#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR UPDATE#
#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR UPGRADE#
#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR PASSWORD#
#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR FREE#

In the end, the morals of the story are to check for sufficient free space before upgrading to Big Sur and to maintain good backups, just as Joe Kissell recommends in Take Control of Big Sur.

#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR PASSWORD#

I don’t fully understand his explanation here, but it seems to revolve around how Catalina and Big Sur prompt for the account password before entering macOS Recovery, whereas the older macOS versions prompt when the troubled Mac in Target Disk Mode is connected.Īlthough this problem is unusual, I’ve received reports from several Apple consultants whose clients have found themselves in such a situation. Macintosh says that the Target Disk Mode approach is the only one that will work, with the caveat that the host Mac must be running 10.13 High Sierra or 10.14 Mojave.

FileVault enabled: For those with FileVault enabled, Mr.

If you have a second Mac and appropriate cabling, connect the two Macs, boot the troubled Mac into Target Disk Mode, and then delete files from that Mac’s internal drive using the Finder on the host Mac.

For Macs without a T2 chip, you should be able to boot from an external hard drive or a USB flash drive and then delete files in the Finder once the Mac is running.

Be careful when deleting from the command line!

Boot into macOS Recovery and choose Utilities > Terminal to launch Terminal so you can remove files with the rm command.

FileVault disabled: If FileVault isn’t enabled, Mr.

The goal here is to remove extra files (I’d aim for a few large apps that are easily reinstalled):

#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR UPGRADE#

Since we assume all TidBITS readers know enough to maintain regularly updated backups and would never consider initiating an operating system upgrade without at least one current backup, let’s say that you’re helping someone else who started the Big Sur upgrade without sufficient space or a backup. When that’s the case, you can just boot to macOS Recovery, erase the drive, reinstall macOS, and restore from backup. Of course, everything is easier if you have a backup, and you should always make a backup before upgrading your Mac. If you or someone you know ends up in the Boot Recovery Assistant loop after attempting to upgrade to Big Sur, there are various workarounds, depending on whether or not your Mac has a T2 chip and whether or not you have enabled FileVault. If you’re perturbed by this lapse, submit feedback to Apple. That would seem like an easy fix, but Apple apparently hasn’t addressed it yet. You can check manually by choosing Apple > About This Mac > Storage, but the problem is that the Big Sur installer itself fails to verify that it has enough space to complete the upgrade. If upgrading from an earlier release, macOS Big Sur requires up to 44.5GB of available storage. If upgrading from macOS Sierra or later, macOS Big Sur requires 35.5GB of available storage to upgrade. It also affects only Intel-based Macs since M1-based Macs ship with Big Sur, they’re never in a position of having to upgrade from an earlier version of macOS.Īpple is clear about how much space Big Sur requires, specifying it in the Big Sur tech specs:

#UPDATE TO MAC OS BIG SUR UPDATE#

The problem affects only upgrades from an older version of macOS to Big Sur, not an update to a Mac already running some version of macOS 11. If you start the installation without enough free space, you can end up in a Boot Recovery Assistant loop that’s difficult to break. It turns out that you must have sufficient free space for the Big Sur installer to complete its work when upgrading from a previous version of macOS. Macintosh’s detailed research into problems with the Big Sur installer. That’s not to say that some people won’t have problems-no app or operating system is free of bugs-but most reproducible problems should be known.Īlas, one more such problem has become known, thanks to Mr.

#1667: OS Rapid Security Responses, 1Password and 2FA, using Siri to request musicĮnsure Sufficient Free Space before Upgrading to Big SurĪs we continue to use macOS 11.2 Big Sur, we’re getting closer to saying that it’s safe for most people to upgrade to Big Sur from a previous version of macOS.

#1668: Updated Rapid Security Responses, OS public betas, screen saver bug fixed, “Red Team Blues” book review.

#1669: OS security updates, ambiguity of emoji, small business payments with Melio, Twitter now X.

#1670: Arc Web browser hits 1.0 release, “Do You Use It?” polls about Apple features.

#1671: Apple Q3 2023 earnings, new Beats headphones and earbuds, Stage Manager adoption rate, do you use Spotlight?.

Update to mac os big sur