High Sierra

I have a Mac mini late 2012. upgraded to an OWC Extreme 480 gig SSD. Today I downloaded High Sierra to the original platter drive and using time-machine migrated all my files. My question is once booted from the external drive am I safe to format the SSD using disk utility and using SuperDuper copy it back to the SSD?

Perhaps I should have asked is this the proper way?
My intent is to do a clean install of the OS, I have been successful in doing in place updates since Mointain Lion and thought a clean install was overdue.

That should work but before we proceed we need to clarify a few things with formatting the drive and cloning from the external drive back to the internal one there are a few things to check:

!. Once you boot from the external drive you need to select the external drive and use the Get Info command to see how the drive is formatted. If it formatted to the new APFS file system. I don't think it will have been but if it has there are a few other things to check.
2. If the external drive has been formatted APFS we'll need to make sure SuperDuper can properly clone the drive.

2. If the external drive has been formatted APFS we'll need to make sure SuperDuper can properly clone the drive.

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As for the latest SuperDuper and working with APFS, one might want to check here:

SuperDuper v2.9.2 is here, and it includes High Sierra HFS+ support! (For APFS, SuperDuper! 3.0 B5 is available: see the blog.)

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http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html

Note that its a beta version.




- Patrick
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Slydude, PM-R, thank you both for the input, I checked the external drive and it is APFS and downloaded SuperDuper 3.0 beta (eeek!)
I haven't pulled the trigger yet, going to read a bit more and see how many disaster stories I can find.
I'll post back after if able........

it is APFS and downloaded SuperDuper 3.0 beta (eeek!)

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OK as for the APFS part I guess, but if you're at all concerned about the beta part of SuprDuper!, I just thought I'd mention that the latest Carbon Copy Cloner.app version is fully compatible and has a generous free unrestricted trial period.

Carbon Copy Cloner 5 is fully qualified on macOS High Sierra and APFS. Learn more before you upgrade.

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https://bombich.com




- Patrick
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If you have the registered SD stay with it. CCC is just on twice the price of SD and Shirt pocket does not charge for upgrades. Don't know about CCC. I used when it was free, and then made a donation when it became donation ware in about 2003, and following that they want to charge US$53.00 to upgrade.

Don't know about CCC. I used when it was free, and then made a donation when it became donation ware in about 2003, and following that they want to charge US$53.00 to upgrade.

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Ever since CCC went commercial, they have always provided a reduced price for any major version upgrades to those who qualified. Even to those like you and myself who had made a donation.

IE:

Upgrade to CCC 5

If you own a Carbon Copy Cloner 3.5 or 4 Household or Pro license, please enter your registration code below to request your upgrade discount. CCC 4 owners receive 50% off. CCC 3.5 owners receive 25% off.

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And various other upgrade options at a reduced price.

https://bombich.com/kb/ccc5/purchasing-upgrade-carbon-copy-cloner-5

etc.




- Patrick
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I have been running on the external drive this evening and all seems well. I did notice that the external drive is almost 8 Gbt smaller than the internal drive, so it appears I have been hauling some excess baggage for a while now.
Ran Etrecheck and got a clean slate, thanks guys for the advice.