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I don't want to do a clean install unless absolutely necessary. I'm just a bit concerned about doing one big jump so I'm thinking of going a half step. I recently upgraded my wife's Mac, not such a big jump, and had a terrible couple of days talking to Apple. I'm hoping for a better outcome this time. Should I clear old and non updatable programmes before I do anything?
Thanks
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
If your Mojave drive is formatted as Mac OS Extended Journaled, it must be reformatted to APFS in order to install Ventura. I recall that earlier (I believe in Catalina) the installer would do the conversion as part of the install. But I don't know if the Ventura installer does that anymore.
In my opinion it would be best to create a bootable USB installer for Ventura, boot from it, reformat your Mojave drive to APFS, then install Ventura from the USB stick.
Of course, if your Mojave drive is already APFS you could just run the Ventura installer. Even so, I suggest creating a bootable USB installer to use just in case something goes wrong.
It would also be a good idea to use a wired keyboard & mouse while upgrading.
Here are some things one should do before upgrading their system:
A - if you've installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac uninstall then according to the developer's instructions.
B - You can check to see if you've removed all of the supporting files by downloading and running the shareware app Find Any File to search for any files with the application's or the developer's name in the file name. For XXXX software you'd do the following search(es):
1 - Name contains XXXX
Any files that are found can be dragged from the search results window to the Desktop or Trash bin in the Dock for deletion.
FAF can search areas that Spotlight can't like invisible folders, system folders and packages.
If you get warnings that the file can't be deleted because it is in use or used by another app boot into Safe Mode according to How to use safe mode on your Mac and delete from there.
Note: if you have a wireless keyboard with rechargeable batteries connect it with its charging cable before booting into Safe Mode. This makes it act as a wired keyboard as will assure a successful boot into Safe Mode.
Thanks. I did that and tried to download Big Sur that got stuck and then wouldn't verify. Tried again, same thing. Tried Monterey, same. Decided I might as well try Ventura which is what the Mac tells me I should use, same again. I've tried and failed to boot to safe mode several times. I think it might be time to give up and live with Mojave.
Did you use the charging cable with the wireless keyboard (if the keyboard has rechargeable batteries) when trying to boot into Safe Mode. Otherwise the keyboard may not connect in time to allow you to boot into Safe Mode.
I did and I also tried a wired keyboard. One thing I wasn't sure about was when to let go. Instructions say when you get to the log in screen. I don't have a set log in so I kept holding and waiting to get to main screen. Trouble was it never got there, just the logo and the loading bar.
After my failed attempts at downloading anything I finally remembered that I had previously downloaded the Ventura app for future use but had deleted it. I had forgotten but it occurred to me that the Mac hadn't and so wouldn't let me do anything.
I've tracked it down in TM and re-installed it in my apps folder and am thinking about having a go with it. I didn't want to do such a big jump but it may be that I have no other option. Of course all my suppositions may be wrong.
Thanks. The drive is AFPS so I least that's on thing out of the way. The only installer I can get seems to be the one I rescued from ™. It's 18.6.41 so I think is the final update. Attempts to download a fresh one from Apple don't work for some reason. I was positing the theory that because I had already downloaded it, even though I'd trashed it, I wasn't able to do it again.
A bootable installer might work, I'll give it a go.
Good to know your drive is already APFS.
18.6.41 ... no idea what that is. Ventura is macOS 13 and the latest version is 13.7.1
There is no limit to the number of times you may download the installer. macOS downloads don't work reliably in any browser other than Safari, so if you were not using Safari, give it another try with Safari. Also remember that if you run a macOS installer from the /Applications folder on your drive, the installer file is automatically deleted when the install finishes.
Look at the size of the installer file. If it's only about 20-30MB you have what's known as a stub installer and you cannot make a bootable USB installer from that. If you want to make a bootable installer disk you will need the full installer that is about 10-15GB.
Amazingly I went to the download page and it offered me Big Sur which is what I was after in the first place, same place yesterday wouldn't let me have anything and I was using Safari. OK, click, install and after a reasonably long time, particularly at the endless less than a minute stage, it installed.
While I can in theory move to Ventura I'll stick here a while and see what does and doesn't still work.
Thanks everybody for your advice.
Congrats!! Glad it went well. Big Sur is a good intermediate upgrade. So is Monterey, which I am still using myself.
what's the best approach to upgrading from Mojave to Ventura
