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upgrades

Avatar Ann Simon
I am still running HIgh Sierra 10.13.01 on my Mac Mini and think I should upgrade, but I don’t know whether to go straight to OS 15 or do I have to go through OS 14 first? Although I worked on Macs since 1994 I have never done an upgrade we brought in IT support.
Also, why can I no longer see the photos on BBC news website?

Ann Simon

Re: upgrades

Avatar Euan Williams
You should be able to update to Catalina direct from High Sierra (the new Apple File System, APFS, will already be on your drive).

Note that old 32-bit apps will no longer run on macOS Catalina. You may be able to update any apps particularly important to you to 64-bit versions via the App Store.

The essential thing to do before you start any major upgrade is to make a "bootable" clone of your existing system drive on a clean external drive before you start. This means that you can revert the macOS to High Sierra, and use your external drive to start up your mac mini as an alternative to Catalina if you wish.

I like Carbon Copy Cloner which is easy to use (for High Sierra download CCC 5) and there is a free trial period. Use CCC5 for High Sierra.

Safari and BBC photos:
is this only on the BBC's News site?

There is a setting in Safari's top menu bar which may have been altered:
Safari > Develop > Disable Images

but it may be a cache glitch in which case you can erase Safari's caches:
Safari > Develop > Empty Caches

A good general first-aid move is to restart your Mac with the left-hand shift key held down before the chime until the progress bar appears. This is Safe Boot. You may see those words in red at the top of the screen, or horizontal display lines that confirm your choice. Log in, and wait for a few minutes for everything to settle down. Then re-start normally. The longer the process takes the better.

Re: upgrades

Avatar Ann Simon
Euan
I do have the external hard drive you made me buy when I last saw you in Dorchester (yes I do use it)
when you say "clean" external hard drive do you mean delete all the existing stuff on it?

sorry to be dim, I don't know what a 32-bit app even is, if it is to do with smart phones I have not got one.

thank you
Ann

Re: upgrades

Avatar Euan Williams
Due to my enthusiasm (grin) for partitioned drives, at a guess this is a 1TB drive divided into four 250GB partitions. If so, and if any one of them has zero items on it, that will do nicely.

If the drive has no partitions on it, then these can be created using Disk Utility without fuss, and without deleting your other information.

32-bit apps are now old-fashioned and 64-bits is the modern standard. It means that information is processed by the truck load, rather than by wheelbarrow loads. Vastly faster!

Have you managed to re-populate the BBC pictures?

Re: upgrades

Avatar Ann Simon
Euan, I tried all the fixes suggested for The BBC website but still no pictures

I should mention that whereas I still see the main page pictures, when I click on any individual article there is just a blank rectangle, although the text is still there.
And it does seem to be only BBC that is affected.

I also tried registering with the BBC website in case that was the reason, still no joy.

Re: upgrades

Avatar Tony Still
There might be some benefit by upgrading to Mojave as an interim step before going to Big Sur.

Mojave is the last version of macOS to support 32-bit apps so you won't lose the use of any apps but will still have a newer OS. You can then use 'Get Info' on each of your apps to identify any that are 32-bit (so need updating or replacing). You've then got time to resolve these issues before taking the step to Big Sur.

There might even be a benefit in holding on to Mojave until Big Sur's successor (Monterey) is released later this year. Monterey looks set to be Big Sur Mark 2 and, as such, should be more reliable and a little more tractable.

The 32-bit/64-bit issue is about the low-level architecture of apps. It needs each app's developer to produce a (modern) 64-bit version. Most will do so. The problem is old apps whose developers have lost interest, they're the ones you will lose.

The good news is that the simple act of converting an app to 64-bit can make it run 20-30% faster.

Re: upgrades

Avatar Ann Simon
Thanks, this is all beyond me but II hope will be helpful to others more IT savvy

Re: upgrades

Avatar Robert Baxter
Re Upgrades,

Been following this page as I have Mojave and wondering about upgrading-thanks for your comment Tony about waiting for Monterey (which I recently heard about) which sounds a good idea for me (using Mbp early 2015) so should work ok
Bob

Re: upgrades

Avatar Ann Simon
Thanks everybody for advice, I quickly realised I am not up to DIY upgrades and got a lovely young Mac consultant in who did amazing things including getting Plusnet to improve the internet speed from .234 (!!) to about 5, which together with system upgrade to Catalina has fixed the problem with the BBC website.
 
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