Upgrading from Mojave - which OS? And other questions.

[weezin]

Hi all - I have a 2018 Mac Mini that I've had on Mojave for a long time. I'm thinking it's finally time to upgrade to a newer OS and am wondering what the forum thinks the safest bet is in terms of upgrade path. Some apps (Lightroom) are not able to update anymore due to the OS compatibility, so I'm thinking it's time.

Some notes:
1. I didn't upgrade previously due to fear of app / file issues. I have a huge library of photos stored on a Drobo 5D, which is backed up to the cloud via Crashplan. Breaking this setup in any way would be disastrous.
2. I have a huge library of music in itunes and I remembered that upgrading to Catalina back in the day caused issues. I am not an Apple music subscriber (nor do I want to be for now). Do these issues still persist?
3. Due to a paltry 128gb SSD internally, I have the home folder split up between the internal drive and an external SSD. Not ideal, but until I get a new machine, it needs to stay this way. Will upgrading the OS break this?
4. I use this machine for work as well as personal stuff.

The main questions are:
1. Which OS is the safest bet these days to upgrade to? Looking for an upgrade in features and want to keep reliability.
2. For the notes above - is there anything I should be doing to prepare for the upgrade so as to not break any of these items?

I think that's it for now! Any thoughts or advice is appreciated.

 

[Fishrrman]

I also have a 2018 Mini, that's still running Mojave.

My plans: NO intention of upgrading any time soon, because Mojave runs so well and it's the last OS that runs 32 bit software. I still have 32 bit apps I use and like.

BUT...
If you're determined to "move on", I'd suggest Monterey.

BE AWARE that you can keep using iTunes by installing it with the free and clever utility named "Retroactive". I have no desire to use the "Music.app", the only part of iTunes I use regularly is the free internet radio tuner, which Apple did not make a part of Music.app.

 

[weezin]

Thanks. I should have also said that I'd like to update to start using some of the features in the built-in apps. For example, I can't use the Reminders app on my Mac because it got "upgraded" when it moved to Catalina and is no longer compatible. I'd love to use some of the new Notes features as well. But otherwise, I'd love to stay on Mojave.

Good tip on iTunes - thanks!

 

[Gregg2]

You will not be able to use any 32-bit apps when you upgrade beyond Mojave.

 

[Brian33]

I moved from Mojave directly to Monterey.

Regarding Photos: the Monterey Photos app will "upgrade" your Photos library. (I don't know if Big Sur would do that or not.) This all worked OK for me, but I was a bit annoyed later to find that the filenames of all the original image files (in the "originals" folder) had been chanced to long strings of letters and numbers. You would only notice this if you poked around within the .photoslibary package itself, but still I would have liked to know that they were no longer kept in understandable year and month named directories. I suppose this means that every file will need to be sent up to your CrashPlan cloud again.

Also, keep in mind that once the .photoslibrary is converted, you can't take it back to Mojave and expect it to work. So if you decide to go back to Mojave you will have to re-add or re-edit any work you'd done under Monterey.

My music library is still on a High Sierra machine, so I can't comment on what the new Music app will do to it.

I have the home folder split up between the internal drive and an external SSD. Not ideal, but until I get a new machine, it needs to stay this way. Will upgrading the OS break this?

I suppose you mean you've used symbolic links or Finder aliases for some of the folders within your home folder? Or have you completely moved your home folder? As far as I know the upgrade should be ok with the symbolic links, but I did a new installation instead of an upgrade.

Which OS is the safest bet these days to upgrade to? Looking for an upgrade in features and want to keep reliability.

I have a huge library of photos stored on a Drobo 5D

OK, I don't really have the energy to substantiate this opinion, but I'll throw it out there anyway. Monterey, for me, seemed to introduce unexpected ejections of some of my external drives which had been rock-solid for years. This led me to read many, many threads relating to external drive and disk image problems reported in Monterey. And it seems to me that there are too many. Problems seem to hit only some people, and some devices, with no good pattern. Except that most are reported to start just after upgrading to Monterey (some few report it happening after a Big Sur upgrade, though).

I just have a gut feel, a belief that Monterey changed external drive handling in a way that causes issues for a lot of people (not the majority though, of course). I'm lucky, my unexpected ejections are fairly few and infrequent, but if I had it to do over again I would prbably go to Big Sur instead of Monterey. I've even had messages about "unexpected ejection" of the current internal boot volume of my laptop! Never on Mojave, though...

OK, I'll get off my not-well-substantiated soapbox, I'm not trying to spread FUD -- but if I were you, I'd take plenty of time testing out your external storage setup after any upgrade! (Hope I'm not over-warning here, anecdotal experience, etc. And of course you'll probably need to upgrade someday, anyway. But test it out for a week before committing!)

 

[Brian33]

You will not be able to use any 32-bit apps when you upgrade beyond Mojave.

Good point! You might want to try the utility '32-bitCheck' from Howard Oakley (I trust his utilities):

https://eclecticlight.co/2018/04/16/telling-which-apps-are-32-bit-32-bitcheck-does-it-better/

 

[weezin]

Regarding Photos: the Monterey Photos app will "upgrade" your Photos library.

Hmm, okay. I wonder if this then means that my photos library won't be viewable on other Mojave devices. I have a 2012 Macbook Air on Mojave that I like to view the photos on as well.

Or have you completely moved your home folder?

Yep, completely moved it due to lack of space on the internal drive.

The more I think about it, the more I'm wondering whether I should just stay on Mojave. However, I think I saw that Slack is going to stop supporting Mojave soon and if that happens, I'll need to upgrade (as I need the Slack app for work).

Thanks for all of the explanation, I appreciate it.

 

[zarmanto]

... However, I think I saw that Slack is going to stop supporting Mojave soon and if that happens, I'll need to upgrade (as I need the Slack app for work). ...

If you're using your personal computer for work, then you should probably consider the security ramifications of running an older version of macOS. Many employers frown on their employees connecting to corporate resources with out-of-date or insecure computers. And unfortunately, last month Apple expressly stated that they will not commit to releasing security updates for any but the most recent major version of macOS. (Reference)

Given that your 2018 Mini is still supported, you may want to give Ventura some serious consideration.

 

[weezin]

Well, Google Drive is ending support for Mojave soon it seems and so are a couple of other apps I use frequently. I think I'm going to have to upgrade soon, but I'm actually just considering getting a Mac Studio and running with that. Starting fresh, moving over only what I want, and going from there.