APFS on upgrade?

[pika2000]

So what happen if I upgraded my Macbook Pro to High Sierra? Will the SSD be converted to APFS on the fly? Or does APFS only apply to first time clean install? I want the pros of APFS, but I don't like clean installing the OS on my Mac as it is a day-to-day tool so I cannot really afford to spend too much time clean installing and restoring my data.

As far as I know, one cannot just switch file system on the fly, so I'm wondering what magic Apple is going to do.

 

[Nermal]

It can, and usually will, convert it without needing a clean install.

 

[redheeler]

High Sierra has been able to convert HFS+ to APFS on the fly since beta 1. No reformat required.

 

[FatalFallacy]

afps convert is done on the fly, anyhow keep in mind that your recovery partition will stick to your old macOS release version when doing a high sierra upgrade install and a recovery partition update is not available (yet).

 

[chrfr]

keep in mind that your recovery partition will stick to your old macOS release version when doing a high sierra upgrade install and a recovery partition update is not available (yet).

This isn't accurate. When you run a 10.13 beta installer, the recovery partition gets updated to the version of the 10.13 beta.

 

[pika2000]

High Sierra has been able to convert HFS+ to APFS on the fly since beta 1. No reformat required.

Ok that's good to know. Thanks

 

[rodalpho]

"On the fly" means that you can use the system while conversion is going on in the background. It doesn't do that, it converts when you install and takes time to do so.

It sounds like you're asking if a reformat/reinstall is required, which is a different question others already answered.