Should you upgrade to macOS Ventura? There are a few steps you need to take before upgrading any
OS, and macOS Ventura is no different. So here’s what to do before upgrading to macOS Ventura.
Hey friends, I’m Tasia Custode and welcome back to my YouTube Channel
where I share tech tips and app reviews. Today I’m sharing the 5 things you should
do before you upgrade to Ventura. Plus I’ll share a few bonus tips at the end. Let’s go!
Step number 1: check compatibility. You’re going
to need to make sure your device is capable of running macOS Ventura.
If you head to support.apple.com, you can find a whole list of computers that are compatible
with macOS Ventura. I’ve included this link in the description below, but generally,
you’re going to have to have a device from 2017 and newer,
but that does differ depending on the computer you have. So, it is key to check this list.
So, if you’re still wondering well which device do I have?
Just click on the apple logo in the top left and
select ‘about this Mac’. In this pop up, you’ll see the device you have.
Step 2: Make sure you have enough free space. It’s simple,
but make sure of this prior to any OS upgrade.
So, it’s going to take around 12GB of space to update from macOS Monterey to Ventura.
But if you’re still running say Sierra or Big Sur, it could take even more space. Generally,
I’d say you want double the installer space required. So,
ensure you’ve got at least 24 GB free. So, to check how much space you have on your drive,
click that apple logo again in the top left and once again select about this mac. Then, from here,
select storage and you’ll get a snapshot of the storage space left on your device.
Step 3: check app compatibility. This is HUGE, probably the biggest thing I tell
people before upgrading macOS. Do NOT upgrade macOS before knowing if your crucial third-party
apps are compatible with Ventura. Here’s the thing: when I upgraded to Big Sur back in 2020,
I did so before checking app compatibility. And wouldn’t you know, the upgrade broke a
lot of my apps. What do I mean by that? Well, 3rd party editing plugins and themes weren’t
compatible with that version of macOS, so they either didn’t work at all, or they
had glitches that needed to be fixed before they could work on Big Sur. I’m telling you,
learn from my mistake. To this day, even after upgrading to Monterey,
some of my plugins are still not compatible. This is not a joke. So I really want you to
think about what apps you use on a daily basis and ensure compatibility. Have I made myself clear?
So, as an example, I use Camtasia to screen record all my videos. If I go to their site,
I can click on full system requirements to see a complete compatibility list.
This is really important for video editors, audio engineers, students.
So, if you’re a student, you’ll want to check with your school’s tech department first to ensure
you’ll be able to run your programs efficiently. And, beware, for certain apps like Camtasia
or certain plugins where they don’t actually name the macOS, just the version number,
the app could still have issues. So just double-check before upgrading. But,
some third-party apps, like Adobe creative cloud will tell you specifically which version of macOS
it’s compatible with. And keep in mind this could be weeks or months after Ventura is available.
So, I’ve waited around two months upgrade
to Ventura because of compatibility concerns. Have I made myself clear?
Step 4: Back up your Mac prior to upgrading. Along with step 3, this is the next crucial
step prior to upgrading. You never know if you’re going to experience an issue when upgrading macOS,
so it’s crucial to have an up-to-date backup of your device prior to any upgrading.
There are a couple of ways to backup your device. My preferred method is to use time machine. This
is really easy to do, you just need an external HD and when you plug in your hard drive to your Mac,
your Mac will instantly recognize the device and ask you if you want to use it as a backup disc.
Now if this doesn’t automatically pop up for you, you can just head to system preferences,
and select time machine, or select time machine from your menu bar at the top. Then, from here,
click on ‘select backup disc’, and follow the prompts. I like to keep
time machine up in my top bar here for easy access, but it’s preference for you.
Now backing up can take some time depending on how much storage you’ve used up. And speaking of
which, step number 5: make sure you have enough time to upgrade your OS. Do not rush this process.
So, first of all, like we just went over, backing up your Mac could take time. Luckily,
you should still be able to work while backing up, but it can slow things down for you.
Second of all, downloading macOS Ventura could take around 40 minutes to an hour. Again,
you can keep working during this step, but things might be slower for you. Most importantly,
once you hit install, you want the installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep
or closing its lid. So, I recommend, starting this entire process at the end of your workday
so you can just let your Mac sit and take its time installing the upgrade.
Now with all this said, I’ve got two bonus tips for you. First, regardless of what OS
you’re upgrading whether it be iOS or macOS or iPad OS,
I always recommend waiting until there is another version release. Here’s what I mean.
If we go back to our about this mac section, you’ll want to take note of the version number.
So, for instance, I’m running macOS Monterey 12.6. Meaning, the first iteration of Monterey
was version 12. So, there have already been 6 other patches to Monterey, or little updates,
if you will. ​​For macOS, Apple updates the patch version for every release. This
is really important to understand because these patches contain important supplemental updates.
So, remember how I said I’ve waited a couple of months to update to Ventura
due to app compatibility concerns? Well, that’s part of the reason. The other part,
is I wanted to wait for a minor update to Ventura first.
We can easily tell if there have been patches to Ventura by once again
clicking on our apple logo in the top left, system preferences, and software update. Here,
Ventura 13.1 so I know right off the bat, there’s been a minor update to macOS 13.
So, oftentimes what happens with brand new releases,
is there can be bugs in the operating system. If you wait until say version 13.1 instead of
upgrading right away to when Ventura was released, you could avoid annoying bugs.
And this brings us right into bonus tip number 2: always keep macOS Ventura up to date. So,
when you decide to update, keep upgrading as these patches become available. Remember,
as Apple releases patches to their operating system, bugs will be worked out of the system,
and you’ll also be up-to-date with important security updates.
So those are my steps on what to do before upgrading to macOS Ventura. Will you be upgrading
to macOS Ventura if you haven’t already? Let everyone know in the comments below. As always,
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