I just came across this Eclectic Light blog on Rethinking recovery and re-installing macOS. If I read it correctly it would seem clones are only one of the old standby problem solutions that have become "a cure that is worse than the problem" and not just on Apple silicon, but Intel as well. On the plus side those solutions should be needed far less often 🤞. What remains unchanged is the adage "The only constant IS change." To which I would add the corollary "… and the rate of change continues to accelerate logarithmically."

An outstanding review of the current situations by the author. I found it reassuring and comforting for the future Macs I will own (still using Intel Macs). As long as the internal SSD on the Apple silicon Macs does not fail and there is a good data backup, getting back to the way it was before the problem should be very do-able.

This morning’s beta update failed on my M1 Mac mini. This is the first time I have had an install of any type failed on any Mac. I can still boot the recovery drives but for some reason I am unable to verify a user to enable the reinstall. I have a genius desk appointment tomorrow morning.and will let everyone know how that goes when I get back. ''

It took a second Mac (intel or M1) and “Apple Configurater 2” plus educating a “Genius” on a process she had not performed previously, and about 45 minutes, but I was back up and running with little fuss.