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Upgrading from Sierra to High Sierra with 850 PRO Series SSD SATA

If I run the update to High Sierra, are there any conversion issues I need to be aware of with the current boot Samsung 850 Pro SSD?

My Samsung 1TB 850 PRO Series SSD SATA has been running fine on Sierra since installed.


MacPro 5,1 - Mid2010 with 3.33G 6-core, 24G, Filevault 2

SATA II direct connection on sled, did not upgrade internally to SATA III.

1.02 TB logical volume Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted),,GUID Partition Map. Child count: 3

Boot ROM Version MP51.0007F.B03

SMC version System): 1.39f11

SMC Version (processor tray): 1.39f11

I see varied issues discussed here... some how zero problems, some do not (but their use case may vary).

Looking to do an upgrade, not a fresh install. But Sierra was a clean install into the 850 Pro.

Tony

Posted on May 28, 2018 8:02 AM

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Posted on May 28, 2018 8:43 AM

There is a one-time firmware update to make the transition to High Sierra. It is thought to be fully backward-compatible. You must follow the complicated directions, or it will not install properly. Installing that firmware update seems to require an Apple-firmware graphics card, or one that shows as OpenGL without an added Driver.


The firmware update package is placed on your Boot Drive, and set startup for the next restart. Once completed, the firmware lives on the processor card, not on any drive.


Once the firmware update is completed, the process of upgrading to High Sierra will convert your existing SSD boot drive from old-standard MacOS HFS+ extended (journaled) to the new standard Apple File System (APFS).


Any time you make so many changes, it is Prudent to have at least one and preferably TWO trusted backups, preferably using different methods.


There have been no reports here of problems with those SSD drives (or any others) failing to convert properly or fail in the process of conversion, but your mileage may vary.

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Question marked as Best reply

May 28, 2018 8:43 AM in response to fausttiger

There is a one-time firmware update to make the transition to High Sierra. It is thought to be fully backward-compatible. You must follow the complicated directions, or it will not install properly. Installing that firmware update seems to require an Apple-firmware graphics card, or one that shows as OpenGL without an added Driver.


The firmware update package is placed on your Boot Drive, and set startup for the next restart. Once completed, the firmware lives on the processor card, not on any drive.


Once the firmware update is completed, the process of upgrading to High Sierra will convert your existing SSD boot drive from old-standard MacOS HFS+ extended (journaled) to the new standard Apple File System (APFS).


Any time you make so many changes, it is Prudent to have at least one and preferably TWO trusted backups, preferably using different methods.


There have been no reports here of problems with those SSD drives (or any others) failing to convert properly or fail in the process of conversion, but your mileage may vary.

May 28, 2018 8:51 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

My graphics is Sapphire HD 7950 Mac Edition for Apple Mac


yes I have a time machine backup... but an disk image (Disk Utility) for the 1TB SSD doesn't seem to want to fit on the empty 1TB drive on the same Mac Pro (even if compressed image)...


of course if I had a failure, I assume I might have to do a new clean install, and just copy the documents/files/etc from backup, and reinstall all the software... not a disk restore from Sierra to High Sierra


Tony

May 28, 2018 9:32 AM in response to fausttiger

The issue Users have reported was that Disk Utility "Restore" is unwilling to copy from the running boot drive without completely unmounting the boot drive. That is not possible on that Mac.


However, there is supposed to be a Recovery HD on your Time machine drive (after 10.7.3). If you were to boot from THAT Recovery, you may be able to make a "restore" copy.


Another approach would be to boot from a USB-stick Installer and use its Disk Utility to make a "Restore" copy.

May 28, 2018 9:37 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

yes seen the 7950 switch discussions, but I had the 7950 switch correctly set... with no problems.. so an upgrade shouldn't change that setup.


I attempted to make the Disk Image from the boot drive, from a recovery volume boot (thinking that would avoid to disk dismount issue)... but as this is an older Mac Pro I can also run Firewire Target Disk mode if required from my MacBook Pro... (although FW800 not as fast as the Thunderbolt connection I used when I backed up another MacBook Pro before Apple servicing a graphics card issue.)

May 30, 2018 9:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

So the High Sierra upgrade went fine...


Firmware no problem.


The Security Update 2018-01 did require 2 restarts, and reported an "unable to apply OS update" type message... but it was successful the 2nd time. There was also some graphics odd pixels during startup, but that seems to have gone away now also. (my 7950 is a Mac Edition not PC port)


Time machine had about 20G of new data to backup afterwards.


Thanks, Tony

May 30, 2018 5:56 PM in response to fausttiger

Congratulations!


Thanks for following up with that.


The take away for others trying to do some of these, If i am understanding you correctly is:


• Samsung EVO 850 Pro (on a sled, in a bay) works for the upgrade to High Sierra, no issues.


• 7950 Mac Edition works as a genuine Mac-firmware graphics card for doing the firmware update.

Upgrading from Sierra to High Sierra with 850 PRO Series SSD SATA

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