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inkhorn

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 8, 2009
151
96
tm_apfs.jpeg


I wonder if this will work, going to take some time to convert a 1TB volume over 802.11n...
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,548
1,038
Boston
You are a brave man. I’m not sure I would want my backup drive converted to APFS purely for disaster recovery options. HFS would allow you to restore to old and new Mac OS. I TM’d 300GB over WiFi to my TC without any issues. You should be fine but it will take time.
 

lemonkid

macrumors regular
Dec 23, 2015
186
50
Why exactly do you want to convert your backup to APFS?

Just for testing purposes I guess... Or just for fun to see if it works. In any case, it would probable cause an extra high, with your mac already High on Sierra, when you make a copy of your whole TM back-up BEFORE you progress. If you have a problem, it maybe unproblematic when you have a back-up of the TM back-up. Alternately you could first try to convert the copy..... see how that goes and then.... wait a while to see if it is stable during further back-ups.
 

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,548
1,038
Boston
Just for testing purposes I guess... Or just for fun to see if it works. In any case, it would probable cause an extra high, with your mac already High on Sierra, when you make a copy of your whole TM back-up BEFORE you progress. If you have a problem, it maybe unproblematic when you have a back-up of the TM back-up. Alternately you could first try to convert the copy..... see how that goes and then.... wait a while to see if it is stable during further back-ups.
All the power to you bro. Not completely following you, but best of luck messing around.
 

h9826790

macrumors P6
Apr 3, 2014
16,611
8,537
Hong Kong
Why exactly do you want to convert your backup to APFS?

If clone works on Time Machine HDD, that can safe lots of space, which means can store much more snapshots with the same volume size. At this moment, if you move a file to another place, or even moving back to the same place (before the next backup start), TM will still make a full backup of that file once more. With APFS, it should only make a clone, which save lots of disk space. Also, shorten the backup time.
 

KnoeSS

macrumors member
Sep 5, 2016
60
30
The Hague, The Netherlands
Hi everyone,

Are there any advantages with migrating my HFS+ time machine drive to APFS?

In particular speed of backups?

PS can someone edit the title, damn you autocorrect.
 
Last edited:

LarryJoe33

macrumors 68030
Jul 17, 2017
2,548
1,038
Boston
I guess if it is an SSD and/or you are running out of space. I still would not convert it until APFS is a bit more mature. HFS is backward compatible and will give you more restore options.
 

rumormiller

macrumors regular
Aug 27, 2017
120
128

System
  • New in macOS 10.13 - APFS support.
    • The OS Installer will automatically convert your system/root volume to APFS as a part of the installation process. The following formats are converted to APFS: plain HFS+, CoreStorage, FileVault encrypted, and Fusion systems.

    • APFS is now supported as a boot volume with full, native EFI support.

    • File Vault is fully supported by APFS on macOS.

    • APFS supports case-insensitive and case-sensitive variants.

    • APFS now supports an on-disk format change to allow for normalization-insensitive Case Sensitive volumes. This means that file names in either Unicode NFC or NFD will point to the same files.

    • Backup Support for APFS source volumes is now supported. The backup destination should still remain HFS+ in this release.

    • APFS supports up to Unicode revision 9 for filenames. HFS+ supported only up to revision 3.2.

    • APFS supports exporting of volumes over SMB and NFS.

Two interesting tidbits I gleaned from that support doc is:
• The OS Installer will automatically convert to APFS: Fusion drives (not happening in beta 9)
• The backup destination should still remain HFS+ in this release

I have virtual machines on my Fusion Drive which I have to exclude from Time Machine as small changes mean have to backup 60GB of data. I was hoping APFS would mean only the changes need to be written?
 

SebastienD

macrumors newbie
Dec 6, 2014
4
0
Hi !
I'd like to know is it's still not recommended in 2019 to format a TimeMachine volume in APFS. Because theorically, it should be ok. I've got a Mac Pro 5.1 with 10.13.6 and a MacBook Pro with 10.14.6
 

CoastalOR

macrumors 68040
Jan 19, 2015
3,021
1,147
Oregon, USA
Hi !
I'd like to know is it's still not recommended in 2019 to format a TimeMachine volume in APFS. Because theorically, it should be ok. I've got a Mac Pro 5.1 with 10.13.6 and a MacBook Pro with 10.14.6
Time Machine still only supports Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496#which
From the linked Apple page:
"Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use with Time Machine or as a bootable installer."
 
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