do i have to backup my mac before updating

iOS Backups before UpgradingĪlthough upgrade-related problems are less common with iPhones and iPads, they can still happen.

It’s fast, easy, and inexpensive to get started, and we’re happy to help. So please, back up your Mac before something goes wrong. This is because a fire or flood would likely destroy your backup drive along with your Mac. If an installation goes south, you can also boot from your duplicate and get back to work right away.įinally, although it’s not directly related to backing up before upgrading, we always recommend an offsite backup made via an Internet backup service like Backblaze. The other advantage of having Time Machine backups (and a bootable duplicate, discussed next) is that you can use either to migrate all your apps, data, and settings back to a new installation of macOS, should that become necessary.Īs useful as Time Machine is, a bootable duplicate made with SuperDuper or Carbon Copy Cloner is the best insurance right before you upgrade to Catalina. It ensures that you can not only restore your entire drive if necessary, but also easily recover a previous version of a corrupted file.

On the Mac side, most people should be using Time Machine. Wouldn’t you like to be able to revert instantly if something does go wrong? Mac Backups before Upgrading As much as Apple tests the heck out of these upgrades, so many files are in play that all it takes is one unexpected glitch to render the entire Mac or iPhone non-functional. And by that we’re thinking about upgrading to a major new operating system, such as macOS 10.15 Catalina or iOS 13. You should have a good backup strategy that ensures backups happen regularly, but it’s not paranoid to make double extra sure when you’re doing something that’s more likely to cause problems than everyday activity. Backups are essential, since no one can guarantee that your Mac or iPhone won’t be lost or stolen, be caught in a flood from a broken pipe, or just fail silently. If there’s one topic we can’t stop talking about, it’s backups.

Do i have to backup my mac before updating