Proper functioning of your Mac is essential to get the most benefit from the macOS Monterey update. By preparing your Mac for the latest version of the Apple operating system, you will not encounter any problems or surprises during the installation or after the installation of macOS Monterey.
There are some important steps before installing macOS Monterey. Your Mac must have sufficient disk space. You should check your Mac for the presence of malware and remove unnecessary apps that you no longer use.
It is also advisable to have one backup your Mac with TimeMachine to be able to return to a working macOS backup in the event of any installation problems with macOS Monterey.
Prepare your Mac for the macOS Monterey update
Free up disk space
To check the disk space on your Mac and free it up where necessary, start by opening the Mac settings. Click on it at the top left Apple-icon. Click About This Mac in the menu.
Then click on the tab: Storage and then on the Manage button.
In the Storage Management settings on your Mac, you will see some recommendations you can do to free up disk space.
You can save data to iCloud by clicking the Save to iCloud button. Then you can indicate whether you want to save desktop files and documents in iCloud. The files are still visible, but are stored in iCloud by default. If you need these files later, they will be downloaded to your Mac from the Cloud. You can also save photos and videos you've saved in the Photos app to the cloud. Both will save you a lot of disk space on your Mac. 
On the left in the menu you will see Apps. Click on it to view the installed apps on your Mac in an overview.
The sorting of apps has been adjusted to the most consuming app. The largest app is at the top of the overview. Check all apps and delete apps you no longer need to save disk space. Right-click on the app name and click uninstall.
At the very bottom you will see “Other” disk space on your Mac. The remaining data on your Mac is a combination of temporary files and other files that are not recognized as macOS files. Consider temporary files (cache), disk image files, compressed files, etc. To delete the other files, use CleanMyMac.
CleanMyMac is the most used tool worldwide to maintain your Mac. The Smart Scan helps detect system cache files, user cache files and remove unnecessary files. By running a thorough scan with CleanMyMac you no longer need to maintain your Mac.
Click the Scan button to begin a thorough scan of your Mac.
When CleanMyMac has finished the smart scan on your Mac, an overview will be shown of the files that this tool can safely remove for you. Click the Run button to delete the cache and other files.
The result of the smart scan is immediately shown.
Run malware scan
Before you install the new macOS Monterey, you should check your Mac for malware. If malware is installed on your Mac, this malware can also become active in Monterey via the settings or via the browser. It is recommended to perform a thorough malware scan. If you still believe that there is no malware active for macOS? Then read this.
Click the Scan button to check your Mac for malware.
If malware is detected, click the remove button.
The results of the malware scan will be displayed after removal
Read more information about CleanMyMac.
Back up your Mac with TimeMachine
Time Machine is a function of Apple that comes pre-installed on your Mac. It's easy to use and can automatically backup your Mac, including files, photos, email, applications, music and more. The advantage of this method is that it is very simple and requires almost no knowledge of how your computer works.
Time Machine backs up data at regular intervals: every hour of the last 24, every day of the last month, and every week of every month before that. When the external storage is full, the older backups are deleted to make room for the newer ones. Due to the simplicity and size of the backups, this may be the best way to back up your MacBook or Mac.
The major disadvantage of this method is that you... must have an external hard drive that is large enough for all the Mac backups, and that it must remain connected as long as you want automatic backups to be made, otherwise you will have to disconnect and reconnect it regularly. You can also use a NAS to make backups, but this is advanced and beyond the scope of this article.
Before backing up to an external drive via TimeMachine, I recommend connecting your Mac to AC power.
In the menu click on it Apple icon in the top left corner. Click System Preferences in the menu.
In the Mac system settings, click TimeMachine.
If you haven't already done so, connect the external hard drive to your Mac. Then click on “Show Time Machine in the menu bar”. This makes it easy to make a backup and the progress is visible in the menu bar.
Then click Select backup disk.
Select the external hard drive that is visible in the overview. Then click on “Encrypt Backups” and then click on Use Disk.
If you are asked to delete the information on the external hard drive, click Erase. The data stored on the external hard drive will be erased. This question is asked when macOS detects that the hard drive's file system is incompatible.
Because you have indicated that the Mac backup drive must be encrypted, you must enter a password twice with one present (check question). Then click on Encrypt disk.
The external Mac drive is being prepared for use. This won't take long.
You will now see in the TimeMachine settings that the next copy will be made in a few seconds. You now have an external hard drive with a recent backup of your entire macOS system.
If something unexpectedly goes wrong while installing macOS Monterey, you can use this hard drive to restore a backup to your Mac computer.
Ready to install macOS Monterey?
When you are ready to install Monterey on your Mac computer, make sure your internet connection is working properly. Don't do other things that can limit the speed of your internet connection. The faster the internet connection the faster your macOS Monterey downloaded. Make sure your Mac is at least 30% charged and connected to AC power. Close all important tasks on your computer, you will not be able to use your Mac for at least one hour, usually longer.
Lees meer:
- Manage TimeMachine backups.
- Download and install macOS Monterey beta.
- Delete other storage in macOS.
- 27 Tips to Make Mac Faster.
I hope this helped you. Thank you for reading!