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[SUCCESS] Gigabyte Designare Z390 (Thunderbolt 3) + i7-9700K + AMD RX 580

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Need a bit of a brain refresher from you fine people.... Been out of the game for a while.....

I built my current build back in '2020' following this thread, got most bits working and have used it everyday since. It's my daily driver powering a 40" LG widescreen and used as my WFH machine for work.

I havent touched it since the original build so I am running macOS Big Sur 11.7.4. Things are starting to not let me update as the OS is old so I want to upgrade.

As I havent opened OpenCore or anything in years, what steps do I need to follow to create a clean bootable backup on an external USB, then what needs updating in what order?

Ideally would like to get to a stage where I can just do an update from the App store to Sonoma?

Thanks in advance!
 
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As I havent opened OpenCore or anything in years, what steps do I need to follow to create a clean bootable backup on an external USB, then what needs updating in what order?
Refer to the spoiler in STEP 11 located here:
These are the latest instructions for using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a full bootable backup.

Ideally would like to get to a stage where I can just do an update from the App store to Sonoma?

...
We will also need to update OpenCore before attempting the in-place upgrade to Sonoma. Note that Broadcom WiFi cards and modules that we use on our Hackintoshes will not work in Sonoma. There is an OpenCore Lagacy Patcher (OCLP) workaround, which has had mixed results for me:
  • OCLP works on my Asus Z690 mini-ITX system
  • OCLP fails to install on my Asus Z690 ProArt
  • OCLP installs, but fails to work on my Z390 Designare
We can use Intel WiFi instead, but we lose most of the macOS Continuity features (AirDrop, Continuity Camera, etc.).

OpenCore can be upgraded in place by following the instructions here:
 
Thanks CaseySJ for such a quick response.
Refer to the spoiler in STEP 11 located here:
These are the latest instructions for using Carbon Copy Cloner to make a full bootable backup.
Excellent thanks - I have CCC so will give this a go.
We will also need to update OpenCore before attempting the in-place upgrade to Sonoma. Note that Broadcom WiFi cards and modules that we use on our Hackintoshes will not work in Sonoma. There is an OpenCore Lagacy Patcher (OCLP) workaround, which has had mixed results for me:
  • OCLP works on my Asus Z690 mini-ITX system
  • OCLP fails to install on my Asus Z690 ProArt
  • OCLP installs, but fails to work on my Z390 Designare
We can use Intel WiFi instead, but we lose most of the macOS Continuity features (AirDrop, Continuity Camera, etc.).
System report indeed says I am running a Broadcom card -

Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.111.1 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1680.11)

I have the machine on Ethernet anyway so could live without WiFi short term - do you think this will get fixed somehow? If I get it upgraded to Sonoma then I can give OCLP a go as well.
OpenCore can be upgraded in place by following the instructions here:
Great thanks. Is it possible to create a second bootable clone and try and upgrade this first without touching my current build? As I use it all the time I cant really afford to be down for long if it all went wrong?
 
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I have the machine on Ethernet anyway so could live without WiFi short term - do you think this will get fixed somehow? If I get it upgraded to Sonoma then I can give OCLP a go as well.
We do hope that a future update will be more reliable and/or require fewer security compromises.

Great thanks. Is it possible to create a second bootable clone and try and upgrade this first without touching my current build? As I use it all the time I cant really afford to be down for long if it all went wrong?
Yes we can create any number of bootable backups. It is actually a good idea to upgrade one of these backups to Sonoma first.
 
We do hope that a future update will be more reliable and/or require fewer security compromises.
Great
Yes we can create any number of bootable backups. It is actually a good idea to upgrade one of these backups to Sonoma first.
Can this be done on an external USB drive or does it need to be installed as an internal?
 


Can this be done on an external USB drive or does it need to be installed as an internal?
It can definitely be done on externally mounted disk. I use USB 3 enclosures quite regularly.
 
Thanks CaseySJ for such a quick response.

Excellent thanks - I have CCC so will give this a go.

System report indeed says I am running a Broadcom card -

Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (7.77.111.1 AirPortDriverBrcmNIC-1680.11)

I have the machine on Ethernet anyway so could live without WiFi short term - do you think this will get fixed somehow? If I get it upgraded to Sonoma then I can give OCLP a go as well.

Great thanks. Is it possible to create a second bootable clone and try and upgrade this first without touching my current build? As I use it all the time I cant really afford to be down for long if it all went wrong?
I always do it this way. An external SSD with a clone and an USB key with updated boot loader, in your case, OpenCore. Then, I do the update on the working clone. If it fails for whatever reason, you can fall back with a working computer.

In case of success (for me, a couple of weeks running fine on the externals, MacOS and boot loader), you just have to CCC your external to the main (still having another backup somewhere, fruit cake happens) and dump the USB EFI to your main drive.

Only once I didn’t followed this procedure (my XPS in my signature) as I didn’t tested drive long enough (Ventura) and wiped my CCC backup once I thought that everything was fine! I had to rebuild my Big Sur drive from scratch (one day of labour)… The positive thing, at least, is that Big Sur was a clean install instead of my usual update procedure :).
 
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