High Sierra worries and downgrading

[Labhras]

Hi all
I'm on a 2014 MBA running Sierra and considering the upgrade to HS. I've heard mixed reviews, as always, about the new version, but I had few main worries:
1 - the compatibility of the AFS system with other non-mac drives... exFAT and NTFS formatted, as I currently have installed a NTFS for OS X that allows me to read/write NTFS drive without formatting them. Will this still work on HS?
2 - the other worry is about downgrading. I've read two different takes: the first is having a bootable OS Sierra drive, and reinstalling it from there with a TM backup; another is making a disk clone and using that for installing. Are both those viable? Is one preferable over the other?

Thank you all

 

[maflynn]

1 - the compatibility of the AFS system with other non-mac drives... exFAT and NTFS formatted, as I currently have installed a NTFS for OS X that allows me to read/write NTFS drive without formatting them. Will this still work on HS?

Yes, because the software is used to access NTFS drives, it's not working on the APFS file system.

2 - the other worry is about downgrading. I've read two different takes: the first is having a bootable OS Sierra drive, and reinstalling it from there with a TM backup; another is making a disk clone and using that for installing. Are both those viable? Is one preferable over the other?

I prefer using Carbon Copy Cloner on an external drive. I find that the most efficient and complete approach, just my $.02

 

[Labhras]

I prefer using Carbon Copy Cloner on an external drive. I find that the most efficient and complete approach, just my $.02

Great, I made a complete clone with Carbon. If there are any problems I can simply use that to restore everything as it was with Sierra?

 

[maflynn]

Great, I made a complete clone with Carbon. If there are any problems I can simply use that to restore everything as it was with Sierra?

Yep, just use CCC to clone the external drive back to your internal drive. I typically boot off the external drive (holding the option key to bring up the boot menu), erase the internal drive and then use CCC to clone the external back to the internal drive.