PaulB190
Level 1 (5 points)
Mac OS X

Q: Will APFS cause dual boot problems?

Is Mac OS's new file system, APFS, going to break my dual boot set up with Windows 7 by causing the disk to be unreadable by Windows when booting into it?  [or any other reason I couldn't guess at]

 

If so is there a driver that has been released, or will be released, to correct that problem?

 

I have mission critical legacy accounting software that there is no OS X or Mac OS equivalent for, which is the only reason I bother dual booting in the first place.  If there is no way to boot into Windows to run this software after an update into Sierra I guess I won't be updating, which would be a shame.

 

Thanks to any knowledgable person who gets back to me on this.

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), null

Posted on Oct 22, 2016 4:55 PM

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PaulB190

Q: Will APFS cause dual boot problems?

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  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 22, 2016 4:57 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 4:57 PM in response to PaulB190

    At the current release of APFS, it does not support booting, Time Machine backups, File Vault or Fusion Drives.

     

    At the present time drives for Windows to access APFS formatted disk drive are not being provided.

     

    Seeing as how APFS is still in beta testing, I would seriously recommend against using it at this time.

     

    At the present time upgrading to Sierra allows the use of APFS to be totally optional. I am running Sierra and all of my disk drive are still formatted as HFS+.

  • by PaulB190,

    PaulB190 PaulB190 Oct 22, 2016 5:01 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2016 5:01 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    Ok, there seems to be some confusion on that on Apple's end as I got an automated OS update for Sierra, which I did not install.  That would seem to me, since I am not registered for the Beta team, that Sierra has been final released. 

     

    ???  [scratching head]

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 22, 2016 5:04 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:04 PM in response to PaulB190

    No. My guess is that since support for Windows 7 is being dropped, I doubt if you will see a driver for it.

  • by PaulB190,

    PaulB190 PaulB190 Oct 22, 2016 5:04 PM in response to Allan Eckert
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2016 5:04 PM in response to Allan Eckert

    Why would that be the case?  And that wouldn't mean support for Windows 7.  It would mean support for any OS that can't read APFS, which means any OS that isn't Apple.  Which means, in actuality, support for Boot Camp entirely.

     

    So are you suggesting that Apple is dropping Boot Camp from the Mac OS?  If so, why is Boot Camp still in Sierra? 

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 22, 2016 5:05 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:05 PM in response to PaulB190

    No. Read what I said support for Windows 7 is being dropped. I said nothing about Boot Camp.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Oct 22, 2016 5:15 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 6 (8,041 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:15 PM in response to PaulB190

    First, APFS is not Sierra's new file system. APFS drives aren't even bootable for macOS Sierra yet. You're getting way too ahead of yourself.

  • by PaulB190,

    PaulB190 PaulB190 Oct 22, 2016 5:40 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2016 5:40 PM in response to Lanny

    Lanny, I am only going by what there is to read about it on the tech forums, AND the responses of Allen, who is telling me that my whole dual boot for Windows 7 is going to be unsupported.

     

    Ok... deep breath.

     

    #1 Today I got an automated update announcement that allows for an update to Mac OS Sierra [version 10.12] from OS X El Capitano.  Not beta, final.

     

    #2 As I don't go just installing updates willy-nilly I did my usual due diligence and found that the OS includes a new file system, APFS.  I could not find much detail on it, but since I know that formatting a drive with a file system that an OS can't read, and Windows 7 certainly can not read APFS, cripples that OS and

     

    #3 Since I have mission critical legacy software on a Windows NTFS partition on an iMac running Boot Camp I need to know...

     

    Question:  Will THIS specific Sierra update cause that Boot Camp partition to become non-bootable into Windows 7?

     

    And...

     

    Question:  If so is there a driver, work-around, kludge that fixes it.

     

    Most respectfully,  again, thanks to knowledgeable individuals who take the time to answer my queries.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Oct 22, 2016 5:41 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 6 (8,041 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:41 PM in response to PaulB190

    macOS Sierra uses the HFS+ file system.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 22, 2016 5:44 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:44 PM in response to PaulB190

    My suggestion for you at this time is to decline the upgrade at this time since you have a mission critical application you need to keep running.

     

    Draw up a plan to run a test copy of your mission critical application on a test platform. Once you know for sure that your mission critical application works on Sierra then and only then upgrade to Sierra.

  • by PaulB190,

    PaulB190 PaulB190 Oct 22, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2016 5:47 PM in response to Lanny

    Ok, that sounds like an answer...  Then when I went to my usual tech forums and Googled Sierra to find out what was new, what should be looked out for, what was all the stuff I read about APFS and that it will break Boot Camp without the proper driver to support it  [though they were not specific as to how, which is what sent me here]?

     

    IF they were talking about something down the line they should have made that clear. 

     

    There is precious little out there on this, which I understand because it is new, but what little is out there one would hope would be accurate when coming from sources that usually have decent information in them. [Like PC Magazine]

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Oct 22, 2016 5:48 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 6 (8,041 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:48 PM in response to PaulB190

    Allan is correct. You should have a full backup of your current system, a clone preferably, before doing any upgrades. This gives you a way to test it without risk. You should have a backup even if you're not planning an upgrade.

  • by Lanny,

    Lanny Lanny Oct 22, 2016 5:57 PM in response to PaulB190
    Level 6 (8,041 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:57 PM in response to PaulB190

    IF they were talking about something down the line they should have made that clear.

    https://developer.apple.com/library/content/documentation/FileManagement/Concept ual/APFS_Guide/Introduction/Introduction.html

     

    Excerpt:

    A Developer Preview of Apple File System is available in macOS Sierra. Apple plans to release Apple File System as a bootable file system in 2017.

     

    Note: Keep in mind that it is against this forum's Terms of Use to speculate about Apple's future plans. The forum is for helping people with existing or past issues.

  • by Allan Eckert,

    Allan Eckert Allan Eckert Oct 22, 2016 5:57 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 9 (54,112 points)
    Desktops
    Oct 22, 2016 5:57 PM in response to Lanny

    That seems fairly clear to me.

  • by PaulB190,

    PaulB190 PaulB190 Oct 22, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Lanny
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 22, 2016 7:19 PM in response to Lanny

    Oh, I do have a full backup.  Though it is mentioned in the same tech sources that an update to APFS will render a Time Machine back up useless [though I don't know why that should be the case, as the data doesn't carry the file system formatting with it when copied from disk to disk].

     

    So if I am to take the info I've read literally it means a backup could be useless when moving from HFS+ to APFS.

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