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Q: standard upgrade with Fusion Drive

jdw13

jdw13

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 2, 2015
159
38
Boston, Maine, Chile
Asking because I have not seen any comment on the normal update process from folks using standard Apple-release equipment. I have iMac 14,2 16 GB RAM and 1GB Fusion Drive and still run High Sierra Latest.
  • Q1: When I install release Mojave will the internal Fusion drive be converted to APFS?
  • Q2: If so, is this done during the install without any action required on my part?
  • Q3: Is the computer usable while the disk is converting to APFS?
  • Q4: If not, how approximately how long would it take, i.e. how long will computer be unusable?

thanks,
jw

P.S. I keep a full TimeMachine backup on one disk, and two Carbon Copy backups of user data on another disk, so I should be alright in case of disaster, i.e. could reformat disk and recover in case anything bad happens.
 
jdw13 said:
Asking because I have not seen any comment on the normal update process from folks using standard Apple-release equipment. I have iMac 14,2 16 GB RAM and 1GB Fusion Drive and still run High Sierra Latest.
  • Q1: When I install release Mojave will the internal Fusion drive be converted to APFS?
  • Q2: If so, is this done during the install without any action required on my part?
  • Q3: Is the computer usable while the disk is converting to APFS?
  • Q4: If not, how approximately how long would it take, i.e. how long will computer be unusable?

thanks,
jw

P.S. I keep a full TimeMachine backup on one disk, and two Carbon Copy backups of user data on another disk, so I should be alright in case of disaster, i.e. could reformat disk and recover in case anything bad happens.
Click to expand...

q1. yes the drive will be converted into APFS.
q2 this is done turning the install process. You iMac may restart a couple of times. this is normal.
q3.as above in q2.
q4.the installation took about 40 mins or so.

Hope this helps.
 
The transition to APFS on fusion drive was very smooth. My only question is related to time machine and backup that still are on the ancient format. Does my backup still work if I need to? If I need to swipe out my entire system, can I load a nackup image on time machine as normal? And I presume if I want to downgrade to a previous macOS I'll need to change the format as well?
 
SoYoung said:
The transition to APFS on fusion drive was very smooth. My only question is related to time machine and backup that still are on the ancient format. Does my backup still work if I need to? If I need to swipe out my entire system, can I load a nackup image on time machine as normal? And I presume if I want to downgrade to a previous macOS I'll need to change the format as well?
Click to expand...

The Time Machine disk should remain HFS+. Don’t change it to APFS! Everything will be fine. The content will restore properly. It’s just a different file system and your backup drives and flash drives don’t need it!
 
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lec0rsaire said:
The Time Machine disk should remain HFS+. Don’t change it to APFS! Everything will be fine. The content will restore properly. It’s just a different file system and your backup drives and flash drives don’t need it!
Click to expand...
Ok great! Thanks for your answer :D
 
Installing my old 2013 iMac with Fusion Drive to APFS was done during the install without a hitch. Performance seems identical to HFS+, which should not be surprising. I don't think there's much more room to pull any extra performance out of mechanical hard drives honestly.
 
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