So if I buy an SSD for my ageing gracefully Mac Pro I want that SSD partitioned (3) so I can have Mojave (APFS) and also Sierra and El Capitan (HFS+). Can this be done, and how?
Is it a case of install the disk set it up as APFS first and then choose HFS+ for the older OS's partitions or set it up as HFS+ and then make the Mojave partition APFS.
Thanks in advance.
Mac Pro, macOS Mojave (10.14), 14Gb Ram Nvidea GTX680
Yes, it can be done quite easily using Disk Utility. Partition as you would normally. Format the SSD APFS. You can then create a standard HFS+ partition, add a new container or create partitions in one container for APFS. I have several disks set up that way.
Above is from my system. The physical disk, OCZ-TRION was formatted APFS. Two volumes reside in the APFS Container. One volume is HFS+ and is a separate HFS+ partition.
Hi thank you for replying. Ok so far have not got to the stage of partitioning the APFS disk with HFS+ volumes, the reason is that if the only disk in the Mac Pro is the SSD then it will boot up to High Sierra APFS (haven't got around to installing Mojave until I can resolve this problem). When I reinstate the other drives in the Mac, and start up with High Sierra selected as the start up disk then it will go through the APFS verbose boot screen and then switches to booting into Sierra which is on an entirely different disk.
Any suggestions.
In the scheme of regression-testing these big releases, going back to older models with different capabilities would not get a lot of testing-time.
It is possible that something about having more than one EFI partition on that same drive encourages it to look for and boot from other Volumes that match in some obscure way.
If this is interfering with your forward progress, you may be better off getting another drive (Internal or external) and use that for more testing, and give up on multiple OS on the same drive for now. Once you know what is really a keeper, you can adjust your setup for the long run.
I have been trying out a 3.5 or 2.5 "toaster" style drive holder on my Mac Pro. You can put an SSD in the 2.5 slot as well, if you like. i use FireWire-800, but it has USB-3 and eSATA if you have a card for one of those. "Near Hard drive" speeds.
Just to note the SSD has only one OS on it High Sierra 10.13.6 so only one EFI partition, it will boot if it is the only disk in the Mac Pro.
If I then put the other disks in then the Mac Pro always defaults to booting into Sierra, regardless of how the start up disk is selected.
In the past there has not been any problem with booting from various disks, volumes, different OS's, all HFS+,
this problem has only arisen with the introduction of an APFS formatted SSD.
My plan was to have the SSD with Mojave and El Capitan and Sierra and use the other three internal drives for storage.
but the plan is on hold whilst looking for an answer to this booting issue.
APFS & HFS Partitions on same Disk?
