Question - a laptop and an iMac, APFS and HFS+, iCloud

[JeffreyD]

I hope someone here may be able to answer this. I am using a MacBook (2016) and an iMac (2015). Of course the MacBook has a solid state drive, and would be converted to APFS on upgrading to High Sierra. That machine hasn't been upgraded yet. The iMac has a fusion drive, and remains HFS+ following the upgrade to High Sierra. No problems with that upgrade, BTW. I use iCloud to sync files between the two machines. So... What issues will I likely encounter given the laptop will be APFS, and the iMac remains HFS+?
Thx.

 

[TrenttonY]

I hope someone here may be able to answer this. I am using a MacBook (2016) and an iMac (2015). Of course the MacBook has a solid state drive, and would be converted to APFS on upgrading to High Sierra. That machine hasn't been upgraded yet. The iMac has a fusion drive, and remains HFS+ following the upgrade to High Sierra. No problems with that upgrade, BTW. I use iCloud to sync files between the two machines. So... What issues will I likely encounter given the laptop will be APFS, and the iMac remains HFS+?
Thx.

None. When iOS devices were updated to APFS early this year with iOS 10.3, iCloud syncing worked fine between iOS and macOS (which didn't get the APFS update at that time).

Because of this I'm confident to say, iCloud will sync fine between a HFS+ Mac and a APFS Mac.

 

[JeffreyD]

None. When iOS devices were updated to APFS early this year with iOS 10.3, iCloud syncing worked fine between iOS and macOS (which didn't get the APFS update at that time).

Because of this I'm confident to say, iCloud will sync fine between a HFS+ Mac and a APFS Mac.

I hadn't thought of that. Things synch fine between my iPad and both macs.

 

[TrenttonY]

I hadn't thought of that. Things synch fine between my iPad and both macs.

I would wait for someone on this forum who has two Macs with a similar setup to respond. Just in case.

 

[JeffreyD]

I would wait for someone on this forum who has two Macs with a similar setup to respond. Just in case.

Good idea!

 

[TrenttonY]

Good idea!

Do I sense sarcasm. LOL

 

[JeffreyD]

Do I sense sarcasm. LOL

No, not really! I was going to plunge ahead!

 

[TrenttonY]

No, not really! I was going to plunge ahead!

I'm not sure if you saw but Apple says that Fusion Drive's will work with APFS in the near future, with an update to High Sierra. So if you want to be safe you could wait until then, and update both of your machines at the same time.

 

[JeffreyD]

I'm not sure if you saw but Apple says that Fusion Drive's will work with APFS in the near future, with an update to High Sierra. So if you want to be safe you could wait until then, and update both of your machines at the same time.

I did update the iMac to High Sierra a couple of days ago. Not a single hiccup. Since I knew it wouldn't convert it to APFS at this point, I wasn't worried about the iCloud synch issue. That's why I held off on the laptop though.

 

[blackdogaudio]

I would wait for someone on this forum who has two Macs with a similar setup to respond. Just in case.

How about three Macs? A mid 2011 with platter drive (HFS +), a 2014 5K with fusion drive (HFS +) and a 2014 MB Air with SSD (APFS).

All three are running High Sierra and synchronize flawlessly with iCloud Desktop and Documents before and after the upgrade. iCloud syncing was also just fine between all three when I delayed the HS upgrade for 24 hours on the mid 2011 as it's my iTunes Home Sharing machine. It was running Sierra at the time.

Have no fear ;-)

 

[JeffreyD]

How about three Macs? A mid 2011 with platter drive (HFS +), a 2014 5K with fusion drive (HFS +) and a 2014 MB Air with SSD (APFS).

All three are running High Sierra and synchronize flawlessly with iCloud Desktop and Documents before and after the upgrade. iCloud syncing was also just fine between all three when I delayed the HS upgrade for 24 hours on the mid 2011 as it's my iTunes Home Sharing machine. It was running Sierra at the time.

Have no fear ;-)

Thank you! I'm going for it.

 

[blackdogaudio]

Thank you! I'm going for it.

Good deal! I'm sure you'll be just fine.

 

[JeffreyD]

Good deal! I'm sure you'll be just fine.

Upgrade is done and no problems encountered.
Thanks!

 

[blackdogaudio]

Upgrade is done and no problems encountered.
Thanks!

Excellent!

 

[Hater]

One of my internal hard drives is APFS, the other is HFS.

No issues.