OSX Upgrade advice

[Pars]

My 2012 i7 Mac Mini is still my main computer as it does pretty much all that I need (16G RAM, 500G SSD + 1T HDD). It is currently on High Sierra due to 32 bit support. Several apps that I use are 32 bit and can't be easily/cheaply upgraded to 64 bit: Eagle ($$$), Office 2011 and 2016 (I still prefer older office versions), etc.

My wife uses Turbo Tax and this year the pricks require Mojave as the minimum version. I know that Mojave supposedly supports 32 bit apps, but does it really? Someone suggested that I might want to install it on a separate drive to test before doing so on the main SSD.

Any recs for an external drive (SSD?) of probably 2T to use for this (as well as backup/Time Machine duties)? The original 1T HDD is partitioned; 1/2 used for additional files (not very full) and the other 1/2 for Time Machine. The SSD was a big boost in performance, so I don't think I want to go back to a HDD as a boot drive.

Thanks!

[ironbut]

Mojave does indeed support 32 Bit.

My main Mac is on Catalina (upgraded in Sept 2020) and aside from a couple of apps that require Catalina, I'd have to say that I prefer Mojave.

My MacBook Pro is still on Mojave and I still use it regularly .

There are several 32 Bit only apps installed on it. 

Who knows when those apps (Metric Halo's Spectra Foo audio analysis/metering suite in particular) will finally get upgraded to 64 but I'm okay with it for now.

Compared with HS, I think that Mojave is a little snappier and an excellent version of OSX.

I would have been perfectly happy keeping that installed on all my machines if that was possible.

[tkam]

Mojave has 32-bit support it's only Catalina that went 64-bit only.  I doubt you need a 2T external drive, 1T is more than enough and you definitely want to go with an SSD.

Unfortunately you will have to start looking into replacements for any of your 32-bit apps that haven't been updated.  Mojave is end-of-life with Apple and isn't going to get any further updates and means it won't be supported by most apps going forward either.

[HiWire]

I picked up a 500GB Samsung T7 (non-touch) SSD drive for super cheap last year... the 1TB and 2TB are probably not as inexpensive, but they are some of the best and they go on sale from time to time. It comes with a regular USB Type-A cable as well as a Type-C cable for newer computers.

Ditto on Mojave supporting 32-bit apps.

You should be able to install and run Mojave on the external SSD you purchase without a problem (I've got Big Sur running on mine).

[ironbut]

I don't bother buying ssd's any smaller than 2TB these days. 

I run 4 external 24-7 (in a Blackmagic Multidock).

The Crucial MX500 that I buy now are around $229 each ($200 on sale) so $100 per TB.

That is insane IMHO!

What a world!

[Pars]

Thanks for the input guys. This Mini can run Catalina, but apparently not Big Sur, so it has started. I'll just upgrade the main SSD to Mojave, probably get some other sort of external for backups, and go from there. For backups, I would think an HDD MIGHT be more reliable long term than an SSD?

And I've only ever used Samsung SSDs. I think the current 500G one is an 850 EVO?

And that is a great price on the Crucial! But, I think I will buy a Seagate external 6TB 7200 rpm HDD for $127.

[ironbut]

Yup,..

I just use retired spinning HDD's for my backups (except for the system drive).

I like to have a dedicated one for each of my drives (eggs in one basket thing).

 

My MBP is a late 2012 with a i7 so I'll be in the same boat as you one of these days.

Maybe there'll be a Big Sur Patcher by then (in 5 years or so, I think I can say I got my money's worth though).

 

BTW Looks like Apple finally put older version of OSX in the App Store

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683

[Pars]

Thanks. I already have the installer. I've tried that link before, and when you go to it and try to download, it wants to open iTunes (of all things), then says the requested item is not available in the US store. Probably doing something wrong, but at any rate, already have a Mojave installer.