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Apple's Craig Federighi Confirms APFS Coming to Fusion Drives in a Future macOS High Sierra Update

mdelvecchio said:
Most MBs are SSD.
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Not getting your moneys worth for the upgrade, eh? rolleyes
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My MacBook is a 2011. And to be honest, I don't know if it is a standard hard drive or an SSD. it's old enough to predate fusion drives.

My IMac (2016) is a fusion, and other than opening it up and replacing the drive myself I didn't have the option of a pure SSD. Apple didn't sell them.
 
69Mustang said:
Sweet Jeebus. What isn't coming in a future update?:rolleyes: One could be forgiven for thinking Apple has adopted the video game industry's motto: Release now - patch later.
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[doublepost=1506462880][/doublepost]Except it was not released...
 
MacRumors said:



The initial version of macOS High Sierra released this morning limits the new Apple File System (APFS) to Macs that have all-flash built-in storage, excluding iMacs and Mac mini machines that feature Fusion Drives.

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Apple announced the limitation last week in a support document that said the initial release would not allow Fusion Drives to be converted to APFS, implying future support, and now Apple software engineering chief Craig Federighi has confirmed APFS will indeed be coming to Fusion Drives in a later update.

Federighi shared the info in an email sent to MacRumors reader Michiel, who asked if APFS would be added later.

"Yes, we plan to add support in a future update," replied Federighi.

Fusion Drives, available as a storage option for Apple's iMac and Mac mini desktop machines, combine a hard drive with flash storage to provide the speed of an SSD with the affordability of a standard hard drive. Frequently accessed files are stored using flash storage, while less frequently used files are moved to the hard drive.

The first macOS High Sierra beta released in June did include support for Fusion Drives and converted iMacs and Mac minis to APFS, but support was removed in subsequent betas and was not reimplemented, presumably due to stability problems and bugs with the feature.

Apple File System is a more modern file system than HFS+ and is optimized for solid state drives. It is safe and secure, offering crash protection, safe document saves, stable snapshots, simplified backups, and strong native encryption.

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Developers who happened to install APFS on their machines have been provided with instructions for how to convert back to HFS+ for the time being.

Apple's macOS High Sierra press release also confirms the company's plans to introduce APFS support for Fusion Drives and standard HDDs, but Apple has not offered a timeline on when we can expect the APFS update to be released.

Article Link: Apple's Craig Federighi Confirms APFS Coming to Fusion Drives in a Future macOS High Sierra Update
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This may have been answered somewhere in all the posts, but didn't see an answer.... If I have a 2011 Mac Mini with a Samsung 850 EVO 250g SSD as my startup disk, will it be able to recognize my other Hard disks connected by SATA and USB? { saw that Fusion and HD only don't work, what about an SSD startup and other connected HDs?}
 
rfk1991 said:
This may have been answered somewhere in all the posts, but didn't see an answer.... If I have a 2011 Mac Mini with a Samsung 850 EVO 250g SSD as my startup disk, will it be able to recognize my other Hard disks connected by SATA and USB? { saw that Fusion and HD only don't work, what about an SSD startup and other connected HDs?}
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It will. High Sierra will see the HFS+ drives normally no matter how connected. Even after your Samsung SSD has been converted to APFS.
 
Glassed Silver said:
I miss the times when Apple didn't feel the need to release a new major version every year and yes: when upgrades still cost money, because you had to be convinced. They tried harder back then.

Glassed Silver:mac
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Apple still dropped the ball plenty then: disappearing Home folders, Airport woes etc.
I would rather Apple conentrated more on It Just Works rather than shiny and new because shiny and new.
 
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weckart said:
Apple still dropped the ball plenty then: disappearing Home folders, Airport woes etc.
I would rather Apple conentrated more on It Just Works rather than shiny and new because shiny and new.
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Nothing ever is perfect, but the quality of their software both in regards to visual finish and functionality (including bugs) has decreased quite a lot in recent years.

That's all I mean. So actually we seem to rather agree, because that's also what I want them to focus on.

Do release new features, but make them amazing from the first hour, with the expected fit and finish. Take your time, the OS hosting the feature sheet can be in the making for some sweet time, no problem.

Glassed Silver:mac
 
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Glassed Silver said:
That's all I mean. So actually we seem to rather agree, because that's also what I want them to focus on.

Glassed Silver:mac
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Only sort of. My point was that even when Apple wasn't chasing pointless annual timetables it was messing up bigtime. And I don't mean trivial stuff liked missed deadlines with APFS but issues that really hampered productivity and reliability.

I would like it to become more like what you would like but I don't think it was ever truly there. Hardware>Software. Always.
 
69Mustang said:
Sweet Jeebus. What isn't coming in a future update?:rolleyes: One could be forgiven for thinking Apple has adopted the video game industry's motto: Release now - patch later.
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Or "patch never" if it relates to Safari text selection/editing bugs (among others)...
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Swazaloo said:
Of course they're going to add support. Apple absolutely loves mechanical hard drives. They are so fast to ditch legacy tech, yet for some reason they just refuse to let go of mechanical hard drives.
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Seriously? They've been eliminating them aggressively in mobile computers.
 
HallStevenson said:
They repeat over and over not to install betas on 'production' hardware. That means, only install it on computers that you are willing to wipe the HDD without a 2nd thought and start over. I'm guessing that's not the case for you....
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If have been running the developer beta version of high sierra from the first release. I updated my Fusion Drive to APFS.
I am still on the Golden Master since I cannot install the just release public version of high sierra. The instructions that Apple published to revert back to HDD did not work on my iMac. Current 27 inch model. I work with Apple advance support but we were unable to resolve the problem. I reformatted my Fusion Drive with APFS and did a full recovery from my Time Machine backup all is good. Yes you must be prepared if you run a foul with a beta version. Always have a current full backup. I will not wait for the next HS release that supports Fusion Drives.
 
Swazaloo said:
Yes, the situation is dire. Brand new iMacs and Mac Minis start with 5400 RPM mechanical hard drives. Boot time is like 3-5 minutes.
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Mac Mini hasn't been updated in ages, so that's probably why they have 5400 RPM drives still. As for brand new iMacs... are you sure about that? Is that the entry level model that they are trying to make look entry-level cost?
 
Swazaloo said:
Of course they're going to add support. Apple absolutely loves mechanical hard drives. They are so fast to ditch legacy tech, yet for some reason they just refuse to let go of mechanical hard drives.
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I'm glad you don't store anything on your computer but until I can buy 3TB, 4TB, and even 10TB in flash for under $500 this is still a much needed option for lots of folks. I've not upgraded to High Sierra because I need my fusion drive for the performance it offers and the capacity. It's a killer feature and shouldn't be snarked at.
 
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Trekkie said:
I'm glad you don't store anything on your computer but until I can buy 3TB, 4TB, and even 10TB in flash for under $500 this is still a much needed option for lots of folks. I've not upgraded to High Sierra because I need my fusion drive for the performance it offers and the capacity. It's a killer feature and shouldn't be snarked at.
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Fusion drive is a crutch. The SSD portion is only 24 GB, so basically just your OS and a couple apps runs on it. You'd be better off with a 256GB SSD for the OS and ALL apps, then use external storage for videos and pictures.
 
Swazaloo said:
Fusion drive is a crutch. The SSD portion is only 24 GB, so basically just your OS and a couple apps runs on it. You'd be better off with a 256GB SSD for the OS and ALL apps, then use external storage for videos and pictures.
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That is incorrect, that is the implementation of Fusion drive on a 21" iMac 1TB purchase from Apple in 2015. In 2017 it's 32GB, but again, with a 1TB hard drive installed and only on 21" iMac. On Mac Mini, and iMac 27" it's 128GB. 2TB or 3TB BYO options include 128GB of SSD. the earlier iMac 21/27s all had 128 in 2012-2014 models.

you can also make your own fusion drive, and bigger SSD works just fine as well if you want to maintain a ration of SSD to magnetic.

There are multiple articles on ars-technica describing how it works down to the iostat monitored levels. Its a well thought out multi-tier solution, and far from a crutch as you claim.
 
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I have a 11 month old iMac 5K with a 2TB fusion drive .... feeling a bit miffed that I'm already off the pace and am missing an upgrade ..... I know it's supposed to be coming ..... but kind of feel they've ignored a serious section of their install base here
 
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oldoneeye said:
I have a 11 month old iMac 5K with a 2TB fusion drive .... feeling a bit miffed that I'm already off the pace and am missing an upgrade ..... I know it's supposed to be coming ..... but kind of feel they've ignored a serious section of their install base here
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I have just been advised by software update, that HS 10.13.1 is now available for my Mac mini which has a fusion drive. I wonder if that means Apple now has the version ready for fusion drives?
 
woodbine said:
I have just been advised by software update, that HS 10.13.1 is now available for my Mac mini which has a fusion drive. I wonder if that means Apple now has the version ready for fusion drives?
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No. In 10.13.1 and likely 10.13.2, Fusion Drive Macs continue to use HFS+.
 
ipedro said:
Well, that explains my serious bugs since converting my Fusion Drive to APFS in High Sierra. My Mac will often suddenly run out of space even though there’s about 90GB on it and Time Machine stopped working. I lost my Lightroom catalog (thankfully had a backup).

Thankfully, most of my data is stored on an external RAID (HFS+) and on iCloud drive.

How do I safely convert back to HFS+?
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EEK! I'm definitely gonna wait to upgrade my 2015 Fusion iMac.
 
SSDGUY said:
EEK! I'm definitely gonna wait to upgrade my 2015 Fusion iMac.
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The release versions of High Sierra will neither install to an APFS formatted Fusion Drive nor convert a Fusion Drive to APFS. The installer will simply leave it as HFS+.
 
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