I am upgrading from macOS Sierra 10.12.6 and wondering if I ought to first upgrade to Mojave to try to avoid some of the issues people seem to have experienced updating to MacOS Big Sur, even though Apple says OS Sierra can go straight to Big Sur. Input welcome.
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.12
I would recommend you upgrade to macOS High Sierra first before upgrading to macOS Big Sur.
macOS High Sierra will prepare your mac better for upgrading to Big Sur as it will install the
firmware necessary for the move to the new APFS file system.
For High Sierra, Mojave or Catalina,
Open Safari and click on this link,
How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support
Go to Check Compatibility to see if your mac qualifies for the OS upgrade you want.
Then go to the Download OS section and click on the OS you want to install.
Before upgrading make a full back up of your Mac.
Check that third party apps you use have updates available for the new OS.
Check that your printers/ scanners etc have updated drivers and software available for the new OS.
Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.
Do not use your mac while it is downloading
and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.
If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app
go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS ******.app.
Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.
If you want to or are able to install Big Sur, open Safari and click on the link below.
How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur - Apple Support
If you are considering upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur be warned they do not support 32bit apps.
Your Mac is probably running 32bit apps and these will need to be updated to 64bit apps,
some updates may be free, some may be paid. Use this free app to discover which apps you have
are 32bit, https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/ then contact the developers of the software to see
if they are offering 64bit updates.
I would recommend you upgrade to macOS High Sierra first before upgrading to macOS Big Sur.
macOS High Sierra will prepare your mac better for upgrading to Big Sur as it will install the
firmware necessary for the move to the new APFS file system.
For High Sierra, Mojave or Catalina,
Open Safari and click on this link,
How to get old versions of macOS – Apple Support
Go to Check Compatibility to see if your mac qualifies for the OS upgrade you want.
Then go to the Download OS section and click on the OS you want to install.
Before upgrading make a full back up of your Mac.
Check that third party apps you use have updates available for the new OS.
Check that your printers/ scanners etc have updated drivers and software available for the new OS.
Connect your mac to your router via cable rather than rely on WiFi.
Do not use your mac while it is downloading
and do not use any other devices that share the same internet connection.
If the App Store says ‘Open’ then it is detecting a previous download of the install app
go to the Applications folder locate Install macOS ******.app.
Move it to the Trash, empty the Trash.
Restart, click on the link again, the App Store should say ‘Get' or 'Download'.
If you want to or are able to install Big Sur, open Safari and click on the link below.
How to upgrade to macOS Big Sur - Apple Support
If you are considering upgrading to Catalina or Big Sur be warned they do not support 32bit apps.
Your Mac is probably running 32bit apps and these will need to be updated to 64bit apps,
some updates may be free, some may be paid. Use this free app to discover which apps you have
are 32bit, https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/ then contact the developers of the software to see
if they are offering 64bit updates.
This was really helpful. Thank you. I've run Go64 and I see that iMovie and some other apps I have, such as MS Word (Office 2008) are not supported under the later OS versions. Will content on my MacBook created or edited in iMovie still be available under the new OS? Are files created under MS Word 2008 readable? These are the questions that made me nervous about updating when Catalina came out.
32bit and 64bit only applies to the apps themselves, it does not mean the projects or documents created in apps are 32bit or 64bit.
iMovie is an Apple app so I would assume Apple would make sure that iMovie projects created in older versions of iMovie
would still be able to be viewed in new versions of iMovie. But that is not a guarantee, perhaps you could research that further.
You would need to check with Microsoft to see if documents created in MS Word 2008 will keep the same formatting etc
when run in newer versions of Word. But you would think these high profile application vendors would show some credibility by making their newer apps backwards compatible with their older apps.
I can't give you a definitive answer as I do not use either of those apps.
Thank you for these helpful responses. I am still researching the iMovie transition and will do a bit more on Word. I’m fairly confident I can update as far as Mojave for now and Big Sur once I’m certain.
Upgrading from macOS Sierra 10.12.6. Is it best to upgrade first to Mojave before upgrading to OSBig Sur?
