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Updating to High Sierra tips

killhippie

killhippie

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 12, 2016
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I have a 2017 SSD iMac and normally when I update to a new OS on past macs I have left the external time machine drive plugged in. Is it worth this year making a time machine back up, then turning time machine off, and ejecting the drive? Is it best with the APFS update to just have the iMac with no external connections or is this just something not to worry about. Just wanted some peoples views on best practices which may also help others as updating the file system is a bit different from normal years. Thanks in advance.
 
I don’t think it will be a problem. Updating to High Sierra won’t cause the external drive to be reformatted as APFS. So there should be no danger of the update corrupting your Time Machine backups if that is what would worry you. At the same time if you want to disconnect it until the update completes then that is fine. It can’t backup anyway until the update is complete.
 
I don't recommend Time Machine as "the best way to get back" if you have a system software upgrade that "goes bad" on you.

The best way to do this is to use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup before you attempt the upgrade. (Either of these utilities is free to download and use for 30 days.)

Then -- if things don't work out -- it's EASY to "get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged" by doing this:
1. Boot from bootable cloned backup
2. Re-initialize internal drive ("nuke it")
3. RE-CLONE the backup BACK TO the internal drive.
Do this and everything will be exactly the way it was before.

If you DON'T do this, you could find yourself up the proverbial creek without a good paddle...
 
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Fishrrman said:
I don't recommend Time Machine as "the best way to get back" if you have a system software upgrade that "goes bad" on you.

The best way to do this is to use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup before you attempt the upgrade. (Either of these utilities is free to download and use for 30 days.)

Then -- if things don't work out -- it's EASY to "get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged" by doing this:
1. Boot from bootable cloned backup
2. Re-initialize internal drive ("nuke it")
3. RE-CLONE the backup BACK TO the internal drive.
Do this and everything will be exactly the way it was before.

If you DON'T do this, you could find yourself up the proverbial creek without a good paddle...
Click to expand...

Good policy. Worth noting that SuperDuper doesn’t support APFS yet (but might by the 25th). CCC does, but both developers have written blog posts that bemoan the lack of developer documentation. So Time Machine may be the best way to backup after the upgrade.

I’m going to give HS an update or two for this to sort itself out.
 
Cougarcat said:
Good policy. Worth noting that SuperDuper doesn’t support APFS yet (but might by the 25th). CCC does, but both developers have written blog posts that bemoan the lack of developer documentation. So Time Machine may be the best way to backup after the upgrade.

I’m going to give HS an update or two for this to sort itself out.
Click to expand...
Hmmmm, I have just downloaded SuperDuper and it is supporting High Sierra (APFS). Full 1:1 backup on the way.

Thanks for a tip!

And it's free as long as you stick with basics. I will buy the full version after testing it. Less bloated than CCC on first look.
 
Haven't tried SuperDuper probably because I am very happy with CCC. On APFS, CCC5 fully supports APFS, on CCC4 is only could clone APFS to HFSF, but could couldn't write is back to APFS. This may be the case with SuperDuper, you should note that.
 
killhippie said:
I have a 2017 SSD iMac and normally when I update to a new OS on past macs I have left the external time machine drive plugged in. Is it worth this year making a time machine back up, then turning time machine off, and ejecting the drive? Is it best with the APFS update to just have the iMac with no external connections or is this just something not to worry about. Just wanted some peoples views on best practices which may also help others as updating the file system is a bit different from normal years. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Make a carbon copy cloner image, then upgrade. Much faster to go back if you hit any showstopper bugs.
 
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Cougarcat said:
SuperDuper doesn’t support APFS yet
Click to expand...
Yes, you are right. I must have been fooled by "support HSierra" post.

and

my curiosity (bravery/foolishness?) won, so I installed HSierra GM. Everything went super smooth and no problems so far (knock on a wood). Backup not needed ;)
 
Fishrrman said:
I don't recommend Time Machine as "the best way to get back" if you have a system software upgrade that "goes bad" on you.

The best way to do this is to use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to create a bootable cloned backup before you attempt the upgrade. (Either of these utilities is free to download and use for 30 days.)

Then -- if things don't work out -- it's EASY to "get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged" by doing this:
1. Boot from bootable cloned backup
2. Re-initialize internal drive ("nuke it")
3. RE-CLONE the backup BACK TO the internal drive.
Do this and everything will be exactly the way it was before.

If you DON'T do this, you could find yourself up the proverbial creek without a good paddle...
Click to expand...

Best advice YTD prepping your Mac!

Cheers
 
I would recommend keeping a cloned backup of your old system for a few days to a week after installing, because unexpected issues can start popping up in unusual places. For example, on the most recent Sierra updates, my 5k iMac display wouldn’t wake up after it had been sleeping for longer than a few minutes, and I’d have to reboot to get it working again. But I didn’t have that series of events start occurring until a few days after the update and I had to roll back.
 
I have multiple backups its one of the things I always made sure to do over the years. I don't just rely on time machine either but its there so I use it. I appreciate the advice. I may wait a few point updates since its such a big update to the file system anyway and there will be bugs, right now Sierra is on my 2017 iMac running very well so hoping the under the hood improvements in high sierra will make for a good solid update, although it always feels the bugs from every previous releases creep back in somehow.
 
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