Hardware error installing High Sierra but Sierra installs fine

I dont know if the Samsung 850 Pro is a notoriously problematic SSD,

Now you do.

But I've been using 16GB from day one without any problem.

Now you do.

I think Apple has done a poor job with the High Sierra installer, and that this problem is due to it...

OK. You implemented not one but two unsupported hardware modifications, neither one of which Apple has any interest in testing. As I wrote,

John Galt wrote:

... Those failures almost never become apparent until macOS upgrades, updates, or the firmware updates that accompany them are installed.

I understand lots of people modify their Macs. If you choose to do that, you much accept the consequences of those decisions.

If you were to take your Mac to an Apple Retail Store and tell them to fix it, they would perform the following:

• Remove the unsupported SSD and replace it with a hard disk drive.
• Remove the offending memory, and just might forget to return it to you.
• Present you with a bill in the amount of $300-$500 US.

Proceed on the basis of that knowledge, which you now have.

The failure could be due to one of two unsupported hardware modifications. Those failures almost never become apparent until macOS upgrades, updates, or the firmware updates that accompany them are installed.

Samsung 850 Pro SSD

Replace that notoriously problematic SSD with one from a manufacturer known to support Macs.

The maximum supported RAM configuration for that model MBP is 8 GB. Unsupported memory configurations will result in unexpected operation. To learn how to upgrade memory refer to the Memory Upgrade Instructions in About This Mac.

I've been having a fairly similar experience with a late-2009 27" iMac i7. I have 12GB RAM - which is apparently within bounds - all the correct spec DDR3-1067, and a replacement internal drive (WD 2TB Black with the OWC temperature sensor kit).

Would the drive likely be considered unsupported?

I did run AHT which showed a fan motor problem, though the machine runs fine. Would the installer check that? Seems an unlikely thing check in the installer.

It always fails about 10 minutes in, and 37 minutes remaining.

I've tried several upgrade installs, and a clean install. Same result each time.

Then why doesn't your Mac work? All mine updated and work just fine, and they include 2011 MacBook Pro models with 8 GB RAM and OWC SSDs. Must be some kind of wildly improbable luck on my part.

Also missed the point where I say that 10.12 Sierra end every previous macOS versions, still, installs fine

I miss nothing. macOS 10.13 ≠ macOS 10.12.

John Galt wrote:

... Those failures almost never become apparent until macOS upgrades, updates, or the firmware updates that accompany them are installed.

I don't have a successful install yet, but I think I got to the bottom of the problem. Given pamsm's success cloning from a different install, I tried installing from a different Mac onto an external drive... I couldn't get the drive to mount on two different rMBPs! Not sure why... but back to my iMac. There I tried a clean install to the external which failed as usual. But then I had a borked install sitting on the external, so I rebooted from the internal (Sierra) drive to take a look.

Looking at the install log there (/Volumes/<external drive>/private/var/log/install.log) showed this:

Oct 19 22:39:27 iMac OSInstaller[562]: PackageKit: Install Failed: Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=110 "An error occurred while extracting files from the package “Core.pkg”." UserInfo={PKInstallPackageSHA256Digest=ae1d542afda0e3545a620997f8e461c62f38b161 6774289bb61bcb675bf5a7eb, NSLocalizedDescription=An error occurred while extracting files from the package “Core.pkg”., NSFilePath=/Volumes/HS/.OSInstallSandboxPath/Root, NSURL=Core.pkg -- file:///Volumes/InstallESD/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg, PKInstallPackageIdentifier=com.apple.pkg.Core, NSUnderlyingError=0x7fafdaec6d20 {Error Domain=PKXARArchiveErrorDomain Code=101 "archive verify failed" UserInfo={NSURL=file:///Volumes/InstallESD/Packages/Core.pkg#Payload, NSFileOwnerAccountID=0, NSFileHFSTypeCode=0, NSFileSystemFileNumber=428, NSFileExtensionHidden=false, NSFileSystemNumber=16777247, NSFileSize=4408421804, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID=0, NSFileOwnerAccountName=root, NSFilePosixPermissions=420, NSFileHFSCreatorCode=0, NSFileCreationDate=2017-09-21 11:19:36 +0000, NSFileType=NSFileTypeRegular, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName=wheel, NSFileReferenceCount=1, NSFileModificationDate=2017-09-21 11:36:46 +0000, NSLocalizedDescription=archive verify failed}}} {

NSFilePath = "/Volumes/HS/.OSInstallSandboxPath/Root";

NSLocalizedDescription = "An error occurred while extracting files from the package \U201cCore.pkg\U201d.";

NSURL = "Core.pkg -- file:///Volumes/InstallESD/Packages/OSInstall.mpkg";

NSUnderlyingError = "Error Domain=PKXARArchiveErrorDomain Code=101 \"archive verify failed\" UserInfo={NSURL=file:///Volumes/InstallESD/Packages/Core.pkg#Payload, NSFileOwnerAccountID=0, NSFileHFSTypeCode=0, NSFileSystemFileNumber=428, NSFileExtensionHidden=false, NSFileSystemNumber=16777247, NSFileSize=4408421804, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountID=0, NSFileOwnerAccountName=root, NSFilePosixPermissions=420, NSFileHFSCreatorCode=0, NSFileCreationDate=2017-09-21 11:19:36 +0000, NSFileType=NSFileTypeRegular, NSFileGroupOwnerAccountName=wheel, NSFileReferenceCouOct 19 22:39:27 iMac OSInstaller[562]: OSIInstallElement <OSIInstallElement: 0x7fafd9f40560> errored out:Error Domain=PKInstallErrorDomain Code=110 "An error occurred installing macOS. To use Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac hardware, shut down, press the power button, and immediately hold the ‘D’ key until diagnostics begins." UserInfo={NSLocalizedDescription=An error occurred installing macOS. To use Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac hardware, shut down, press the power button, and immediately hold the ‘D’ key until diagnostics begins.}

/Volumes/InstallESD wasn't mounted anymore of course, but I found an InstallESD.dmg which I tried to open, yielding a checksum error. I checked my USB stick and found the same dmg file had a checksum error. Restored the original installer download from my Time Machine backup and sure enough the dmg had a checksum error there too!

Not sure if we can correlate this, but I downloaded in the evening Sep 26 (EST); the version indicated in the Finder is 13.0.64.

Maybe I got slipped a corrupted installer?

Did you download the installer again for the Mac Mini? Or was it the same download as the MBP?

I'm going to download again this evening and try again this weekend.

Good to hear. I can't believe it took 4 downloads to get a valid installer! Makes you wonder if the corruption is on one or more of their servers... though you'd think there would be more people having these problems if that were the case.

Yes, "Show Installer Log" or words to that effect appear in one of the installer app's menus.

A clean install with the newly downloaded installer worked. I didn't try the upgrade install; presumably that would have worked too.

I have the same issue with 2011 MBP 17". I have 16 GB and a 1 TB Samsung SSD. Gave up and living with 10.12.6