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MacPro 2019 Back Home


 

Howdy.

I wrote earlier about a problem with the new MacPro 2019. Couldn't
boot in Recovery or from an external boot drive.

Took it to an Apple Store last Friday.

I went back to Apple Store and picked it up tonight. And I can now
boot in Recovery and boot from an external drive.

Multiple changes by Apple caused this problem.

Startup Security Utility.
Catalina and Macs with the T2 chip have something new called Startup
Security Utility. It's part of Recovery mode and found on the
Utilities menu.
Startup Security Utility does several things dealing with security.

In addition, booting in Recovery is different. One must shut down the
do a cold boot and immediately press Command r.

Note that the about is still iffy because it may not work if the
Startup Security Utility is set to factory defaults. This is still
unsure to me.

Startup Security Utility has the following options.

? Turn on Firmware password

Secure Boot:
? Full Security
? Medium Security
? No Security

Allowed Boot Mode:
? Disallow Booting from external or removable media (like a USB flash
drive).
?Allow booting from external or removable media.

More on this later including links to Apple info on Recovery and
Startup Security Utility.

I think this is a big change by Apple. It's very, very poorly
documented and introduced by Apple. Anyone getting a new Mac with a T2
chip needs to be able to figure this stuff out without a month of
effort and a trip to an from and Apple store with a giant 40 pound
(18.4 kg) computer. Yes. The handles were convenient!

Denver Dan


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iSent from iDan's GyazMail on my MacPro


 

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On Mar 3, 2020, at 10:59 PM, Daniel Settles <denver1.dan1@...> wrote:

I think this is a big change by Apple. ?It's very, very poorly?
documented and introduced by Apple. ?Anyone getting a new Mac with a T2?
chip needs to be able to figure this stuff out without a month of?
effort and a trip to an from and Apple store with a giant 40 pound?
(18.4 kg) computer. ??Yes. ?The handles were convenient!

If it¡¯s too much effort, you can send me that paperweight. I¡¯ll even pay the postage!
?

Seriously, I know how frustrating this must be, especially leveraged against the size of your investment!

While Apple IS producing what seem to be qualitatively superior products now compared with their missteps of the past few years, their documentation of how they do and don¡¯t work is frustratingly poor (as is the knowledge of the people who are deployed to support them, either by phone or on site).

Witness the way in which the boot volume is actually TWO volumes but cloaked as one. Why is that preferable to just making it clear that there¡¯s a read-only system volume and a separate volume containing user accounts, productivity apps, and user-changeable settings.

Witness the way in which NO ONE at Apple has been able to tell me why I must reboot in order to join unencrypted WiFi networks

Witness the way in which NO ONE at Apple can tell me why, when my brand new laptop wakes up, it sometimes cannot find its own trackpad and keyboard (fortunately, this is only an occasional occurrence and just delays my using the machine for only a minute or two before, somehow, the system realizes it¡¯s looking for input sources embedded in the box rather then reached by BlueTooth connections!

--?
Jim Robertson


 

Howdy.

Jim, you make some good points but I think I would dispute your
criticism of the two partitions of the SSD boot drive.

It keeps system stuff separate from your files, documents, images,
etc., and should the system partition collapse it is a lot easier to
replace/fix/repair without losing your files and documents. It's also
better documented and a user can actually see the partitions in Disk
Utility.

Denver Dan


On Wed, 4 Mar 2020 07:44:52 -0700, jimrobertson via Groups.Io wrote:

Witness the way in which the boot volume is actually TWO volumes but
cloaked as one. Why is that preferable to just making it clear that
there¡¯s a read-only system volume and a separate volume containing
user accounts, productivity apps, and user-changeable settings.
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iSent from iDan's GyazMail on my MacPro


 

¿ªÔÆÌåÓý



On Mar 4, 2020, at 10:14 AM, Daniel Settles <denver1.dan1@...> wrote:

It's also?
better documented and a user can actually see the partitions in Disk?
Utility.

I¡¯ll bet that lots of Mac users have never opened Disk Utility. I know I¡¯m quibbling about minor things, but why not display two icons in the Finder. It¡¯s like a politician not being consistent in his messsaging.

And, why not be consistent with the naming? In Finder, it¡¯s Macintosh HD (one item). In Disk Utility, it¡¯s actually FOUR: first the hardware, second a ¡°Container¡± that contains the mounted partitions (and, of course a few that aren¡¯t visible to the user), and then the two that ARE visible.

--?
Jim Robertson


 

As I follow the various problems associated with the new MBP and Catalina, it is clear that what is currently working for my office and at our home will not ?be "improved". We'll be sticking with Sierra, High Sierra and El Capitan running on MB Pros (late 2008 and 2015) and the wonderful MB Air models of 2013.

Hopefully Apple will eventually sort this all out so IF one buys a new computer from them, it will work more seamlessly than is currently evident. For the life of me these new models and Catalina are reminiscent of the reliability and "ease of re-fixing" of an early 1960's British Triumph sports car.

John Mills


 

John Mills?wrote:
As I follow the various problems associated with the new MBP and Catalina, it?is clear that what is currently working for my office and at our home will not ?be?"improved". We'll be sticking with Sierra, High Sierra and El Capitan running on?MB Pros (late 2008 and 2015) and the wonderful MB Air models of 2013.

I can¡¯t speak to the new MBPro, but I¡¯ve been an early adopted of the newest macOS version (typically about 1 month before final release) for many years.

Presently on a 6? year old MBPro11,3.

I¡¯m having no problems at all with Catalina (except, of course, for a few 32-bit apps I like).

--?
Jim Saklad
jimdoc@...