Update to High Sierra for new iMac

[ASAP2019]

Hi,

Since the High Sierra Public Beta is out today and my new iMac is coming tomorrow, should I upgrade to Public Beta immediately or I should wait for the final version when it releases? I was thinking the new Apple File System might need me to reformat my HDD so update to High Sierra when I receive tomorrow will be a good idea. Hope to get advise. Thank you.

 

[Bending Pixels]

wait....

 

[EugW]

Lots of things in High Sierra are still borked. Wait... for several months in fact.

I installed it... but on an extra external drive, just for kicks, only to confirm that High Sierra isn't ready for prime time.

 

[dianeoforegon]

You do NOT want to install on a Fusion iMac. After I backed up today, I tried to install the new release over my Sierra install. After 30 min or so, I got an error that the update had failed. I clicked restart, but guess what it had totally messed up in drive and it failed to restart. I booted into a backup and tried to fix with Disk Utility. All DU would do is crash. I was able to repair the drive in the HS Recovery Drive from DP2.

 

[ohsnap]

Can you convert external drives from HFS+ to APFS yet?

 

[ryxn]

Public Beta is fine to install, do NOT use APFS yet. I can't stress this enough - if you're using the Beta for a device you use as a daily driver or you have a Fusion Drive, you will not have a good time. You might, but it's unlikely.

 

[gmanist1000]

Can you convert external drives from HFS+ to APFS yet?

Yes

 

[ohsnap]

Ok, but you can't replace the file system without reformatting?

 

[robert1998]

You can use additional software for that, but I won't recommend doing this with a beta software, 'cause you may broke up the entire HDD/SSD

 

[Sourstash]

There's no reason for you to install the beta unless you want to help out with the bugs and have a hard time installing. Wait until its officially out this fall especially on a new machine.