Macintosh OS High Sierra

[Randy B. Singer]

Apple's next major Macintosh operating system's release date has been announced by Apple as September 25th.

More than any past major OS upgrade, I strongly recommend that folks wait for the "point-two" release to upgrade. High Sierra offers an entirely new file system (optimized for SSD's), and with that there is, at least the potential for something to go catastrophically wrong.

Ironically, beta testers report that the betas of High Sierra showed fewer bugs than most past versions of the Mac OS. But don't let that sway you into being an early adopter. And when you do upgrade, I highly recommend doing a full backup of your data first, and possibly two.

Just about everything that comes with the OS has been upgraded in High Sierra. All the included apps, the graphics, video playback, support for VR, support for GPU's...everything. It will be a highly worthwhile upgrade when it has been proven to be entirely safe.

Note that High Sierra is rumored to be the last version of the Mac OS to support 32-bit programs. So, now would be the time to start taking stock of which programs that you have that are 32-bit and to start looking for updates/replacements. (Quicken 2007 is an obvious 32-bit app that many users still have that will need to be replaced.)

To find which applications you have are 32-bit and which are 64-bit:

Click the Apple menu.

Choose About This Mac...

Click the System Report... button.

Look down the left hand column to Software.

Under Software click Applications.

Wait a bit for the info to be gathered.

The entire right hand window pane will fill with a list of apps.

You can raise or lower the "window shade" to make the pane larger or
smaller by using to dot at bottom center of the pane. Below the
application list is another pane that will show specifics about the app
you click.

At far right in the pane is a column named 64-Bit (Intel). You may
have to expand the window to see this column.

More info:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...eview-a-quick-look-at-the-stuff-you-cant-see/

High Sierra compatibility list:
http://osxdaily.com/2017/06/06/macos-high-sierra-compatibility-list/

 

[chscag]

And as we have been warning everyone.... Mac Office 2011 is likewise 32 bit. And again, even Microsoft has warned that Office 2011 may not work right and even hinted that Office 2016 may have problems.

 

[pigoo3]

Thanks Randy. Nice summary of the watch-outs for High Sierra!

- Nick

 

[RadDave]

Thanks Randy for the information and clear directions to look for the pertinent apps - Dave

 

[Randy B. Singer]

And as we have been warning everyone.... Mac Office 2011 is likewise 32 bit. And again, even Microsoft has warned that Office 2011 may not work right and even hinted that Office 2016 may have problems.

It may and it may not. We'll have to wait and see. Everyone told me that Office 2008 wouldn't work under Sierra, but I didn't listen, I installed it, and it's been working perfectly for the past 9 months. I use Word every single day.

Yes another reason to wait for the "point-two" version of High Sierra. If one's version of MS Office requires an update (or an upgrade) to be perfectly compatible with High Sierra, MS should have an update available by then, or it should become clear that one has to upgrade.

But there's no reason for folks not to have a look at this free replacement for MS Office right now and see if it meets your needs going forward:

LibreOffice (free)
http://www.libreoffice.org

There is also a new high-end office suite product that I've been beta-testing that is on the horizon. It won't be free, but I bet that a lot of folks will like it a lot more than Office.

 

[RadDave]

Guys - some other considerations concerning the new APFS (Apple File System) - wife's iMac has a fusion drive - I've read that these will not be automatically converted like the SSD computers (i.e. my MBPro & MAir) - but, I was also just thinking about all of my external HDs, all 'spinners' - assume that they will be no problem in continuing the usual backups? Thanks for comments. Dave

 

[chscag]

I haven't seen any official word from Apple, but rumors seem to say that external drives will continue to function even though they're formatted as HFS+. I have also read that a system formatted to APFS will be able to read and write to HFS+.

 

[chscag]

There is also a new high-end office suite product that I've been beta-testing that is on the horizon. It won't be free, but I bet that a lot of folks will like it a lot more than Office.

Be sure to keep us informed on that Randy. I'm currently using Office 2011 for the work that I do and also have a copy of Office 2016 that I haven't installed yet. My problem is that I have years and years of Word documents and Powerpoint presentations archived that I need to be able to access and sometimes update.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Guys - some other considerations concerning the new APFS (Apple File System) - wife's iMac has a fusion drive - I've read that these will not be automatically converted like the SSD computers (i.e. my MBPro & MAir) - but, I was also just thinking about all of my external HDs, all 'spinners' - assume that they will be no problem in continuing the usual backups? Thanks for comments. Dave

My understanding is that the new file system, Apple File System (APFS) will NOT be installed on spinning hard drives or on Fusion drives as part of the upgrade to MacOS 10.13. APFS will be installed on SSDs during the upgrade to 10.13. You will NOT have a choice. If you have a SSD and you go to 10.13, you WILL get APFS. If you don’t have a SSD, you will NOT get APFS. (This isn't necessarily how things were in the beta of High Sierra, but it's how the release version works.)

I understand that it is possible to force a spinning drive or Fusion drive to be formatted with APFS. However, the release version of 10.13 will NOT allow you to boot from an APFS spinning or Fusion drive.

I'll report back if I hear something different or get new information.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

This article clears most things up nicely:

Important High Sierra Changes for IT Admins
http://tidbits.com/article/17451

 

[chscag]

I understand that it is possible to force a spinning drive or Fusion drive to be formatted with APFS. However, the release version of 10.13 will NOT allow you to boot from an APFS spinning or Fusion drive.

Randy is correct. I force formatted a spinning external hard drive during the beta test (using terminal) and then ran CCC to copy a bootable clone. The drive would not boot and CCC even warned me of that.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

Be sure to keep us informed on that Randy. I'm currently using Office 2011 for the work that I do and also have a copy of Office 2016 that I haven't installed yet. My problem is that I have years and years of Word documents and Powerpoint presentations archived that I need to be able to access and sometimes update.

I don't think that your documents are in any danger. Any Office product that can't do at least a good (if not to say excellent) job working with Office format files is sure to be shunned in the marketplace. Even a free product.

The product that I'm beta testing actually includes two different Office translators! If one doesn't do a perfect job, the other is likely to.

 

[RadDave]

This article clears most things up nicely:

Important High Sierra Changes for IT Admins
http://tidbits.com/article/17451

Randy is correct. I force formatted a spinning external hard drive during the beta test (using terminal) and then ran CCC to copy a bootable clone. The drive would not boot and CCC even warned me of that.

Thanks Randy & Chscag for the comments and links - believe that I'll wait for that "dot 2" as suggested by Randy (..I strongly recommend that folks wait for the "point-two" release to upgrade..) and in the link he provided. This is one of the scariest upgrades since I've been on Apple machines, now 5 years - fingers crossed for all - Dave

 

[IWT]

A brilliant thread with tons of info. Thanks Randy et al.

As several people have mentioned backups, and bootable versions in particular, just wanted to point out that SuperDuper! is 32-bit. (CCC is 64-bit).

Ian

 

[harryb2448]

32bit will still work with High Sierra and when 32bit support is eventually dropped of course it will be 64bit:-

http://www.shirt-pocket.com/blog/

 

[IWT]

You are absolutely correct, Harry.

In fact, just today, my SuperDuper! app was updated to be compatible with macOS High Sierra. Further, I have been in correspondence with SD's developer who was extremely helpful, polite and reassuring.

Nevertheless, as you say, a time will come when it will have to become 64-bit.

Ian

 

[RadDave]

You are absolutely correct, Harry.

In fact, just today, my SuperDuper! app was updated to be compatible with macOS High Sierra. Further, I have been in correspondence with SD's developer who was extremely helpful, polite and reassuring.

Nevertheless, as you say, a time will come when it will have to become 64-bit.

Apropos to the above, I was wondering about CCC (Carbon Copy Cloner) - I'm now on v. 5 - below is just a portion of the Blog discussion HERE, which was updated today - appears that those using the app should be fine, but any comments would be appreciated. Thanks all - Dave

Can CCC make a bootable backup of an APFS volume?

Yes. Both CCC 4 and CCC 5 can make bootable backups of APFS-formatted startup disks, however there is a limited amount of support for APFS in CCC 4. CCC 4 can make a bootable backup from an APFS-formatted volume to an HFS+ formatted volume, and can even create a recovery volume on that HFS+ backup disk. CCC 5 can make a bootable backup from an APFS-formatted volume to an HFS+ formatted volume or to an APFS-formatted volume. CCC 5 also supports APFS encryption (e.g. CCC 5 can unlock and mount APFS-encrypted volumes during a backup task). Naturally any additional support that we can provide for APFS will be made within CCC 5; new features and functionality will not be added to CCC 4.

.

 

[Randy B. Singer]

...just wanted to point out that SuperDuper! is 32-bit.

As I said, High Sierra is likely to be the last version of the MacOS that supports 32-bit. That means that there will be a year or more before folks have to be terribly concerned about which applications they rely on that are 32-bit and which need to be upgraded or replaced. For now it's good to take stock of one's 32-bit applications and keep track of their development during the coming year. Maybe even touch base with their developers to let them know that there is a general concern.

But there is no reason why folks have to start rushing right now to replace their 32-bit applications. There is plenty of time for developers to release updates. And it certainly isn't helpful to start advocating that people move from their favorite apps to ones that others like best by fomenting paranoia.

 

[harryb2448]

Randy, reading SuperDuper blog this week, they believe sometime during the life of macOS High Sierra, 32bit will be killed off somewhere around, or after, OS X 13.3/4.

 

[pm-r]

But there is no reason why folks have to start rushing right now to replace their 32-bit applications.

I won't be rushing anywhere for quite a while macOS wise, but I was a bit surprised when I was checking on my installed 32/64-Bit apps that my DiskWarrior v.4.4 was still 32-Bit.

But, as mentioned, not to worry.

Hmmm…??? Wasn't that MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman expression, or maybe that was "What, me worry?" Same thing.

EDIT:
It appears that DiskWarrior v. 5.0 (Dec '14) is also 32-Bit only.

EDIT II:
Well, according to their site v.5.0 is 64-Bit:
https://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/upgrade.html

That makes more sense, and some other sites need to update their app derscription info.


- Patrick
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