Please Rate My Snow Leopard to Mavericks Upgrade Plan

Question

Level 1

41 points

Please Rate My Snow Leopard to Mavericks Upgrade Plan

I am in the process of downloading Maverick. This is my upgrade plan, which appears logical and safe to me. Please let me know if I am forgetting anything.

This is the only Mac in question:

Model Name: MacBook Pro

Model Identifier: MacBookPro5,2

Processor Name: Intel Core 2 Duo

Processor Speed: 2.8 GHz

Memory: 4 GB

My MBP has a 500g drive, and I am currently using 187g. I am also using SLs Filevault on one account.

After the Mavericks download completes, I am going to quit the Mavericks installer and zip it so I have a backup copy.
CCC the MBP drive to a USB ioSafe drive I use for backup. (I have a bootable FW external drive I have CCC'd that I also use for backup, but I am not going to update it.)
Partition the MBP drive so I have two 250g partitions.
CCC my backup to the new partition; now I have two identical partitions.
Boot from the new partition.
Turn off FV on the one account in the new partition.
- Unclear if I really want so do this. If I did, I would have to turn on FV2 in Mavericks to protect all accounts. I use CCC to an ioSafe USB drive connected to an Airport Extreme to make my backups to sparsebundles (works great) and so I could encrypt the sparebundles to protect the backups. It certainly seems like a good idea to ditch SLs FV, but I like that as it stands if I am logged into my normal account my FV account remains protected. If I go with FV2, in theory I have to lock my machine or log off to protect the one account with sensitive data. Pros and Cons welcome.
- Is it really an option and a good idea to leave FV on for the one account and turn on FV2?
Install Mavericks in the new partition.
Turn on FV2 (but see 6 above).
Apply CleanMyMac 2 to the new partition.
CCC the new Mavericks partition to my ioSafe drive (2T so plenty of space).
QA.
If and when in the future all is well, delete the first partition on my MBP so I am back to one with just Mavericks partition.

My reasoning is that this mitigates risk:

If everything goes well, then aside from the time to make the partition and CCC the image to it, very efficient.
I can fall back to SL if things go awry.
I still have SL while working out any Mavericks issue, i.e., I can still print, etc. Since I use Google for email,
I don't have to reinstall any software that will work on Mavericks. In particular, the licensed audio software I have is less likely to get crabby.

I'd appreciate comments. Thank you.

Posted on Apr 5, 2014 12:27 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Best reply

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 5, 2014 12:32 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

1. Turn off FileVault.

2. Repair HD and permissions.

3. Backup your current system.

4. Download Mavericks installer application.

5. Put a copy in your Downloads folder.

6. Install Mavericks.

In my opinion do not use FileVault unless it's a mandatory job requirement. There is not real need for it for a simple, individual setup. It's more trouble than it's worth.

Reply

Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,103 points

Apr 5, 2014 12:55 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

Additional thought:

Apply CleanMyMac 2 to the new partition

My suggestion is not to do that. It is not necessary and may cause problems.

If you're not sure that you will want/like Mavericks, then yes, do install it on a separate partition. Otherwise, simply follow Kappy's suggestions.

Reply

Answer 3

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 1:06 PM in response to Kappy

Thank you. Are you suggesting turn off SL's FV1 and also not turn on FV2 in Mavericks? It's not a job requirement but I do have an account with sensitive information and I do walk leave my house with my MBP. I basically agree with you which is why I only have FV1 on a single account.

Reply

Answer 4

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 1:06 PM in response to babowa

Thank you. OK, no CMM2 in the mix.

Reply

Answer 5

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 1:09 PM in response to babowa

The only reason I would not want to upgrade to Mavericks would be if I cannot get it to install correctly, the performance is horrific, or I can't get some critical piece of software to run. I'm not anticipating these issues.

Reply

Answer 6

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 5, 2014 1:23 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

Yes. I'm suggesting that you not use FileVault at all. If you have sensitive material why not just store it in an encrypted disc image or on an encrypted flash drive. These are available in the market for flash drives.

If you upgrade to Mountain Lion or Mavericks you will find that FV2 is quite different. Rather than encrypting just your Home folder you would actually create an encrypted hard drive. If you forget your password for the drive then you lose everything. You can create a recovery password where you upload your key to Apple so if you forget your password, then you have to remember your recovery key. Forget it and you are SOL.

It would be a lot safer to leave your drive as is. Get a separate drive on which to store your sensitive data. Then buy yourself a fireproof safe and lock the drive in the safe when you aren't using it.

Reply

Answer 7

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 2:16 PM in response to Kappy

The Mavericks download completed while I was typing this; I almost had a heart attack. 😉

Kappy, I really appreciate your input; thank you.

First off, I misspoke, My plan, after partitioning and duplicating, was to install Mavericks from the first partition onto the second partition. That way I do not lose access to my machine during the 2-3 hour install. Then, I'll just reboot.

The thing about an encrypted image/flashdrive for me is the issue of intermediate files. Plus, I admit, 5 years of workflow history.

Based on your advice, I'm going to split the difference regarding FV*:

I am not going to turn on FV2.
For the time being, I am going to keep FV1 turned on for that one account when I upgrade, which after all is just an encrypted sparseimage with a UI.
When the smoke settles, I'll consider the alternate encryptions you suggest.

I do know I have some programs that will not run (like an old version of Word); just upgrade and then figure out what does and does not work?

Looking forward to a positive Mavericks report! Thank you again for your patience.

Reply

Answer 8

Linc Davis

Level 10

209,547 points

Apr 5, 2014 2:53 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

There is no reason not to use FileVault 2 as long as you understand that you will be unable to start the computer in safe mode. That will limit your ability to recover from a boot failure caused by incompatible third-party software.

Reply

Answer 9

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 6:55 PM in response to Kappy

OK... I'm stuck.

Install went fine. I did not turn off FV1 on that one account, thinking I could deal with it after the fact.

When I went to log into that account, I got stuck at the login window.

That was 70 minutes ago.

Should I wait? Wish I could give a size estimate for that account. But I can't because I am locked out of my only Mac.

If it is safe to hold down the power button and restart, I can recover ok. The FV1 account is backed up.

Is this wait expected? If so I'll be patient.

This is painfully from my 3GS. :( If you can email me, please do.

Once I'm back in just need to know how to delete the FV account completely. Then I can use the external drive solution you suggested.

Had no idea there would be a delay. :((

Reply

Answer 10

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 5, 2014 6:59 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

I'm sorry, but I am not a user of FV, so I don't know why you are having a problem unless it's because you had to first turn off FV before upgrading.

OK a quick Google search suggests you need to turn FV1 off before upgrading to Mavericks.

Reply

Answer 11

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 7:09 PM in response to Kappy

OK, I forced a restart and am in the process of running Disk Utility to check disk integrity and permissions.

Assuming that all goes well, how would I delete the FV account completely?

Reply

Answer 12

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Apr 5, 2014 7:22 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

First make a new admin account and log into that account. Then delete the old account. You may have to turn off FV or at least have the password to remove the account.

Reply

Answer 13

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 7:29 PM in response to Kappy

OK... that's what I've got. In SL, I had a main admin account I always logged into, and an alternate admin account with FV1.

I can access my CCC backup and open the FV1 sparsebundle with that account's password. I'm going to CCC that first to a separate password protected sparsebundle. Then I'll see if I can delete the FV1 account w/o logging into it. I'd rather not turn FV1 off (a) because of time and (b) because it will put the cleartext on my drive.

I'm happy to document the procedure I get to work since I doubt I'm the first user this happened to... somehow I found online that you could use BOTH FV1 and FV2 together in MV... the horror.

As always... thank you.

Reply

Answer 14

NewYorkYogi Author

Level 1

41 points

Apr 5, 2014 9:48 PM in response to NewYorkYogi

OK, I'm back on the block!

Here is what I did if it helps anyone else, "did" being how I recovered from installing MV before turning off FV1 on a user account. This procedure is dependent upon having a full CCC backup:

In the backup, in the Users folder, you'll find a folder whose name is that of the the user, and in that folder will be a sparse image representing the FV1 home folder of that user; open it and supply the user password.
While you could likely use this image as-is, using Disk Utility I created a password protected sparse disk image, and then copied the contents of the FV1 image to that image using CCC.
I then got an external drive and copied the sparse image I just created to that drive.

With some renaming, this is what I had at this point:

An external drive named <x> HD containing a sparse image named <x>.sparseimage, which mounts as <x>.
On a backup drive, an <x> CCC.sparseimage which mounts as <x> CCC.

So, at this point, <x> HD goes to the field, its image gets mounted as <x>, and at home I mount <x> and the <x> CCC and use CCC to perform a backup.

Now, back In Mavericks, I deleted the FV1 account, and selected the option to leave the account in the Users folder to be safe. Then I just went to the Users folder and deleted it the sparseimage.

Performed a restart, and all it well. 😎

Reply