Upgrading to macOS Big Sur? Do this first.
A new macOS upgrade is out in the wild today. I think it’s a great upgrade, but no matter what, there will be someone today who lose all their data as a result of upgrading. It happens every year, like clockwork, and it’s totally preventable.
Why some people lose data when they upgrade their Mac
Major updates like macOS Big Sur were created with millions of existing Macs in mind. However, the focus of the developer (Apple) was on what software you’re running, not latent failures. Some people, maybe even you, are using a Mac that’s failing in some fashion, but you don’t know it yet. After completing nearly 75,000 service orders over a decade, I learned that the minority of computer failures were sudden and entirely without warning. Most of the customers I spoke with during the service order intake process explained that they noticed something odd weeks or even months before the computer completely failed.
Latent failures come in two categories: Hardware and software. Hardware failures are incredibly rare on Macs, and, believe it or not, a lot of hardware problems are actually created by ill-equipped or poorly trained technicians during diagnosis of a computer problem. But let’s table that discussion for another post. The point is, software problems make up the majority of latent problems that cause failed upgrades. In my experience, at least 75% of data loss situations happened because of software breaking.
Software “breaks” too
When developers create software upgrades, they have to assume certain conditions about what’s being upgraded. Has it been kept current? Is it free from problems and damage that come from unexpected reboots or shutdowns? How was the hard drive originally set up? All of these things matter, and will ultimately affect whether or not the upgrade goes as planned.
Backup first
The point of all this is, you need a proper backup 100% of the time before upgrading your macOS. I always back up two ways before performing any update: First, I use backblaze to perpetually back up all my files. I love backblaze for a couple of reasons. It’s fast, and its encrypted. Backblaze will even give you the only keys to your backup if you want. Just don’t lose them, otherwise your data will be unusable forever.
I also use Carbon Copy Cloner from Bombich to make a bootable backup. I could use disk utility, but I especially appreciate the simplicity and reliability of CCC, which is built on disk utility as a foundation.
The bottom line: A second chance
Will backing up make your upgrade to Big Sur flawless? Of course not. What they will do is allow you to recover from a bad situation you didn’t expect.
