Mac OS Upgrading

[arfo1962]

Hi everyone,

as you can see in my profile I’m still running OS 13 Ventura, as I was used to keep my system not upgraded to last OS version if everything is running correctly; recently I’m starting to experience some problems (like with Safari or other apps) so I ask if upgrading to Sequoia I can be relatively sure not to meet issues, especially with my music apps. (I obviously would do a complete system back up before upgrading).

Thanks,

Art

[Martin.Jirsak]

Hi,

I did this update a few months ago. No problem on my side.

[arfo1962]

Hi @Martin.Jirsak,

nice to hear it!

Best,
Art

[arfo1962]

@Martin.Jirsak

I did this update a few months ago. No problem on my side.

I have one more question, if possible: let’s say I have to recover some file from a Time Machine backup, if I upgrade how could I do? Will a new OS recognize an old version backup from TM?

Thank you,

Art

[Pete_Cockcroft]

I would always be drawn more to a clean install mindset. Time Machine is wiped, and you start again. So, any files you might want later should be stored elsewhere - for worry-free access. (If your question was that you have a now deleted song on the 3rd run of Time Machine, dated 5 months ago, and can you retrieve that song, using your new OS - then I don’t know. So I work around my ignorance by being more exacting in my process if possible). I would retrieve everything you need now, and begin afresh.

My M4 Mini came with Sequoia, and runs Cubase 14 and Wavelab 9.5 perfectly, with Waves ver-16 plugins. But I had to lower security to run my Motu Ultralight mk3 drivers.

[arfo1962]

Hi @Pete_Cockcroft,

thank you for answering!

@Pete_Cockcroft

I would always be drawn more to a clean install mindset

I agree this would be the ideal process but a complete reinstallation takes a lot of time (days, in my case; maybe I’m too slow…) if you have to do it from scratch and I couldn’t do it now so I think I’ll install Sequoia keeping programs, data and other stuff…

About old backup: I have different data backups, what I wouldn’t like to loose are programs (Cubase mainly) preferences, shortcuts, presets and so on, so I asked myself about old TM backups accessibility from a new OS; maybe I’ll do a separate copy of relative Cubase folders.

Glad to know Sequoia is working fine (I’ve read someone would prefer Sonoma as it’s lighter…)

Best,

Art

[Pete_Cockcroft]

@arfo1962

Hi @Pete_Cockcroft,

thank you for answering!

@Pete_Cockcroft

I would always be drawn more to a clean install mindset

You’re very welcome Arfo. I’d like to talk a bit about my situation, but by no means is what I do the way it could or should be done.

In my case the question of migration came up. But I was coming from a 2015 Monterey MacBook, with Cubase 13 - straight to a Mac Mini M4 with Sequoia and Cubase 14 with the latest BFD 3.5 drums. I really don’t want iCloud on my music computer, and my network is a iPhone hot-spot - so I limit myself to begin with. My computer settings are fairly normal, and don’t take up much time, mostly it’s turning stuff off. I only use Waves plugins and Cubase plugins, so minimal work there. But my version 11 Waves needed updating to version 16 to work with the M4. So, for me, with such a change in hardware and software, I felt it was better for me to start afresh.

The consensus online seemed to be that both Migration and TM onto a new machine, was a grey area, especially with different OS versions. This is mainly why I didn’t use either method.

Now, I need to freshly write my new drum-maps across my keyboard, and having old presets for my plugins would be nice, but I don’t think I’m missing anything else? The new M4 Mini and Cubase 14 I saw as a new beginning, and I decided to draw a line on the past, and start over, using my experience to be methodical, and selective as to what I chose to include.

The M4 Mini has instantly put me in the confirmed 24-bit/96Khz club for the first time, and I have a very revised monitoring setup with a DAC as well. So for me, the changes were major throughout. After weeks of playing with crossovers, re-positioning my whole music space, and virtually living on eBay - I don’t regret the 12 hours it took me to get up and running from scratch, once the M4 Mini arrived.

This approach has finally given me the impetus here to do things properly, so not just a drum-map, but a complete mixer-template with sub-groups for the drum kits I use, and versions that have ambience, EQ, and Compression. Now that is time-consuming, and yes I can see the benefit of having that stuff saved to a back-up disc prior to major system overhauls. So I now have individual folders saved on two SSD drives, and will probably use them in the future, if I need to start again.

The feeling of being completely upgraded, with new hardware throughout, is quite exciting - especially since the M4 Mini performs so well. I’m glad I didn’t carry over anything from the older setup - it’s liberating in a way.

Everything works, there’s no lags or glitches, the system is rock-solid, and the sound is unbelievable through the Bryston DAC, with a DH Labs Mirage USB-cable, straight from the Mini M4.

My budget stopped short at a new soundcard. An AKM-chip RME would be nice, but my old Ultralight mk3 is a trusted input device, and it’s output is Spdif to my DAC - good enough for day to day working, although all critical listening and mixing is done purely Computer to DAC.

So that’s a little of what I did. I’ll be honest and say I never really backed up anything before, so fresh installs were of course a necessity brought about by my laziness. Once your time-investment in tweaking the software becomes serious, then back-ups of your settings and libraries are totally needed, and for next time - I’ll have all that, but they will always be added to a fresh, clean install of OS and Cubase, as I like the yardstick of a new, snappy system. I even downloaded the complete 55GB BFD drum library fresh, even though I had it on disc!

Cloning my Mini’s system drive to a removable, external SSD seems a good move now, and Time Machine is now running on my system. But this will purely be for Mini M4 failure situations, or catastrophic events. I would at that point probably upgrade to a Mac Studio anyway, so would then revert to my clean-install method of working, albeit this time with a few folders of settings and templates for my 3rd-party BFD Drums.

Old habits die hard.