macOS Big Sur was officially released for all users in November last year, and since then Apple has released updates with bug fixes and overall improvements. However, as reported by Mr. Macintosh, Big Sur still has a serious issue that can result in data loss when users try to upgrade a Mac to the latest version of the operating system without enough space available.
Sep 13, 2019 Move your mouse to the top-left corner of the screen, you should see a menu bar appear. Go to Startup Disk and select your Mac's hard drive, which is usually called ‘Macintosh HD.' Click Restart and wait for your Mac to reboot. It should boot up normally, breaking you out of the macOS update loop. There is no uncertainty that macOS has the advantage of the applications you get along with your operating system. Mail, Safari, Apple Maps, Messages, FaceTime, iTunes along with the remainder.
After noticing several reports from users on the web, Mr. Macintosh found out that the macOS Big Sur installer isn't checking whether the Mac's internal storage has enough free space. As the system initiates the update process, the Mac becomes unresponsive, and data can be permanently corrupted.
Apple says upgrading to macOS Big Sur for the first time requires at least 35.5 GB of available storage — and this doesn't include the 13 GB macOS Big Sur installer. Unfortunately, even if your Mac does not have 35.5 GB of storage available, macOS will try to install the Big Sur update, and that's when users may lose all their data.
The update process seems to run perfectly, but users get the following message near the end of the installation:
An error occurred preparing the software update.
- OS X is free with the purchase of an Apple-branded computer. If you don't purchase a computer, you can purchase a retail version of the operating system at cost.
- Oct 27, 2017 Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard – Runs on Macs from 2006 – 2012; Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger – Runs on Macs from 1999 – 2007, both PowerPC and Intel. You get the idea. Thanks to the way Apple builds its operating systems, you can keep your hardware around for many years.
From that point on, the Mac will no longer boot. Mr. Macintosh was able to confirm that this bug affects macOS Big Sur 11.2 installer and even macOS Big Sur 11.3 beta installer. At the same time, this doesn't affect OTA updates from one Big Sur installation to another (such as updating from macOS 11.1 to macOS 11.2). Ridgeway grandfather clocks value.
If you have a backup of your data, you can simply erase the entire disk and reinstall macOS. Alpha omega mac os. However, recovering data without a backup can be very difficult.
With FileVault enabled, you have to connect your Mac to another Mac via Target Disk Mode in order to recover your files. If FileVault wasn't enabled on your Mac, you can try to delete some files using the Terminal app in macOS Recovery, which will allow macOS to complete the update process successfully.
Apple hasn't commented on this bug so far, but hopefully it will be fixed with the final release of macOS Big Sur 11.3. You can read more details about this problem on the Mr. Macintosh blog.
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Most of us are keen to update to a new version of macOS as soon as it is available. macOS Big Sur has been out since November 12, still, many users couldn't update their Macs straight away. It's very frustrating if you see a message telling you that you don't have enough space to install the new macOS. Don't worry, though. There are lots of things you can do to fix it. We'll show you what they are in this article.
How much space do you need for Big Sur?
While the installer for Big Sur takes up less than 16GB of space, you should make sure that you have at least 20GB of free space on your startup disk before you try to download and install it. The more free space, the better. Your Mac uses disk space to store temporary files and provide storage for active apps and tasks (which is what RAM does), so you should never be running with almost no disk space left.
CleanMyMac X makes it very easy to free up disk space on your Mac by identifying junk files and allowing you to get rid of them with a click. It can also detect large and old files and show you the files taking up most space and uninstall applications.
How to free up space for macOS Big Sur?
Complete the following steps to ensure your Mac is ready to update to Big Sur.
1. Backup your Mac
Back up all files and data that are stored on your Mac. Preferably twice to different locations. While upgrading to Big Sur is safe, you never know when something might go wrong. If you use Time Machine or another backup tool, run a manual backup just before you upgrade. And, if you can, clone your startup disk to an external drive, too.
2. Free up disk space using CleanMyMac X
If you don't already have CleanMyMac X installed, download it for free here. This tool will help you clear some space and delete large and old files quickly.
- Launch CleanMyMac X.
- Choose System Junk in the sidebar and press Scan.
- When it's finished, press Clean to free up space, or Review Details to find out more.
3. Get rid of large and old files
Media files usually gobble up a large amount of disk space. And the worst thing is they are scattered around Mac's folders, making it difficult to find and remove them. CleanMyMac X proves to be useful here:
- Choose Large & Old files in CleanMyMac X's sidebar.
- Press Scan.
- When it's finished, use the middle column to filter files by type.
- Check files that you want to delete.
- Press Remove.
4. Use Apple's built-in storage management tool
Apple has provided a method for you to manage storage by showing you what is taking up disk space and making recommendations for deleting. It's not as quick and easy as CleanMyMac X, but it can help you save disk space. Here's how to use it.
- Click on the Apple menu and choose About this Mac.
- Select Storage and press Manage.
- In the Recommendations section, review each section in turn.
- Now go through each of the sections in the sidebar.
- Delete files or take further action, depending on what you choose.
5. Delete local Time Machine snapshots
There is one other thing you can try if you keep getting a message telling you that you do not have enough space to install Big Sur. You should only try it if you are sure there is enough space on your startup disk and that the message is wrong. Just for fun slots. And it will only work if you use Time Machine to back up your Mac.
Time Machine stores local snapshots on your Mac. Your Mac is supposed to count the space used by snapshots as free space, which is why it looks like you have enough space for the installation.
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However, it seems that the installer may not realize the space is free. The solution is to delete the snapshots. This won't remove backups on your backup disk, just snapshots on your Mac.
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Open Time Machine from System Preferences. Uncheck Back Up Automatically and wait some time till Time Machine deletes snapshots. Then you can turn Time Machine back on.
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If you're familiar with Terminal, you can try deleting local snapshots manually. Maze of colossal horror mac os.
- Go to Applications > Utilities and launch Terminal.
- Type:
tmutil listlocalsnapshots / - You will see a list of snapshots that look like this:
com.apple.TimeMachine.2020-10–09-002010.local - To delete a snapshot, type:
sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots - Then type the date part of the snapshot name. For example:
sudo tmutil deletelocalsnapshots 2020-10–09-002010 - Type Return and repeat for each snapshot you want to delete.
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Hopefully, this helped you free up some space and update your Mac to the latest OS. If you're just preparing your Mac for the upgrade, don't forget to back up your data before you start clearing space. So you won't be afraid of losing anything important.
