High Sierra new file system & Time Machine

[James]

Ok I download the High Sierra beta and installed it on my MacBook Pro 2015. Downloaded ok, installed ok, but would not come up to desktop...Until the next day...Seems to be working just fine at the moment.

I made the usual back up before installing using Time Machine, worked just fine. After installing and finally getting a desktop I did another backup of the new operating system, again using Time Machine, but this time it did not back up my Mac drive properly.

My question is when I installed the new beta it gave me the choice to install the new file system on the Mac drive and I chose to do so. So question is, is there a problem with the new file system or is there a problem with the beta ? Which ever at the moment I do not have a backup of my operating system.

Any thoughts ?

 

[chscag]

As you found out, Time Machine is not yet compatible with APFS. Keep in mind that you're running a beta so you need to expect that some things are not going to work. You might want to download Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to see if either one of them is ready for High Sierra and then backup your system.

We always advise folks to not install a beta on their primary system overwriting their working version of OS X. Several of our members have installed the beta but on a separate partition or external hard drive.

 

[James]

That is about what i had figured, would have been nice if Apple would have said something about the problem with Time Machine, then i would not have installed the new file system to start with..surely they had to know about that before opening a beta test to the public. Wouldn't be surprised at all if CCC or SuperDuper don't have the problem fixed before Apple does.

The laptop is not my primary system, just one i bought to use testing new things like operating systems and such. I learned that lesson a long time ago about installing betas and first releases on a primary system.

 

[chscag]

The laptop is not my primary system, just one i bought to use testing new things like operating systems and such. I learned that lesson a long time ago about installing betas and first releases on a primary system.

That's good to hear you were prepared. More than most users who just went ahead and installed the beta over their working system. ;D

 

[harryb2448]

I would think the external drive would need to be formatted APFS also for Time Machine to work correctly. When you connect the external, is there an option in Disk Utility to re-format the external? If so, after that do a TM run.

 

[chscag]

I would think the external drive would need to be formatted APFS also for Time Machine to work correctly. When you connect the external, is there an option in Disk Utility to re-format the external? If so, after that do a TM run.

Nope. High Sierra will not format an external drive to APFS, not even from Disk Utility. Only the installing internal drive can be formatted to APFS and right now Time Machine is not working with APFS.

 

[James]

A small point of information here...CCC4 seems to be working with High Sierra ok at the moment. I went to their site and they have a "beta" CCC4 out for download that appears to be doing the job alright. It is 10.25 gigs into a backup of the APFS formatted mac drive and is using a flash drive as a backup... looking good so far, if it comes out ok i will be purchasing CCC4 and dropping Time Machine like a hot rock.

 

[chscag]

James:

Thanks for the feedback re: Carbon Copy Cloner. Many of us use CCC on a regular basis for our backups. I also use Time Machine but not on the Time Machine regular schedule which is too often.

 

[James]

Yea... finished the backup and CCC indeed works with High Sierra and it looks like it will use just about any drive to do the backup with, the first one I tried was a 32 gig SanDisk Cruzer flash drive...took a while, but it got the job done. Was so impressed I went on CCC's web site and purchased version 4.1.16 their latest. They are working on it and will be putting out a new update as soon as they get it done at no extra charge for registered owners.

Then I hooked up a Toshiba 1 T USB drive and gave it a go, darn thing backed up the Mac drive in about 13 minutes, a little over 530,000 files, was really impressed hadn't expected that good a speed out of a USB drive. I'm a happy camper and a steady user of CCC from now on. I now have CCC on both my laptop and my desktop.

 

[Slydude]

Thanks for confirming that Sue. I ran CCC the other day to make a clone of my Sierra installation before installing the beta. one of the things included in the update was operation with the new file system. I haven't tested it myself yet I've been taking care of several things the last few days and have only been testing basic operations.

 

[pm-r]

You might want to download Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper to see if either one of them is ready for High Sierra and then backup your system.

I don't know about SD! but the CCC update info said the latest version was available and was compatible with the latest High Sierra and the new file system.

[QUOTE]New
Adds preliminary support for cloning from an APFS startup volume to an HFS+ backup volume (applicable only to macOS High Sierra).[/QUOTE]










PS: Some of the Mac sites I glanced at today had some info about Time Machine and HS, but I just skipped reading any details as I don't use either.

EDIT:
NOT good supportive news about 'High Sierra and Time Machine' with a quick search. But hey, it is a BETA isn't it??
https://www.google.ca/search?client...&oe=UTF-8&gfe_rd=cr&ei=RllcWcPRCvHe8AeD8rngCA






- Patrick
======

 

[James]

Hey Sly, how ya been dude ? Been a while for sure. Be sure you have the latest CCC which is 4.1.16...it works with High Sierra and the new file system. Guess they have a bit more work to finish up but it does work.

And pm-r... Ya it's a beta...I expect a few glitches here and there in a beta, but the problem i have is not with the beta but with Apple itself as they had to know about the Time Machine problem before they made the beta available, so why didn't they say so. If they had i would not have installed the new file system until later after the problem was fixed. Thank goodness CCC 4.1.16 was able to make a backup for me as i now have my new operating system backed up.

 

[Rod]

I have HS running on a 30Gb partition on my Macintosh HD and have been very surprised at how slow it is to boot to the login window. Is anyone else noting this. After the first few times i actually measured the difference. Sierra takes 8 seconds HS takes 20 seconds.

 

[Slydude]

Long time no hear James. Great to hear from you. Hope all is well. I must have slipped a gear last night when I read the thread -- completely missed your post.

I have that current update. I cloned my Sierra installation before installing the beta. Before the cloning started it informed me of the update. I have not run it on the new file system yet so your experience is reassuring. Plan to run it sometime today or tomorrow.

 

[pm-r]

And pm-r... Ya it's a beta...I expect a few glitches here and there in a beta, but the problem i have is not with the beta but with Apple itself as they had to know about the Time Machine problem before they made the beta available, so why didn't they say so.

I quite agree with your comment James and it seems to be more of a common problem with Apple these days.

New young developers maybe I guess and department heads that don't or can't be bothered with some things or even communicate with Mac users properly.





- Patrick
======

 

[harryb2448]

Now we got two knockers!

Great.

 

[Rod]

Apart from Apple mail not working at all (reported via Feedback Assistant) all seems good. Perhaps Apple had read my derogatory remarks about Mail and left it out of my version. The menu bar appears as normal but no window, most of the commands are greyed out in the other menus so its definitely a no show on my MBP.
Successfully installed:
Spark email client, works as expected with all accounts restored via iCloud backup.
Chrome, has no coloured buttons top left unless in full screen mode but Command + M works which is my preferred way to minimise the window anyway.
CCC installed no issues however after a little experimentation I found that the EHD must be formatted Mac OS Extended (Journalled) or it will not be bootable. Tried APFS but not bootable.
Time Machine offered to use the EHD as a TM backup but process failed. It did however reformat the EHD to APFS (Case Sensitive) which I then had to change. APFS (Case Sensitive) would not be bootable according to CCC.
Bartender 2 works but no longer shows some system items, see changes to SIP; https://www.macbartender.com/B2/system-item-setup/
Express VPN, works as expected.
iStat Menus working, nil issues.
Anyone else have a problem with Mail? So far everything else is working as expected. Only just scratched the surface so far.

 

[Slydude]

Mail seems to be working fine for me. The only thing I have noticed is that on some emails the content takes a second or two longer than it should to load. It is not happening on every email and I am not sure that it isn't a network issue for me.

 

[James]

I have HS running on a 30Gb partition on my Macintosh HD and have been very surprised at how slow it is to boot to the login window. Is anyone else noting this. After the first few times i actually measured the difference. Sierra takes 8 seconds HS takes 20 seconds.

Maybe it is cause things just tend to run a tad slower down there in Australia not like the rat races here in the US...But you didn't say just what system you are running HS on, could be maybe a hardware thing and not the operating system. For example i am running 10.13 beta 17A291m on a Early 2015 Macbook Pro Retina 13", 2.7 GHz core i5, 8 gig 2867 MHz DDR3. It is hooked to a 21 " monitor, external speakers and loads up two USB drives when it boots and from the time the boot gong sounds it is at the login from 8 to 10 seconds.

And this is an off the shelf system, i have done no tinkering with it, which probably explains why it runs as good as it does...

 

[James]

Nope. High Sierra will not format an external drive to APFS, not even from Disk Utility. Only the installing internal drive can be formatted to APFS and right now Time Machine is not working with APFS.

Your not quite right on that one. An external drive can be formatted in APFS, I know because i did it today. I went to make a backup using CCC4 and used a 1T USB external drive that i used disk utility in Hi Sierra to format the drive in APFS. I wanted to back up my Mac Drive with the operating system on it and as it was in APFS i thought i would back it up to an APFS drive, it worked. Just for the heck of it i also formatted a 32 gig flash drive in APFS and it also worked. You are right however that at this time Time Machine doesn't work with APFS. But CCCR do...