Why can't I update my MacBook Air ?

[TheTigerUK]

Over the last couple of days I have spent quite a few hours trying to update from 10.9.5 to Big Sur but it gets to the part that says Big Sur will be installed on the disk "Macintosh HD" and just sits there after I have pressed continue.

Am I doing something wrong ? the machine has plenty of available space and being from 2014 it can accept Big Sur.

This has reminded me why for many years I now just use a computer and don't mess with them anymore :)

Thanks

[Marios]

Had the same issue. Apparently a lot of people have if you google it. Kept restarting, tried recovery mode to no effect. Trip to a professional, addition of space and problem solved; thankfully he was also able to save all files. Don’t know how and why and if indeed true, but the repair guy told me it’s a mistake of space calculation by the update.

[Saint-Just]

If you have an older Mac I would question the need to upgrade at all.

[wileeeeeey]

I wouldn't be updating a 2014 MBA. On my wife's 2014 MBA I also tick in manually and only allow the security updates. Same on my 2016 MBP.

[jukeboxs]

I would avoid Big Sur. I had nothing but problems on my 2015 Pro (slowed performance dramatically) and I have reverted to the previous version (Catalina), much more stable. I doubt you can now install Catalina (I had a backup saved) so I assume you’d be stuck on Mavericks.


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[TheTigerUK]

Ok thanks, it just seems everything I want to do the OS can't do it such as office 365, itunes, iphoto, I will play some more.

[Captain Morgan]

What version of macOS are you currently running?

Have you tried Catalina it’s fine on my 13 mbp and imacs

[TheTigerUK]

What version of macOS are you currently running?

Have you tried Catalina it’s fine on my 13 mbp and imacs

I am new to all this but is it 10.9.5 Mavericks ?

[Captain Morgan]

That’s a 7 year old os personally I would do a clean install rather than attempting an upgrade in that instance.

Assuming you’ve backed up all your personal data and have any license keys for applications you need to re-install then create a bootable upgrade usb and wipe the hard drive and perform a clean install of Catalina or BigSur.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372

[eldrich]

Bit of a long shot but we had trouble with a couple of machines updating because of the filesystem.
At some point (Mojave?) during an upgrade there were offers to transform the filesystem from HFS+ to APFS which we didn't do. Then when we tried to update those machines to Big Sur it refused on the basis the filesystem was not supported and for some reason the option to convert had been removed....

The only way we managed it was to do a fresh install and then and recover the files from a TimeMachine backup.

[Saint-Just]

I would also recommend a clean install, but Catalina and not big sur (which is what I use on MB Air 2011 (mine) and 2014 (my daughter's))

[barbusg60]

I would also recommend a clean install, but Catalina and not big sur (which is what I use on MB Air 2011 (mine) and 2014 (my daughter's))

This is what I do every now and again as I dont have anything permantly stored on the macbook, its all on icloud.

[TheTigerUK]

I would also recommend a clean install, but Catalina and not big sur (which is what I use on MB Air 2011 (mine) and 2014 (my daughter's))

Thanks, I don't know how to do that but I will look into it.

[Captain Morgan]

Thanks, I don't know how to do that but I will look into it.

Cough...

That’s a 7 year old os personally I would do a clean install rather than attempting an upgrade in that instance.

Assuming you’ve backed up all your personal data and have any license keys for applications you need to re-install then create a bootable upgrade usb and wipe the hard drive and perform a clean install of Catalina or BigSur.

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201372

[TheTigerUK]

Cough...

Thanks finally managed it, took a lot of time because I dident really know what I was doing :) and lost some hair which I can ill afford to do !! at one time I was tempted to help the process along with a lump hammer but resisted :)

Thanks