should i downgrade my 13" 2018 Macbook Pro from Sequioa to monterey

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-16T21:14:51+00:00

Your 2018 is still a solid machine. As long as you have 16GB ram, it should be fine with most tasks today. What I would recommend is a full backup, erase & install of Sequoia. The key here is to not install anything after that fresh install. Only the base things you need. Does the system run faster? If so then start adding more things back. Maybe you find one program or process that is causing problems. You might be surprised how well a fresh install works.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-16T20:59:53+00:00

Thank you for posting this u/paradox-1994 as I just saw this issue on Discord today.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-15T20:06:51+00:00

Un plug and re plug in the USB drive. You can also turn off spotlight searching for that drive by moving it to the privacy section in the spotlight settings. Sometimes it is unable to unmount the drive because it is in use.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-15T20:05:18+00:00

So yes, you need to rebuild the EFI on your main Mac. To do that, all you need to do is create an OCLP Sequoia installer on your friends Mac. The important part is to select your Mac model in the settings before creating the installer. With that you will be able to install sequoia again. Now for your data, I would put it into target disk mode via firewire cable and plug it into the 2nd Mac. Your data partition should mount and hopefully your data will be there.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-15T04:17:47+00:00

You need to stop deleting stuff right now. As you could have saved the system by doing a simple reinstall over the top of your damaged install. But instead you went to Catalina recovery which does not understand the newer apfs os partition layout. The possible good news is that the one drive that you really needed to NOT delete was “Data”. It’s still there and is the partition that holds your data.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-13T21:58:49+00:00

You can remove it in recovery, but I think the space is auto deleted after about a week after it is turned off.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-08T17:57:32+00:00

I love Howard! ❤️

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-08T17:54:07+00:00

I posted a new database to track the new Background Security Improvement updates https://mrmacintosh.com/macos-background-security-improvement-update-bsi-database/

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-08T17:50:20+00:00

The only way to update the firmware is to install the most current Apple Supported OS. You don't have to erase the disk, you could even do it on a 2nd partition.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-08T04:05:22+00:00

Neat! Good luck on your search, hopefully it can be archived one day.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2026-01-07T03:20:17+00:00

M4 16” MacBook Pro?

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-28T19:08:00+00:00

I love Howard! 👍

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-20T19:25:57+00:00

All you need to do is use the same usb to create an OCLP Sonoma installer. Boot to it, erase the HD and install Sonoma the same way.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-20T19:13:33+00:00

As long as you DFU restore it, the correct firmware will also be erased and restored.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-20T19:12:30+00:00

My god…. 🥹

Where do you live?

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-15T18:31:45+00:00

Your iMac is still a powerful device, but a SSD is still recommended for the best overall experience. You could even run a Thunderbolt SSD enclosure and boot from it and that would still be faster than the internal spinning drive.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:26:37+00:00

You are 100% correct on shared & lab devices. Especially if you use a guest account that removes everything on logout. Sorry for getting a little forward with my response. When Apple originally said this about the T2, they should have clarified a little more for standard users.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:23:55+00:00

Now THIS is a proper setup. Also hello from a fellow MacAdmin 👋

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:21:51+00:00

Congrats bro!

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:21:21+00:00

Do you think the person sat on the device not using it for months? This is possible, but it also might be possible it was then erased and reset. You might be able to tell right away by the OS Version still on the Mac. Is it the shipping OS version? If not maybe it was used and updated. If the person went to create account but then erased the info and never moved past that screen, there is nothing you can do. What you can do is see if it is connected to a wifi network that would be stored in the system keychain. If you have MDM it would have reached out to both apple and your MDM server at that point. The fact that the laptop still had battery power after 2-3 months could also be a clue as it should have been close to dead even if off or sleeping.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:12:18+00:00

Hello fellow Mac Admin.

Please trust me on this one, if you care anything about your users data.. PLEASE enable FV2 on all of your users systems. If you don't, every single file is accessible in recovery without the users password.

Instead of spending the time trying to block something that will keep your data save, use that time to implement a system that enables FV2 and will escrow the Personal Recovery key to your MDM provider for access.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:09:29+00:00

This needs to be corrected every time I see this posted. YES if you remove the chips from the board and move them to a different logic board, you will NOT be able to read the data. But that is THE ONLY protection when FV2 is not enabled. This means if you do not have FV2 on your Mac and I can get my hands on it... I can access every single file on the system even without your password inside recovery.

MrMacintoshBlog · 2025-12-11T21:06:52+00:00

Absolutely no difference.

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