Quick–fire questions & answers
HOW CAN I MAKE MY iPHONE’S RINGTONE SOUND LOUDER?
Use separate controls for the ringer and alerts, which you can then turn up to maximum. In Settings, tap Sounds & Haptics > Ringer and Alerts, disable Change with Buttons, then drag the volume control to maximum. That will keep its volume on full unless you switch to Silent mode.
WHICH APP IS BEST TO CHECK MY WI–FI SIGNAL? Apple’s free AirPort Utility has an excellent hidden scanner: in Settings > Airport Utility, turn on Wi–Fi Scanner, then in the app tap Wi–Fi Scan (top–right), and tap Scan. Turn it off after use to save battery charge. For general diagnostics try using one of the free Wi–Fi checkers available.
WHY DO I SEE A PROHIBITED SIGN WHEN STARTING UP? Your Mac can’t find the expected startup disk, most probably because that disk has been corrupted; try starting up in Diagnostics. If that’s impossible, use Remote Diagnostics (Opt+D) instead. If you can get it into Recovery mode, check the startup disk using Disk Utility.
WHY DOES MY 15–INCH MACBOOK PRO LOSE TOUCH ID? This is a known problem with some models equipped with the T1 chip, which drives the Touch Bar and Touch ID. Ensure its firmware is up to date by installing the latest macOS update. If this continues, get it checked at an Apple Store in case its sensor is failing.
HOW TO STOP MACBOOK PRO FANS RUNNING SO MUCH?
Reset the SMC as detailed at bit.ly/ mac358smc. If that doesn’t help, ensure your MacBook Pro’s case cooling slots are free of lint and dust, and that you use it on a hard surface which lets it cool on the underside as well as the top.
COULD I UPGRADE THE RAM IN A NEW iMAC 2020?
Not if it’s a 21.5–inch model, which requires an Apple technician. The 27–inch version can be upgraded by the user: use SO–DIMM PC4–21333, 260–pin 2666 MHz DDR4 SDRAM modules which are compatible with that model.
USB STICK OR SSD FOR A BOOTABLE INSTALLER?
Use an SSD if you can. USB memory sticks are far slower than even an economy SSD, and less versatile. Not all sticks can be formatted in APFS as required, and some don’t work properly with Catalina installers either.
HOW TO CONNECT A THUNDERBOLT 2 SSD TO MY iMAC?
Unless the SSD has its own power supply and wall adaptor, do this via a Dock with a built–in Thunderbolt 2 port. The Apple Thunderbolt 3 to 2 adaptor should work, but it can’t supply the power over Thunderbolt that even a compact drive needs.
SHOULD I BACK UP TO AN EXTERNAL DISK OR A NAS?
Unless you need to access that storage from multiple Macs or devices over a network, go for a directly attached external disk or RAID system. Even an external hard disk is faster, particularly during the first full backup, and less prone to errors. Time Machine in Catalina is troublesome with NAS storage, and they aren’t a good combination.
WHY DOESN’T MY OLD OPTICAL DRIVE WORK IN 10.15.4?
Most of Apple’s own SuperDrive external optical drives still work in recent versions of Catalina, but some batches and many older third–party optical drives aren’t recognized. Replace your drive with a current Blu–ray model so it supports all major optical media.