In past years I've had a spare Mac I could use but that Mac can't run Monterey so I'd like to install Monterey on a separate APFS volume on my M1 MacBook Pro. I've read the instructions here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208891
but I want to be certain I don't causes issues with the Big Sur installation. Obviously after backing up, I use DiskUtility to create a new APFS Volume.
Part 5: Add a New APFS Volume on Mac. APFS is the new file system designed for macOS. In default, each Mac has only APFS volume, which can only keep one instance of macOS. To install a new copy of macOS on your Mac, you have to add a separate APFS for holding the additional verison of macOS. You can do this by following the above steps. By simply creating another APFS volume on the existing APFS container, you’ll have a dedicated spot for the macOS Big Sur beta to live. With this method, I can easily keep my production system separate from the beta, and just as easily switch between the current version of macOS and the beta version. Then you need to create the drive volume: diskutil cs createVolume logicalvolumegroup jhfs+ Macintosh HD 100%. After that you just format the drive as APFS, and install OSX. This gives the Fusion Drive a recovery partition and everything ready to go. What worked, and what didn’t. Well the drive seemed to work.
If I download the macOSBetaDeveloperUtility.dmg and install it, then I think it will give me the option to update the OS (as that's what I did in the past, but it's not what I want to do this year). From screenshots here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208891
I think it will allow me to choose where to install and I can choose the new APFS volume I made for the beta. Is that correct?
And then after the installation, will the Big Sur volume work as before or will software update in it want to update to the Monterey beta instead of letting me do any Big Sur updates that come out this summer?
And then at some point after the official Monterey release, I assume I can just delete the APFS volume I created for Monterey to test my apps and then update the Big Sur volume to the official version of Monterey?
Installing Macos On A Separate Apfs Volume System
Are there any mistakes in my steps/plans?
Can't Install Macos On Apfs
Thanks,Dave