (pending my software supporting it).

This is what I am leaning towards. Have you used Tahoe on the 7,1? I like that you used the word flawless for Sequioa. Im assuming I just download it from the app store and go from there?

 

[MarkC426]

This is what I am leaning towards. Have you used Tahoe on the 7,1? I like that you used the word flawless for Sequioa. Im assuming I just download it from the app store and go from there?

I don’t have a 7.1 Mac unfortunately.
Yes, if you get the installer it will upgrade your current OS.
I would do a CCC or SD clone before hand, just in case.

 

[Toebex]

I don’t have a 7.1 Mac unfortunately.
Yes, if you get the installer it will upgrade your current OS.
I would do a CCC or SD clone before hand, just in case.

Ive got a time machine backup, and I backup all my important files to google drive and to a second external drive. Surely that would be ok? Also what is SD? Sadly CCC doesnt do bootable backups anymore, which would be ideal.

 

[MarkC426]

Ive got a time machine backup, and I backup all my important files to google drive and to a second external drive. Surely that would be ok? Also what is SD? Sadly CCC doesnt do bootable backups anymore, which would be ideal.

SD is SuperDuper https://www.shirt-pocket.com/classic.php
They should both still do bootable clones on Intel Macs.

I have SD on my cMP 5.1, the beauty being you can just clone your drive before an upgrade. Then easily revert back instantly. I would add another drive in your Mac Pro and duplicate the startup disk.
You can then boot into either drive.

 

[arw]

Sadly CCC doesnt do bootable backups anymore, which would be ideal.

I thought so too but it saves space.
If you create a backup of your Big Sur install, you can always restore that backup to an empty SSD and install Big Sur simply over it.
The easiest way is to create a bootable USB installer following https://support.apple.com/en-us/101578.
The full Big Sur installer is linked here: https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-big-sur-full-installer-database-download-directly-from-apple/

 

[reader50]

Create an extra partition (or use a spare drive). Use SD or CCC to clone your Big Sur install to the new partition or drive. Then use the Sequoia installer to install on top of the clone. You'll get a full Sequoia update on your clone. While your existing Big Sur remains completely intact. Should anything go wrong, you can boot back home at any time.

If you have trouble getting Sequoia from the App Store, you can use Mist to download most any macOS installer.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Tahoe works fine for me on the 7,1.

 

[benmuetsch]

Tahoe works fine for me on the 7,1.

Which GPU do you use?

 

[benholt]

7,1 Big Sur to Sequoia is uneventful if you run the Big Sur combo updater once more first — the Sequoia installer expects the T2 firmware at a specific rev, and if you skipped a couple of dot releases on Big Sur it'll bail before it even touches the boot volume with a useless generic error. Second thing worth checking is your GPU: base 580X MPX is fine on Sequoia, but flashed non-MPX cards (RX 6800/6900) get a slightly choppier window server on multi-4K setups than Big Sur was. On the backup side, SuperDuper still does bootable Intel clones, but for a rollback from Sequoia you can also just restore from your TM into the recovery environment. The SD clone is more insurance-blanket than a true requirement.

 

[MisterAndrew]

Which GPU do you use?

W6900X

 

[MarkC426]

Deleted (wrong forum)… 🫣