Apple Releases macOS High Sierra With Apple File System, Safari Autoplay Blocking and Privacy Tools

MacRumors ^ | September 25, 2017 9:58 AM PDT | by Juli Clover

[TheStickman]

I’ve never had wifi on this Mac. Never needed it.

[Pravious]

by the way, the upgrade isn’t showing up when I access the app store. Anyone else seeing it?

I read somewhere that iTunes no longer syncs apps to your iPad/iPhone.

—

Yes, but I’m on an iMac (still nothing showing up in the app store, btw).

[The Westerner]

Hi Sword,
Finally decided to purchase a new 2017 Macbook running Sierra 10.12.6 now. It runs beautifully. However, at the end of the night, the laptop doesn't detect my wifi signal. It shows it's running in System Prefs-Internet. So I restart it and it works. I'm wondering if I changed a setting without realizing it? Rather an odd bug. Any clue?
Thanks for all the help you gave me, and others here at FR, while I puzzled just which way to go between Mac and PC, desktop and laptop.
Also was able to transition years of Quicken from my PC to the Mac without problem. Whoever purchased Quicken has worked hard to upgrade it. Unfortunately for those with privacy issues, Quicken now saves all your data to its own cloud, no choice offered. The old version allowed the user to backup data to a hard drive. No more. Privacy—a thing of the past.
TW

[Beach333]

Hi Westerner, I also recently converted from PC to Mac..and am loving it so far. Would you mind sharing what you’re using to replace Quicken? The updated Quicken is definitely better, but I’d like to get away from my info being in the cloud and the constant updates Quicken seems to require.

[itsahoot]

Never needed it.

Yep they use it for their handoff stuff.

[dayglored]

Hey Swordmaker,

I've read that if you have an SSD (solid-state drive) in your Mac, and you upgrade to High Sierra, it AUTOMATICALLY CONVERTS the filesystem to APFS, whether you want it to or not. You cannot avoid getting this new, incompatible filesystem shoved onto your SSD.

I find that a show-stopper for my existing systems, because they can't use disks formatted with APFS.

Yeah, sure, I have backups, I can revert. But I also value filesystem compatibility with other systems. Including interoperability (e.g. moving disks from one system to another).

I view FORCED FORMAT CONVERSION -- regardless of how much more wonderful APFS is -- as an over-reach.

Apple has gone too far, IMO, with this. I have legacy systems that have to be compatible with my newer systems.

Looks like Sierra will be the end of the line for me, at least for the foreseeable future.

Feel free to correct me if I've got wrong info. I'd love to be wrong on this one -- i.e. that the conversion of SSD format when you upgrade to High Sierra is OPTIONAL. Yes? No?

[TheStickman]

I’m reading reports in some forums I trust of 2009 machines with upgraded 2010 firmware are installing High Sierra without issue. Seems you have to have a MAC video card to do the install but after the initial install a 3rd party nVida card will work just fine.

Since I never install a new OS for at least a year after it’s release I’ll be fine. When Apple does cut me off from OS upgrades I will just use Windows 10 in place of macOS. The machine works just fine for my needs in pro audio either way. I just prefer OS X or macOS.

[Sir_Ed]

The worst thing about the upgrade is standalone Adobe programs won’t work with the new system, so you have to switch over to their rental programs.

I’m a subscriber to Adobe, but I have the CS disks from way back, and occasionally I need to use them.

Ed

[Menehune56]

Looks like you need to download the new OS from the Mac App Store homepage. It never showed up on the Updates page for me either.

[itsahoot]

I just prefer OS X or macOS.

People always tell us how stupid we are to buy Apple. It isn't the hardware it is the software. When you can use an 8 year old machine to run the latest software how expensive is it really?

If you aren't running an SSD startup disk you should, makes the Old Mac Pro run like a new machine. I am using three in mine, one for a startup did and a couple for record and compress disks, makes a huge difference.

The new Mac Minis are dog slow and pretty hard to upgrade. You have to disassemble the entire machine to change out the drive, but you can run from an external SSD through the USB 3 port and make it much much snappier.

I use a PCI card I got from Other World Computing that has two SSD drive slots and 2 external eSATA drives ports. USB cards can be problematic some work until the next upgrade then......

[Swordmaker]

I've read that if you have an SSD (solid-state drive) in your Mac, and you upgrade to High Sierra, it AUTOMATICALLY CONVERTS the filesystem to APFS, whether you want it to or not. You cannot avoid getting this new, incompatible filesystem shoved onto your SSD.

Apple says this:

"When you install macOS High Sierra on the Mac volume of a solid-state drive (SSD) or other all-flash storage device, that volume is automatically converted to APFS. Fusion Drives, traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), and non-Mac volumes aren't converted. You can't opt out of the transition to APFS.

APFS compatibility

• Devices formatted as Mac OS Extended (HFS+) can be read from and written to by devices formatted as APFS.Devices formatted as APFS can be read from and written to by:

• Other devices formatted as APFS
• Devices formatted as Mac OS Extended, if using macOS High Sierra

For example, a USB storage device formatted as APFS can be read by a Mac using High Sierra, but not by a Mac using Sierra or earlier.

So, as I read that, if you are running any mixed systems, the macOS High Sierra can read and write to and from older HFS+ formatted drives and USB devices and computers, but not vice verse. In other words, take care to format shared HDs and USB drives on the older system until every Mac is updated to High Sierra. You can then reformat the drives to the far safer and more efficient APFS.

macOS High Sierra will not automatically reformat physical HDs or Fusion Drives to APFS.

[TheStickman]

I too have a SSD system drive on a PCIe card & it makes all the difference in the world. I’ve also upgrade the CPU’s once from 2.26 to 2.94. If/when I can find a pair that are faster & 6 core CPU’s I will upgrade them again. These cMP’s are built like tanks & I feel certain mine has many more years of service left it it.

I concur that it is about the software. I get a headache if I have to work in Windows for more than a couple of hours due to the horrible way Windows renders their fonts. Core Audio is hands down better than ASIO.

[Swordmaker]

However, at the end of the night, the laptop doesn't detect my wifi signal. It shows it's running in System Prefs-Internet. So I restart it and it works. I'm wondering if I changed a setting without realizing it? Rather an odd bug. Any clue?

Resetting the System Management Unit on a MacBook:

1. Shut down your Mac.
2. Using the built-in keyboard, press Shift-Control-Option on the left side of the keyboard, then press the power button at the same time. Hold these keys and the power button for 10 seconds.
   If you have a MacBook Pro with Touch ID, the Touch ID button is also the power button.
3. Release all keys.
4. Press the power button again to turn on your Mac.

Instructions for desktop Macs.

1. Make sure everything you’re working on is saved, then Quit all apps. If something refuses to quit, use force quit under the Black Apple Menu.
2. Force a shutdown on the Mac by holding the power button in for ten-fifteen second until the screen goes dead,
3. Wait about thirty seconds
4. Pull the computer’s power plug from the wall or from out of the computer, or switch off the power strip the computer is plugged into.
5. Leave it unplugged or the power switched off, for fifteen seconds, then plug it back in
6. Wait five seconds then restart the computer. You should hear the startup chime.

This procedure resets the System Management Controller, clears out any bad RAM and forces everything to reread defaults.

If this doesn’t solve your WIFI disconnect problem, the problem is likely in your WIFI router’s lease settings. Some older ones have short lease terms and disconnect the clients after a short time, a day, several hours, etc. this is configurable in your router.

[Swordmaker]

Try also just turning the WIFI OFF then ON using the menu bar icon at the top of the screen instead of restarting your computer.

[dayglored]

> ...until every Mac is updated to High Sierra...

Aye, there's the rub. I have a number of older systems, still in active use, that won't run High Sierra. The ability to transfer files between newer and older systems -- using an external USB SSD or USB Flash drive -- is critical.

If I insert such a drive in a High Sierra system, and it automatically reformats it for APFS, it becomes useless to me.

Oh well.

[The Westerner]

Hi Beach,
Just finished the transition of Quicken PC data to Mac Quicken 2017. Now that my data is in the cloud (many, many years), there’s no way of putting the cat back in the bag. Haven’t decided what to do. Have you looked into another program? Thanks for any suggestion you might have.
TW

[The Westerner]

Sword,
This Macbook 2017 doesn't seem to have an on/off button. Hmm. Nor does it have a USB port, only one port to put the (new shaped) plug. I will need to purchase a converter plug with USB ports. I think they were going for “almost an ipad” with this one.
My router continues to connect to other devices so it's functioning. Perhaps it has a limit of # devices in use? Tonight I'll try turning wifi on/off from the onboard icon.
Thanks again for all the help.
T.W.

[amigatec]

I have a flashed Early Mac Pro 2009, haven’t tried it yet, I’ll have to wait until the new drivers for the GTX 960 are out.

[Swordmaker]

This Macbook 2017 doesn't seem to have an on/off button. Hmm. Nor does it have a USB port, only one port to put the (new shaped) plug. I will need to purchase a converter plug with USB ports. I think they were going for “almost an ipad” with this one.

On/Off button is of extreme right hand of the top row of the keyboard. However, the actual means to shut down a Mac is under the Black Apple Menu/Shut Down...

To use the power button, press and hold the power button for ten seconds and it will force the MacBook to shut down.

Keep in mind the MacBook is designed to not be shut off, but rather to go to sleep mode. The Mac's underlying Unix™ operating system does housekeeping when it has been left untouched for several hours. It is actually best practice to not shut down a Mac.

That new-shaped plug is a USB-C port that also doubles as a high-speed Thunderbolt 3 port. It doesn't care which way the jack is oriented when you plug in. it is far more than a mere USB port as it has a multitude of signals that can be sent through it at high-speed.

There are several good "docking" solution adapters for that port that include power pass through, multiple USB-A ports, HDMI, media card reader, audio in-out, mini-video, Thunderbolt, etc. These price out from $30 to $80. What's nice is you can keep all the cables plugged into the dock and then just plug the dock into the MacBook using the single USB-C/Thunderbolt jack when you get to your desk.

If you don't need all of that, there are individual adaptors for each of those ports for around $5 to $10.

[Swordmaker]

If I insert such a drive in a High Sierra system, and it automatically reformats it for APFS, it becomes useless to me.

Ah, but dayglored macOS High Sierra DOES NOT automatically reformat any USB drives or external SSDs to APFS that are just inserted in, or connected to a High Sierra Mac. That's not what it does.

• A computer running macOS High Sierra can read and write to both APFS and HFS+ formatted Drives.

• A computer running macOS Sierra or an older Apple OS, including all Apple OSX, can only read and write to HFS+ formatted drives. Computers running these older Operating Systems cannot read or write to any APFS drives.

• A computer running Apple macOS High Sierra does not automatically format any USB or external SSD or Hard Drive to APFS that is just merely connected to that computer.

• The only drive that will be automatically reformatted to APFS is the boot drive of the Mac where Apple macOS High Sierra is being installed.

• Any subsequent USB drives or SSDs that will formatted using the DEFAULT APFS formatting command. The ability to format in HFS+ is still available in High Sierra.

The limitation is that macOS Sierra and older OS Macs cannot directly read from or write to the upgraded macOS High Sierra APFS formatted drives. . . but the macOS High Sierra computer is not limited from writing to and reading from standard Mac HFS+ drives either internal or external, or on other Macs.

This is actually the second time Apple has had to do this. The first time was when Apple moved from the old Apple file system of MacOS to HFS+ back in January 1998. The complaints were similar then because the old HFS could not be used for booting. . . but it had to be done in one fell swoop.