Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

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Guitar Gaz
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by Guitar Gaz »

mikehalloran wrote: Nah.., You need to do do an Option-Boot and do a complete Time Machine restore making sure it's from a backup that precedes the upgrade. It will seem to take forever to select the right backup but it's in there.

When I update my OS, I always turn TM off beforehand so that it's easier to restore if need be but it's possible in any case.

There's a way to create a USB boot drive in Terminal for any version of OS X. You would boot into it, use Disk Utility to format your boot disk for the OS you want, install the OS then use Migration Assistant to bring in your settings, files and applications. Again, use a backup that predates your Sierra update. I don't have it on my iPad but can post instructions if you need.
Thanks so much Mike - Sierra seems okay with DP, Reason (with Rewire), and Bias Peak Pro 7 but I wanted a get out of jail strategy with the option to go back to El Capitan - clearly something the Apple "geniuses" couldn't help me with. I will be testing Sierra with DP properly today (had one crash early on after initial upgrade to Sierra but then it settled down) - but it is good to know you can go back to the previous backup - which is what I thought Time Machine was for. Its good to know as always that someone on this forum has the knowledge. I may trouble you for more information on the backup if I find I need to go back. Thank you.

Gary
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JSmith1234567
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by JSmith1234567 »

mikehalloran wrote:
Guitar Gaz wrote:Perhaps someone can help here as Apple geniuses can't - I upgraded to Sierra but while it has a few niggles, Apple tell me I can't go back to El Capitan unless I take my 27" iMac on the train to an Apple store. So stuck - I took a backup on Time Machine just before updating but Apple tell me this is not an OS backup.
Nah.., You need to do do an Option-Boot and do a complete Time Machine restore making sure it's from a backup that precedes the upgrade. It will seem to take forever to select the right backup but it's in there.

When I update my OS, I always turn TM off beforehand so that it's easier to restore if need be but it's possible in any case.

There's a way to create a USB boot drive in Terminal for any version of OS X. You would boot into it, use Disk Utility to format your boot disk for the OS you want, install the OS then use Migration Assistant to bring in your settings, files and applications. Again, use a backup that predates your Sierra update. I don't have it on my iPad but can post instructions if you need.
When you do a complete restore from Time Machine, what happens to your authorizations (i.e. software, plug-ins, etc)?

Does that cause problems and/or reauthorizations, or is everything cool?

Thanks!
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by mikehalloran »

When you do a complete restore from Time Machine, what happens to your authorizations (i.e. software, plug-ins, etc)?

Does that cause problems and/or reauthorizations, or is everything cool?
It can cause problems.

iLok authorizations and those where the authorization is found on your Mac (serial number/key code or downloaded license file) will be fine. DP 8/9 authorizations, likewise are no problem.

If you have internet authorizations that are handled by an outside server, you should de-authorize first. For me, that is FinalDraft and MasterWriter 2. Again, not an issue with DP 8/9.

DP 7.24 will need to be reauthorized with the CD. Any earlier version cannot be reauthorized in OS 10.7 or later.

Finale is fine as long as you are restoring to a drive in the same bus location. If changing the drive location such as moving it to a new bay, deauthorize first.

If doing a complete system restore after a crash, some things can't be helped. Tech support for most companies is generally understanding in these situations.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by JSmith1234567 »

mikehalloran wrote:
When you do a complete restore from Time Machine, what happens to your authorizations (i.e. software, plug-ins, etc)?

Does that cause problems and/or reauthorizations, or is everything cool?
It can cause problems.

iLok authorizations and those where the authorization is found on your Mac (serial number/key code or downloaded license file) will be fine. DP 8/9 authorizations, likewise are no problem.

If you have internet authorizations that are handled by an outside server, you should de-authorize first. For me, that is FinalDraft and MasterWriter 2. Again, not an issue with DP 8/9.

DP 7.24 will need to be reauthorized with the CD. Any earlier version cannot be reauthorized in OS 10.7 or later.

Finale is fine as long as you are restoring to a drive in the same bus location. If changing the drive location such as moving it to a new bay, deauthorize first.

If doing a complete system restore after a crash, some things can't be helped. Tech support for most companies is generally understanding in these situations.
Thanks for the reply!

How does stuff like the Spectrasonics stuff and the WAVES Stuff fare?

Thanks again!
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mikehalloran
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by mikehalloran »

How does stuff like the Spectrasonics stuff and the WAVES Stuff fare?
No idea. I don't have anything from either company.

A good rule of thumb is that, if you can deauthorize something over the web, do so. If you can't, it's probably not an issue.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by bayswater »

I've done this a few times. There are a lot of variations. For Waves, if you use the USB memory authorization, you can reinstall their license software and use the same USB stick. Pretty much the same using an iLok key or elicenser keys. If the computer is the item that is authorized, you'd have to de-authorize the computer and authorize the new one. Others, like IKM, give you 5 or 10 authorizations and you have to use one of those for the new computer. If you run out, and make the case that you haven't wasted them, I suspect they'll give you more. Others, like Garritan use a token you can download and apply to the apps, so you have to do that every time you install. Still others, like PSP give you authorization apps you can download from your account. Some change their authorization process frequently, so it's an adventure when you reinstall.

The lesson: when you authorize a plugin, keep a record of how it was done, and how many times you can repeat it.
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JSmith1234567
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by JSmith1234567 »

bayswater wrote:I've done this a few times. There are a lot of variations. For Waves, if you use the USB memory authorization, you can reinstall their license software and use the same USB stick. Pretty much the same using an iLok key or elicenser keys. If the computer is the item that is authorized, you'd have to de-authorize the computer and authorize the new one. Others, like IKM, give you 5 or 10 authorizations and you have to use one of those for the new computer. If you run out, and make the case that you haven't wasted them, I suspect they'll give you more. Others, like Garritan use a token you can download and apply to the apps, so you have to do that every time you install. Still others, like PSP give you authorization apps you can download from your account. Some change their authorization process frequently, so it's an adventure when you reinstall.

The lesson: when you authorize a plugin, keep a record of how it was done, and how many times you can repeat it.
Hey thanks man!

All of that is very helpful!
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by mikehalloran »

mikehalloran wrote:IK released an update to the Miroslav 2 sound libraries a couple of weeks ago. Neither the updaters nor the new library installers are working in Sierra.

One of the problems is that they aren't signed but disabling Gatekeeper gets around that. Really—unsigned Mac installers in the last 4 years?

The big issue is that the installer can't find the content sitting in the same folder.

IK is treating this as something I've done wrong but there's not much to expanding a zip file and running the Mac installer inside. I am convinced that they screwed up and the installer isn't working in 10.12. A few other installers don't work in Sierra but they are for old applications, not something released two weeks ago.

The older installers worked fine two months ago when I updated to Miroslav 2.
I finally received a solution:

Dear Mike Halloran,

Our customer support team has replied to your support request #xxxxxx

WAIT!!

http://www.kekaosx.com/en/

Download this and use this to unzip all the zip files again and they should be able to run and install from any location.


The good news: It worked.

The bad news: That I had to download a non-compliant 3rd party app to unzip the installer proves my suspicion that whoever prepared these installers screwed up. My guess is that they used this piece of crapware to zip the installer instead of the Compress utility that is part of the Mac OS.

Had they compressed the installers correctly, I wouldn’t have had this problem.

I thanked them for the help and let them know the correct solution to the real problem. As of this morning, the installers haven't been updated.

I'm posting this in case anyone else runs into the same issue.
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cuttime
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by cuttime »

And 10.12.1 is out today.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by bayswater »

Can't find the combo update in the usual places. I guess there isn't one for the first update.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by mikehalloran »

bayswater wrote:Can't find the combo update in the usual places. I guess there isn't one for the first update.
There never is.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by bayswater »

mikehalloran wrote:
bayswater wrote:Can't find the combo update in the usual places. I guess there isn't one for the first update.
There never is.
So be it. But then I noticed that even with a Mac that is running Sierra, the option available at the App Store is to Download Sierra. Presumably, that download would be a full install for 10.12.1, not just the update.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by mikehalloran »

bayswater wrote:
mikehalloran wrote:
bayswater wrote:Can't find the combo update in the usual places. I guess there isn't one for the first update.
There never is.
So be it. But then I noticed that even with a Mac that is running Sierra, the option available at the App Store is to Download Sierra. Presumably, that download would be a full install for 10.12.1, not just the update.
Yes, that is the full install. The full version update usually doesn't usually appear till a few days have passed after a version update.
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by Armageddon »

I upgraded last weekend and almost immediately rolled back to El Capitan. The only two major things I noticed were that Quicken Essentials suddenly went obsolete (forcing me to upgrade to Quicken 2017) and that I could no longer use TechTool Pro 8. I upgraded to TTP 9 ... then, I noticed 9 isn't Sierra-compatible yet, either. It kind of felt weird operating without that safety net, so I rolled back via Time Machine. Other than that, the installer's insistence of using iCloud to store all my data (which I'm sure would be costly) and Siri, which you can thankfully turn off, I didn't really see much of a difference between El Capitan and Sierra. I don't own an iPad, iPhone or an Apple Watch and my MBP is old enough that it teeters right on the edge of being able to run Sierra at all, so certain Sierra-specific functions, like Apple Pay, don't even work. All in all, I didn't see any gains (or even much of a difference) between El Capitan and Sierra, though I guess I'll try again around March, or when the software I use decides it can't run on anything earlier. With all the things my computer can't do in Sierra, I'm assuming this will be the last upgrade I can run. The next one will probably eliminate optical drive support or USB 2.0.

What was really scary was, last week, I'd gotten notifications that Sierra was available at the Apple Store. I assumed that the notification would be the beginning and the end of it. It was last Friday when I discovered that my computer had actually downloaded a 4.7 GB Sierra Installer to my Applications folder without my knowledge. What the hell, Tim Cook? When did Apple turn into Microsoft?

I did have Sierra long enough to mess around with the audio, which was supposed to be the big selling point for audio professionals with this upgrade ... I noticed zero difference. The audio in El Capitan behaves well enough for me, and Sierra didn't seem to add anything to its stability.
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Guitar Gaz
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Re: Mac OS Sierra Who's Brave?

Post by Guitar Gaz »

Armageddon wrote: I did have Sierra long enough to mess around with the audio, which was supposed to be the big selling point for audio professionals with this upgrade ... I noticed zero difference. The audio in El Capitan behaves well enough for me, and Sierra didn't seem to add anything to its stability.
It all seems okay to me at the moment - with Reason Rewired also, all my other plugins work fine. Audio seems fine - in fact there is not really much change to how things were under El Capitan. Which means Siri about the only difference - can't see me using "her" very much.

But Bias Peak Pro 7 works fine under Sierra !
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