Apple
5 Reasons Not to Install macOS Sierra and 9 Reasons You Should
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Don't Install if You're Traveling | |||||||||||||||
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Are you currently traveling for work or pleasure? This is not the time to install the macOS Sierra update. No matter how much your Mac tells you that this is the time to install an update -- don't do it. We've heard from users who decided to install a Mac update in an airport right before a flight and were left without a working computer. The same goes for installing this update in a hotel. Wait until you have the time you need, are at your home or office with a current backup and then upgrade to macOS Sierra. | |||||||||||||||
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nameisrequired
09/22/2016 at 12:51 am
Nothing is perfect and Mac OS Sierra is no exception.
Actually this article mainly talks about the advantages of the new system. But we can not deny that Sierra also leads to some problems like Mac app damage, Safari crash. This article reveal both the problems and solutions. Hope it will be helpful https://bit.ly/2d3d7gE
Pete
10/13/2016 at 2:02 pm
>Nothing is perfect and Mac OS Sierra is no exception.
Ah the Donald Trump excuse.
William Collins
10/22/2016 at 9:51 am
The Hillary Clinton version….
I don’t know, I forgot / can’t remember / am exempt from the rules normal people have to live by / can’t remember what lies I told …..
Chris
01/04/2017 at 9:03 pm
This shit is cracking me up right now. lol
kozmo koggs
03/01/2017 at 6:43 am
right… and Donald Chump follows all of the normal rules. I’ve never seen anyone in such an egotistical stupor in my life
JIMJFOX
04/13/2017 at 1:25 am
Not even Barry Soetoro Barack Hussein O’Bama??
Leonard Wichard
12/28/2016 at 3:15 pm
Hi There,
this post is something we call bait. It suggests on Google Search Results to deal with certain issues. Then when reading the post, it quickly becomes clear that this post doesnt deal with anything of any importance.
— LG
Nic S
09/26/2016 at 6:45 pm
Installed it this morning. I’m now about to uninstall it as there is nothing worth upgrading for. Novelties like Siri and picture in picture aren’t worth the trouble for all the software that Sierra breaks. I’m staying with Yosemite.
WES
10/07/2016 at 8:58 am
Hello. Do you know if there is a way to uninstall El Capitain and go back to Yosemite ?
Parker Tubman
10/12/2016 at 7:36 am
There is a way to go back to Yosemite because that is what I did. I did not like El Capitan. Here’s how to do it.
If you did back up before installing El Capitan … :
1. First get a hardware drive with lots of memory
2. Back up your entire computer through Time Machine app.
3. Then when you upgraded Yosemite, go on to Time Machine with your hard drive attached to the USB point on the computer, and select the last backup file with the date that you did the last backup before El Capitan came on your computer. It will have Yosemite on it.
If you did NOT back up Yosemite before installing El Capitan … :
1. First get a hardware drive with lots of memory
2. Go on to Time Machine with your hard drive attached to the USB point on the computer, and select the last backup file that you did on your hard drive. If its something older an Older OS system on there you can choose that and not have El Capitan anymore.
Rob
09/29/2016 at 2:35 pm
This article if pretty shallow
Cooper Jackson
09/29/2016 at 10:04 pm
Is it really even an “article” ??? More like a way for someone to get hits to their site.
Richard T Fishall
09/30/2016 at 5:19 am
Sorry but this article has zero value.
Chris Burbridge
09/30/2016 at 10:17 pm
I totally disagree with Mister (or Misus) “zero value”. Very helpful! I will not install. Thanks.
Sean Hyland
02/14/2017 at 7:15 pm
You’re kidding me right? “I will not install” Based on what information because there was none.
Bhosadda
10/01/2016 at 2:23 am
Lol….early adopters with “Software Update OCD” always get screwed, and yet they never learn….. Just because an OS is released today, doesn’t mean you should immediately install it thinking it’s going to somehow make your computer “better”, or “faster”, ideas of “update” is in your head. Stick with El Capitan, it’s rock solid; as with any OSX update, it’s _ALWAYS_ wise to wait for the second incremental (i.e 10.12.2) patch before even considering upgrading.
pat
02/28/2017 at 9:27 am
Early adopter = guinea pig :)
kay ringold
10/01/2016 at 6:54 am
The title doesn’t match the content. It doesn’t give any real opinions on the upgrade
Zac Paul
10/01/2016 at 12:37 pm
WHAT IS THIS? This article really misses some significant points. And when I say “significant points”, I mean almost every point of meaning.
THE BIGGEST FEATURE OF SIERRA, WHICH IS GOING IGNORED BY MANY PUBLICATIONS
The biggest single upgrade with Sierra is the pending APFS, Apple’s new file system that will replace the two-decade old HFS+. This is a massive undertaking. You can ONLY upgrade to APFS with Sierra, and you WILL be able to upgrade file systems WITHOUT having to do a clean install. Right now, early 2017 is when APFS should be pushed to general users. This file system has better data integrity, better multi-tasking abilities, is optimized for high-speed flash storage, and offers MAJOR improvements in encryption options. In the future, by using APFS on OS X, this will allow OS X to have a degree of interaction with iOS that was never before possible (currently, as iOS uses APFS, and Mac HFS+, there are some compatibility issues between Macs and other Apple portable devices that APFS can lift.)
BRAND NEW OPERATING SYSTEMS ARE ALMOST NEVER AS SECURE AS THE MATURE PLATFORMS THEY REPLACE.
As for security, expecting a brand new OS to immediately be more secure than a mature platform is a risky assumption. Beta testing has the limitation that the quantity of beta testers are a tiny fraction of real-world users of the stable version, so beta and pen testing provide valuable data, but there are limited. Apple, like Microsoft, doesn’t drop support on one version of OS X the moment the next comes out. The security flaw you are referencing IIRC has been pushed out to all versions of OS X dating back to Mountain Lion. As of right now, the XTS-AES whole disk encryption used by FileVault2 is secure on all recent implementations of OS X. When Sierra gets APFS, users will have more encryption options, and the potential for greater security. As for general usage, the greatest security vulnerabilities are usually attacking add-ons and extensions in browsers (such as Flash.) Using a modern browser, keeping it updated regularly, using a site like SSL Labs to test a website you are about to buy from but want to know if they use good cryptography. Users worried about security and privacy should consider Little Snitch, Murus, BitDefender, 1Password, good password habits, encrypting internal & external drives, as well as flash & SD cards & drives, and ensuring their use of cloud computing is secure. No operating system can compensate for bad security habits.
FIX PROBLEMS BY FINDING AND RESOLVING THE ACTUAL PROBLEM!!!
Doing an in-place OS update on a malfunctioning system is like replacing your brakes if you need new tires and hoping that things turn out OK. If you are having problems with a current release of El Capitan, it is unlikely that upgrading to Sierra will fix this and it increases the chance that you screw things up even worse than before. Think about that for a second…you are having issues with a mature operating system that has proven reliable, so you upgrade to a new one with far less known? El Capitan is an extremely reliable operating system…if you are having an issue, you need to determine if it is related to the OS, Apple software, 3rd party software, or hardware failure because the course of action to fix the issue is completely different. A free program such as Onyx can fix many OS issues, and along with utilizing Disk Utility, resetting PRAM/NRAM/SMC, Apple’s hardware testers, and a utility that pulls SMART data from the local drive, you can get a good idea of what is going on and may be able to fix it. If there are issues with severe disk corruption, upgrading without a clean install will not do a thing, and the only application that reliably repairs severe corruption that even OS X itself cannot is DiskWarrior.
OVERALL, THIS MINOR UPDATE HAS BIG POTENTIAL
Functionally, Sierra is not currently all that different from El Capitan. As El Capitan is extremely reliable, this makes sense so Apple has a solid base for the OS leading us to APFS, where a mid-life update (or what replaces Sierra) may then implement larger changes that makes the interaction between different devices a far better process, with greater ease and improved productivity. Apple also likely realized that with such a rapid update schedule, minor changes to OS X are better than radical changes because reliability suffers with changes as such. Leopard, Lion, (and Mavericks and Yosemite to a lesser extent) all introduced awesome features but had a lot of issues. Snow Leopard, Mountain Lion, and El Capitan introduced few new features and instead vastly improved reliability.
MAKE A CLONE BACKUP IN ADDITION TO OR IN PLACE OF TIME MACHINE
Before updating, I advise having a CLONE (not a TimeMachine backup) of the disk you are going update. A program like Carbon Copy Cloner makes a superior backup and one of the optimal quality desired should you need to revert back to your older OS without doing a fresh install. Clones can be made bootable, where Time Machine cannot.
USING VIRTUAL MACHINES TO TEST NEW OPERATING SYSTEMS SAVES A LOT OF CUSSING TIME
If someone has compatibility concerns, consider purchasing VMWare Fusion, Parallels, or downloading a free player. These virtual machine apps allow you to run Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. operating systems on your Mac in an isolated environment. You can then ‘test’ the new OS to ensure it works reliably enough for your needs and has no issues with your older Apps. The $100 or so spent on this software can save a ton of grief, and many hours of your time by preventing you installing an OS, finding it doesn’t work right, and then manually having to downgrade (which still may have issues.)
—-
So, should someone update to Sierra? As of right now, my opinion is…
YES, if:
-the need to have the latest-and-greatest ASAP is more important than reliability, compatibility, and security
-you want to immediately benefit from improvements made with iCloud
-you strongly like the updates to Mail and Messages (IMO they are very minor compared to iOS10)
-you love Siri and feel it will be useful for you with your desktop/laptop
-you frequently use multi-monitor displays with a MacBook Pro
-you want to take advantage of the benefits of APFS (this will apply sometime in early 2017)
NO, if:
-reliability is the single-most important thing to you (wait until 10.12.1 or 10.12.2, as these updates always address the most significant issues of the first release.
-security is the single-most important thing to you (wait a bit, same as above.)
-you use a lot of older software that is no longer supported by the Maker(s)
-you are not comfortable manually downgrading the OS should Sierra not work well on your machine (also wait a bit.)
DW
05/14/2017 at 2:28 pm
Thanks Zac. Where’s your blog?
J
10/04/2016 at 12:02 pm
Josh Smith,
Bless you for posting instructions for deleting the auto-download and removing the install notification.
Kim
10/05/2016 at 3:34 am
Major regrets installing this upgrade. My external harddrive is now “read only”. I can’t export any photos to it from lightroom. I have tried changing permissions, etc. with no luck. It won’t let me. Wish I had stayed with Yosemite as I have many many photos to get to clients. Put me in the unprepared column. So discouraged. I guess I’ll have to purchase new external hard drive.
James Bond
10/11/2016 at 7:28 pm
Jesus, this site is horrible. Full of advertisements and tracker. Make sure you have AdBlock on guys or don’t even visit this blog
Candidcomment
10/12/2016 at 4:33 am
Zac Paul – your comments are way more helpful than this ‘so called’ article. You should be the writer for gottabemobile.
Recari
10/12/2016 at 5:09 pm
Zac Paul totally saved this worthless article!!!
Dan
10/12/2016 at 7:17 pm
Thanks Zac Paul ! I appreciate your taking the time to explain pros and cons of upgrading. Very informative, you should have wrote the article. I’m pretty experienced with computers and OS, but still learn new stuff everyday. Your post gave me lots of new things to look up, try out, and think about.
John
10/12/2016 at 8:45 pm
Do NOT install Sierra, my 2 year old macbook Pro is useless now, my desktop is empty (lost everything) and I can’t load apps. I am soon pissed, if Jobs were alive he’d NEVER allow this crap.
Tets
10/13/2016 at 3:45 am
Zac Paul. Kudos for your time and labor posting excellent comments on the pros and cons of Sierra. Thanks to you, I decided to wait although Apple is annoying with its constant messages to upgrade.
Gemma Correll
10/18/2016 at 2:58 am
Cant “zoom text only” anymore! What a stupid upgrade!!
Daisy
10/18/2016 at 11:32 am
Hi guys,
I have OSX Lion, and every time a new upgrade comes out I am very reluctant to upgrade to them, and had no issues with my old Lion. Two weeks ago I updated my iPhone 5 and now my photos won’t sink into iPhoto in Mac. I tried unlock the iPhone as the popup window would ask, but nothing happened. I called apple support and they told me to upgrade the software to Sierra. And again I don’t want it especially after reading above comments. So I wonder if anyone knows the way to transfer iPhone pictures to Mac?
jackiebp
10/25/2016 at 10:05 am
Worthless article. It does not discuss the reasons not to install. Does not discuss possible conflicts and bugs. This is exactly why you need to PAY professional writers for articles. They do research and write substance. Shame on you.
Mark Stratman
10/25/2016 at 10:08 pm
macOS Sierra is a disaster. I upgraded my 2014 MacBook Air, and have spent 3 totally unproductive days trying to get basic tools that I count on every day to minimally work. To no avail. The Apple phone techs are useless. There are no “geniuses” at any ‘Genius Bars’.
macOS and Sierra are enhancements for toys, not real-life business tools. If the concept of ‘planned obsolescence’ is now the center of Apple’s marketing plan, then I will end my 30+ year reliance Apple products and buy elsewhere.
Steven V
11/08/2016 at 8:53 am
I have a Mac Book pro with Yosemite, I was wondering if an update was going to give me a lot of new stuff but it doesn’t seem like much there from the comments. I’m sticking with Yosemite. so this was very helpful.
Hank Roberts
11/10/2016 at 9:13 am
Zac Paul – your comments are way more helpful
1
Ron
11/23/2016 at 5:29 am
If you are a fan of VPN, Mac OS Sierra isn’t recommended for you as PPTP is not available to iOS 10 and Mac OS Sierra. I just found it here https://www.frootvpn.com/blog/2016/10/03/pptp-not-available-ios-10-mac-os-sierra/
Doralina Hellwig
12/07/2016 at 7:19 am
Would it help me with this problem… when i would like too down load a game and get this answer: The Sims™ 2: Super Collection can not install on ”Macintosh HD” because Mac OS X version 10.9.2 or later needed? Tanx 4 answers!
Cornel Duitriu
12/08/2016 at 10:56 am
Sorry I ever bought an Apple in the first place.
(Had early problems with key board on BookAir, replaced x2)
As for Sierra, nothing seems to work with it i.e. Browser (neither Chrome nor Firefox) Outlook, and most prominently the Parallel Desk (with Win10), even though have updated to latest Parallel. Everything crashes, impossible to complete even this note, .. inordinate frustrations, in trying to remedy things with relatively mediocre skills, but otherwise quite apt, for a non-geek, and it would be certainly insolent of this company to expect me to be under the hood all the time. My cry ought to be seen as an indictment of this Apple Company which is overall sloppy in releasing stuff like this, frivolous and mostly dedicated to ‘social toys’, inconsiderate, and ultimately unserious.
Will have to ask Hillary where she got that sledge hammer
Merry Christmas to all
Dave
12/13/2016 at 2:07 pm
MY concerns with these additional features that Apple so enthusiastically offers are that I have a Macbook Pro mid 2012 machine and it seems to be the general consensus that Apple are deliberately trying to make any machine that is 4 years and older obsolete by deliberately slowing its processing speed down where it becomes unusable which therefore encourages the user to go and buy a new and latest version of the macbook pro. Thoughts on this anyone? (not Apple obviously)
Allen
12/14/2016 at 7:21 am
It’s a useful article – maybe not if you want Rules Handed Down from On High, as it doesn’t do that – it just outlines some problems, some advantages, and leaves it up to us to decide. Fine by me.
Me? Oh, I’ll stick with El Capitan for now, for a few months, and see how things pan out. That’s the technique I’ve applied to the past few updates!
Cheers.
Allen, London.
Paul Brodie
12/15/2016 at 1:40 am
Apple seem to be falling into the Microsoft trap of updating and releasing software updates before they are fully tested, ISO 10.12.1 has brought several problems that were not needed or wanted, Photos CUP usage 100%, why do this??
Tina Garnett
12/16/2016 at 10:07 am
After installing new MacOs Sierra 10.12.2 I had problems with Safari freezing, when going into Activity Monitor the CPU was up loading fast and memory going over the roof some thing in the background was running fast (but slowing the computer) could not be found why. The wi-fi disconnecting and asking for password , as well as a very slow computer. iPhoto download once iPhone connected had to be download automatically with editing a manual response. I have now switched back to Yosemite and no problems and quick and easy and a fast internet once again. No thanks to Sierra too many problems to thrash out.
There is a way to get Yosemite back from Sierra as follows:
There is a way to go back to Yosemite because that is what I did. I did not like Sierra. Here’s how to do it.
If you did back up before installing Sierra :-
1. First get a hardware drive with lots of memory
2. Back up your entire computer through Time Machine app.
3. Then when you upgraded Yosemite, go on to Time Machine with your hard drive attached to the USB point on the computer, and select the last backup file with the date that you did the last backup before Sierra came on your computer. It will have Yosemite on it.
If you did NOT back up Yosemite before installing Sierra :-
1. First get a hardware drive with lots of memory
2. Go on to Time Machine with your hard drive attached to the USB point on the computer, and select the last backup file that you did on your hard drive. If its something older an Older OS system on there you can choose that and not have Sierra anymore.
Worked for me! Happy as back with Yosemite!
DoNotUse
12/19/2016 at 1:28 am
even 10.12.2 ist pure bulls** – if THIS ist the future, yozu only will habe problems – and you cannot work with your computer…. but if everybody downloads this sh*** Apple will go on like this….
William
12/21/2016 at 9:16 am
I have a REALLY GREAT late 2012 iMac 27″, 3.4 GHz Intel i7, 16 GB RAM, 1 TB Fusion drive, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX 1024 MB, OSX 10.9.5 latest
And Apple replaced the display FREE last Feb 2016 due to a minor blemish.
But NVIDIA are not updating the drivers for 3D and so if I update to Sierra, and run a 3D app, CRASH. No way around it.
Nomade
12/22/2016 at 10:01 am
mail in sierra is totally broken – mis-interpreted attachments, wrong sender addresses, confusion with previously received emails.
this os x version is the worst version ever! apple seems to focus on non-relevant gimmicks instead of functionality. how needs hundreds of emojis but email is not working?
Nick R
02/08/2017 at 7:20 pm
Too right!
Tropigal
01/17/2017 at 9:58 am
Not very in depth. I need to know what apps Sierra doesn’t play well with, as I have Adobe CS6 that I refuse to part with and must have for work. NOT paying for the cloud every month!
Michael
01/31/2017 at 11:05 am
I had to update to get xcode. Sierra is terrible. Finder crashes… apps crash… even restart crashes. Feels exactly like the reasons I left windows for Mac. Terrible.
Nick R
02/08/2017 at 7:19 pm
Indeed. This shit shouldn’t be happening. Apple need to get this sorted.
James Brigham (Bigg) Bunyon
02/02/2017 at 5:45 am
Re: “There is a higher potential for macOS Sierra problems during the first few weeks that the update is out.” Just how long are you going to use this outdated bit of FUD? Newsflash blogger, the “first few weeks” have long passed and you need to pay attention.
requiredname
02/07/2017 at 12:39 am
Wow this guy must be either total novice, or high on some good drugs.
“The macOS Sierra update brings more than just a brand new name for the software that runs on your Mac, MacBook and iMac. This latest update adds new MacBook Emoji and other important updates.”
Oh shit son, who knows what could happen if I don’t have the super important new set of Emojis, damn no way I can take a risk like that.
Are you fkn serious man? The way you start off suggests you’ve less than 6 months total experience on any Mac/PC in general. Totally gave away the fact you don’t know your shit, at all.
Nick R
02/08/2017 at 7:18 pm
Had to upgrade to this ‘slow ass’ piece of wank just to get the new keyboard to work. Now I have a cool new keyboard but pages taking 5 minutes to open and spinning beach balls. Sierra is a FAIL.
Curt
02/21/2017 at 6:35 am
There is also a problem with compatibility with third party equipment. Canon pro inkjet printers are only compatible with 10.12.1. Unfortunately I bought a new retina MacBook Pro and it came with Sierra 10.12.2. There is no way, within apple techsupport to roll back to 10.12.1 so right now I have an expensive paperweight until canon updates their drivers.
Lars-Göran Ekwurtzel
03/17/2017 at 1:59 am
I recently updated to Sierra 10.12.3. Since that time, I have not been able to hold Shift to select events to print them off as a list of selected events. It just goes to individual events and will not allow me to select the group that comes up along the right side in the search results.
Lars-Göran Ekwurtzel
04/04/2017 at 1:41 am
I recently updated to Sierra 10.12.4. Since that time, I have not been able to hold “Shift” to select events to print them off as a list of selected events. It just goes to individual events and will not allow me to select the group that comes up along the right side in the search results.
Nathan
05/05/2017 at 9:37 pm
What a useless article! Seriously, guys. Junk.
Gurt
05/10/2017 at 1:15 am
You start with:
“This latest update adds new MacBook Emoji and other important updates. ”
Seriously? So in your opinion MacBook Emoji is an important update?
Well that helps to provide clear context on your opinion on whats important, LOL.
DW
05/14/2017 at 2:37 pm
Read ZAC PAUL’s comments from 10/01 (that was the article I wanted to read):
So, should someone update to Sierra? As of right now, my opinion is…
YES, if:
-the need to have the latest-and-greatest ASAP is more important than reliability, compatibility, and security
-you want to immediately benefit from improvements made with iCloud
-you strongly like the updates to Mail and Messages (IMO they are very minor compared to iOS10)
-you love Siri and feel it will be useful for you with your desktop/laptop
-you frequently use multi-monitor displays with a MacBook Pro
-you want to take advantage of the benefits of APFS (this will apply sometime in early 2017)
NO, if:
-reliability is the single-most important thing to you (wait until 10.12.1 or 10.12.2, as these updates always address the most significant issues of the first release.
-security is the single-most important thing to you (wait a bit, same as above.)
-you use a lot of older software that is no longer supported by the Maker(s)
-you are not comfortable manually downgrading the OS should Sierra not work well on your machine (also wait a bit.)
Ze
05/25/2017 at 5:44 am
Very disappointing update. I wish I’ve never done it. It conflicts even more with gcc (when clang is shit! and one can’t do a thing with it) and creates issues with creating local hosts to run notebooks. I’m really considering on going back to linux