MacOS Mojave Wont Install 'Not Supported Core Storage'

[edco]

I've reformatted and successfully installed Mojave.

I thought you might have waited for a reply from Apple.
I'll wait to see if you get an answer. Let us know if your restore went well. I'm hesitant because I use my Synology as a TimeMachine backup. I'm not sure how it will behave with a restore at boot.

 

[M3Jedi77]

Going through the painful process now... 20 hours for time machine restore.

 

[M3Jedi77]

So I went through the process.
-Installed Mojave but could not restore from Time Machine via my network drive.
-So I set up as new, got to the desktop, then went restarted to restore my Time Machine backup.
-20 hours later, the Time Machine back up looks to have reverted my system BACK to High Sierra.

So I'm back where I started, an entire ****ing day wasted. I give up on Mojave. That new Gallery View in Finder is awful compared to the High Sierra version anyway.

 

[Weaselboy]

So I set up as new, got to the desktop, then went restarted to restore my Time Machine backup.

It sounds like where you went wrong was doing a restore rather than just migrating your data in from the backup. A restore will put back whatever OS version was in the last backup set.

 

[ilustrebob]

I got it working with Fusion Drive Setup with Third Party SSD

1. Create a bootable disk - following this link
2. Restart computer and hold option
3. Open Disk Utility and Erase the Drive
4. I have Spitted the Original Fusion - following this link
5. Open the terminal - create the fusion drive again - following this link
6. Quit terminal and open disk utility
7. Erase the Fusion Drive which you just created and choose Format as APFS
8. Quit Disk Utility and go to install mac os
9. Recovery from your time machine

I believe that I have gone through extra steps, I think I would suggest you guys to try erase the fusion drive in Disk Utility and choose APFS as your format.

It may be able to work.

Was splitting the original fusion drive and building it back again a necessary step? Can't I just format each partition without splitting and building it?

 

[M3Jedi77]

Was splitting the original fusion drive and building it back again a necessary step? Can't I just format each partition without splitting and building it?

It was not necessary.

 

[re5i5tor]

OK, Apple closed by bug again, with an explanation from engineering that provides a rationale for this being an invalid Core Storage configuration:

Engineering has provided the following information regarding this issue:

Your CoreStorage configuration is invalid. APFS cannot convert all the different ways people can configure CoreStorage devices. We only convert default configurations that we ship from the factory.

I responded as follows:

Let me suggest the following clarification to this explanation. In fact, my CoreStorage configuration is perfectly valid: I was able to manually reformat it as APFS and then proceed with a manual installation of Mojave. A more accurate explanation would be: “During Mojave installation, we will only support migration from a default factory Fusion drive configuration.”

I would also suggest that since 1- Fusion paired hard drives do regularly fail/require drive replacement in the real world and 2- the level of pain inflicted in this case by having Mojave installation fail with a cryptic, inaccurate message that forces the user to research the issue and the perform a relatively complex manual installation, that Apple reconsider this approach. At the very least, provide an accurate explanation of why the installation failed.

 

[edco]

OK, Apple closed by bug again, with an explanation from engineering that provides a rationale for this being an invalid Core Storage configuration

Thank you for your feedback! I was waiting for it. From the answer you got, it does not look like this is considered as a bug. So I can format, install the OS and restore my data or accept High Sierra will be my last OS version until I buy a Mac again, if ever...

 

[Gadgetman13]

I did an clean wipe of my hard drive and it still gave me the same error but then I did what was recommended above by formatting the HD to APFS and it worked. The new OS is installing right now.
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Clean install will work, but you will need to format as APFS Fusion.

Thanks a bunch for this recommendation! It worked on my computer also. I have Mojave installed now. Thanks!

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

OK, Apple closed by bug again, with an explanation from engineering that provides a rationale for this being an invalid Core Storage configuration:

Engineering has provided the following information regarding this issue:

Your CoreStorage configuration is invalid. APFS cannot convert all the different ways people can configure CoreStorage devices. We only convert default configurations that we ship from the factory.

I responded as follows:

Let me suggest the following clarification to this explanation. In fact, my CoreStorage configuration is perfectly valid: I was able to manually reformat it as APFS and then proceed with a manual installation of Mojave. A more accurate explanation would be: “During Mojave installation, we will only support migration from a default factory Fusion drive configuration.”

I would also suggest that since 1- Fusion paired hard drives do regularly fail/require drive replacement in the real world and 2- the level of pain inflicted in this case by having Mojave installation fail with a cryptic, inaccurate message that forces the user to research the issue and the perform a relatively complex manual installation, that Apple reconsider this approach. At the very least, provide an accurate explanation of why the installation failed.

What happened to Apple's user-friendly, easily understood error messages? I thought Apple's human interface guidelines required for a clear error message with a suggested solution.

Also, why can't they set up APFS to support more configurations to be converted, to ensure a large swatch of the user base to not experience problems?

 

[yuri1987]

I got it working with Fusion Drive Setup with Third Party SSD

1. Create a bootable disk - following this link
2. Restart computer and hold option
3. Open Disk Utility and Erase the Drive
4. I have Spitted the Original Fusion - following this link
5. Open the terminal - create the fusion drive again - following this link
6. Quit terminal and open disk utility
7. Erase the Fusion Drive which you just created and choose Format as APFS
8. Quit Disk Utility and go to install mac os
9. Recovery from your time machine

I believe that I have gone through extra steps, I think I would suggest you guys to try erase the fusion drive in Disk Utility and choose APFS as your format.

It may be able to work.

thanks! i followed your procedure and everything went really smooth, data migrataion from time machine server took about one and a half hour for approx 150gb, all my apps and terminal settings were in place.

 

[LuisN]

The installer might not like that MS-DOS FAT32 partition.

EFI partition is always FAT32 except in windows that may be also NTFS

 

[verdejt]

I have a mid2010 MacPro with a EVO840 256Gb SSD and Mojave installed just fine with no issues at all. However I did an upgrade from High Sierra to Mojave. I have not done a clean install as of yet. Sort of waiting until I can afford a newer larger SSD. Really don't want to install to a spindle drive.

 

[CoastalOR]

I have a mid2010 MacPro with a EVO840 256Gb SSD and Mojave installed just fine with no issues at all. However I did an upgrade from High Sierra to Mojave. I have not done a clean install as of yet. Sort of waiting until I can afford a newer larger SSD. Really don't want to install to a spindle drive.

Now might be a good time to upgrade your SSD. Amazon has the Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD1(Z) for $64.99.

 

[verdejt]

Now might be a good time to upgrade your SSD. Amazon has the Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD1(Z) for $64.99.

I saw that.Even on Crucial they are reduced.

 

[Dmanf51]

How can you format the drive to APFS? When I boot up to disk utility through internet recovery on my 2012 MPB w/my Samsung EVO 850 installed I can only choose Mac OS Extended Journaled, it does not give me any way to choose APFS, I do not see the volume option, just format and then I can name the drive.

 

[edco]

In the hope it might help someone, the following are a quick overview of the steps I took to upgrade.

1) One Time Machine backup. Then restore a file to be sure it works.
2) A couple more backups (CCC/SuperDuper) and a last line of defense in the cloud
3) Booted into recovery mode. Formated my drive as APFS (ignored the Apple 128G internal I have). Not worth risking a fusion. I just double the risk of loosing my data for 128G.
3) shutdown then boot of USB containing Mojave installation (more info here)
4) During the installation, I was offered to Restore from Time Machine and I did so.
Success!

Worth noting before you start:
- If you have configs that might not survive like in my case LittleSnitch, back them up!
- My Time Machine backup was made on a Synology NAS and it worked great. I was cabled though so I was getting speeds of 50MB/s
- Some backups may fail after installation because of your drive ID changing. This might be the case for apps, etc.
- Expect a lot off little things to fix here and there mostly due to the change in permissions on Mojave.
- Don't forget to encrypt your drive after installation.
- Keep your clone drive safe for a couple of weeks just in case.

All in all, a smooth upgrade if well prepared.

Good luck.
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How can you format the drive to APFS? When I boot up to disk utility through internet recovery on my 2012 MPB w/my Samsung EVO 850 installed I can only choose Mac OS Extended Journaled, it does not give me any way to choose APFS, I do not see the volume option, just format and then I can name the drive.

The way I did it was to go into recovery mode and instead of using the DiskUtility app, I chose to open the terminal and used the command diskutil. It's the same but on the command line and a lot more options. It's well documented.

Best of luck.

 

[flamingrev]

Hi everybody, first time poster. Long ago I replaced my mac drive with a SSD drive and, well, it's the same problem that everyone else in this thread has been wrestling with. I followed the instructions that seems to have worked so well for most of you.

1.backed up info
2.created USB installer
3.wiped drive and reformatted to APFS
4. restarted computer and went to install Mojave from USB stick

Here is where I ran into a problem. When asked to select a disc to install the new OS on, the drive is greyed out. If I try to select it I get this message "Your mac needs a firmware update in order to install to this volume. Please select a Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume instead."

???? What now?

 

[flamingrev]

Tried to use time machine to restore, but it's saying it won't work because of APFS. @$%#!!!

 

[AppleNooble]

I took a backup using time machine and scrubbed the disk using APFS and was able to install the new OS. I was ready to break apart the fusion drive if need be but the installer took it without issue (original 128 SSD + Samsung 256).

How did you scrub APFS?