Upgrading from macOS Monterey 12.7.4 to Sonoma 14.4.1

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Level 1

13 points

Upgrading from macOS Monterey 12.7.4 to Sonoma 14.4.1

Hello

I have a MacBook Air (M2, 2022) with the Apple M2 Chip and macOS Monterey 12.7.4. I am repeatedly prompted by Apple to upgrade to Sonoma 14.4.1. As support for Monterey is likely to cease in the near future (later this year I have read), upgrading to Sonoma seems a good idea.

I have purchased a SanDisk Professional G-Drive ArmorATD 5TB external hard drive which I intend to partition, using one partition for Time Machine backups. I have never used Time Machine before but it all seems quite straightforward. Everything I read about upgrading from Monterey to Sonoma strongly recommend backing up with either Time Machine or some other backup system, which make sense. If, for some reason, Sonoma didn't work out on my Mac I could then install the Time Machine backup and go back to Monterey.

However, in researching this upgrade I have found a HUGE thread on this Apple forum, eighteen pages long, with posts by Apple users who have found their external drives will not work after they upgraded to Sonoma, from various earlier macOS's, including Monterey. The topic is titled "Unable to access Drives and Disks after updating to macOS Sonoma."

Unable to access External Drives and Disk… - Apple Community

These posts, 18 pages of them, go up to 1st April 2024, so presumably the users have the most up-to-date version of Sonoma, yet their problems appear to continue. I haven't read all 18 pages, not yet. When I read other guides on upgrading or updating to Sonoma, there are absolutely no mentions of these sort of problems, yet clearly they are happening for quite a lot of people.

So I am now uncertain how to proceed. I have just spent about £170 on this external hard drive in order to backup my MacBook Air with Time Machine, to be safe, and then upgrade to macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 as Apple keep prompting me to do. But if I do upgrade, then find my expensive new hard drive will not work with Sonoma (as many other people have experienced), I could not then use the Time Machine backup to revert back to Monterey. And I would have wasted £170.

I don't know what to do. I could just back up and then NOT upgrade to Sonoma, but then support for Monterey is likely to cease later this year, apparently.

Does anyone have a solution to this please? I find it odd that apparently so many people are having this issue, yet it isn't mentioned at all in any of the guides and articles I have read over the last few days on various websites. Is it a very small issue, very unlikely to happen? Does anyone know?

Any informed advice and help would be much appreciated.

MacBook Air, macOS 12.7

Posted on Apr 3, 2024 11:06 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 4, 2024 11:04 AM in response to Otterysteve

It is always a good idea to have Time Machine.

As already noted, there is always some risk when doing an upgrade - hence the backup.

But although some people have had issues, most people - notably including everyone that does not come to these forums because er... they are just using their macs - do not.

In case of a catastrophic upgrade, you can always boot from Recovery, erase the drive and install a clean OS, then migrate your content from the backup. But, as Murphy's law has it, it is usually when you don't have a backup that disaster tends to strike...

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Answer 2

Apr 4, 2024 9:46 AM in response to Otterysteve

All upgrades/updates carry some measure of risk.

We have five Macs, 2015 to 2020 models, and we have gotten every single update or upgrade as offered without problems Having a disaster escape plan is always a very good idea however.

The choice is yours. Either you take the plunge, accept the risks or you stay on a "soon" to be unsupported OS.

Frankly, we have two Macs that will never go beyond Monterey and that's just not a big deal. You need to know how to protect yourself, we do, and have a way to recover from disaster, but that's routine with us.

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Answer 3

Otterysteve Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 4, 2024 10:47 AM in response to stumpy1946

Thanks for your reply.

What is your "disaster escape plan" please? I would be interested to know.

I will have a Time Machine backup, but if Sonoma doesn't recognise the hard drive it is on, it wouldn't be much use, obviously.

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Answer 4

Otterysteve Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 6, 2024 6:34 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks for your reply. I take your point re most people having no issues and not posting about that - it reminds me a bit of reading Amazon customer reviews for various products, in that those who had no issues or problems were perhaps less likely to post a review.

I will look into the process of booting from Recovery etc. that you mention helpfully, I'm sure Apple will have instructions somewhere, and go ahead with the backup and upgrade.

Thanks again for your helpful response.

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Answer 5

Otterysteve Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 10, 2024 9:34 AM in response to Otterysteve

Just to let those who have helped here and anyone else interested.....

I backed up to Time Machine last night. It all appears to have gone smoothly.

Today I bit the bullet and upgraded to Sonoma. Again, all appears to have gone smoothly.

Then the test, I attached the Time Machine hard drive, it paused for a slightly worrying little time, then it appeared, immediately changed appearance to the Time Machine livery, and I was able to update my backup.

So far all good then. Phew! :-)

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Answer 6

Nunyuah

Level 1

8 points

Jun 23, 2024 12:27 PM in response to stumpy1946

Ok, I am truly interested in learning how best to protect myself with Mac. I have had Mac before, but just got back to Mac and I seem to be more lost than ever with this particular device.

I see someone mentioned time machine. I have no idea how time machine works or any of the programs work and am so scared to even really do anything.

I was hacked once before on totally different systems and then had my accounts drained. Since then I have beefed up securities on all accounts but I sure could use.

If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

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Answer 7

steve626

Level 6

14,499 points

Jun 23, 2024 4:01 PM in response to Nunyuah

Nunyuah wrote:

Ok, I am truly interested in learning how best to protect myself with Mac. I have had Mac before, but just got back to Mac and I seem to be more lost than ever with this particular device.

I see someone mentioned time machine. I have no idea how time machine works or any of the programs work and am so scared to even really do anything.

I was hacked once before on totally different systems and then had my accounts drained. Since then I have beefed up securities on all accounts but I sure could use.

If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

You might benefit from taking one or more of the seminars/classes offered at Apple Stores. I believe they are free and they will help you quickly get familiar with the various Mac software and setup and how it all works.

I don't know what you mean by "hacked" but that is pretty unlikely with a Mac set up the default way it comes when brand new. The Mac isolates the operating system into a read only area that even you cannot modify, let alone someone else. Only Apple-certified servers can make updates to the MacOS now.

Signed system volume security - Apple Support

The worst you can install is malware but that is more of a nuisance than anything else, and it's easy to avoid that anyway.

To keep protected:

Make sure you have a good user password and your Mac requires it to be used shortly after inactivity, to get back in
Don't be careless about clicking on links on web sites and in emails, or responding to unsolicited emails. If you receive an email purportedly from a company and you are told to click on a link, instead manually enter the company's regular web address into a browser. You can also set up your browser to be very secure.
Disable all remote access (by default it is turned off) and sharing
Make sure your Apple ID password is a good one and use Apple's two-factor authentication with your Apple ID
If you have other devices like iPhones on the same Apple ID keep them secure and use a passkey with them (I saw someone leave his iPhone on a table in a restaurant the other day while he stepped away, to show that the table was occupied, probably not a good strategy)
For your WiFi, use a secure router with security active and secure it with a strong password
The Mac firewall should be on

I believe by far the most common "intrusion" on Macs occurs when someone gets physical access when the owner has logged in and leaves the device unattended.

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