With the release just around the corner, are there any known issues? Can QRecall backup and restore non-HFS+ volumes ?

Good question.

I've been so consumed with trying to get the next version of QRecall working, I haven't had a chance to run comprehensive tests on QRecall and macOS 10.13.

On the other hand, QRecall usage statistics collected by the server show at least 40+ customers running QRecall 2.0.8 on the beta of macOS 10.13 and I've yet to receive a single bug report, so I'm continuing under the assumption that it's not a complete disaster.

As soon as I've had a chance to do some tests, I'll update this thread.

I'm taking advantage of the need to install High Sierra to do a "Nuke & Pave" -- ensuring I have a current 10.12 QRecall backup, completely wiping the partition, cleanly installing 10.13, and then restoring selected items to the new system.

Since I have a SSD in the computer, the installation process will convert the HFS+ to APFS.

Will I be able to restore stuff from the QRecall backup under HFS+ to the new APFS partition without any issues?
Will file permissions, extended attributes, and other meta-deta all be set correctly ?

Steven,

As far as I've been able to tell, you shouldn't have any problems restoring your apps and user documents.

Here's what I know so far:

APFS doesn't introduce any new filesystem types so everything that was supported before (the various file types, file metadata, extended attributes, compressed files, access control lists, and so on) remain the same. So you shouldn't have any problems using QRecall to capture, and later restore, any of your user-land files.

The same is probably true for the system files, but this needs more testing.

What I do know is that, as of today, Apple has made it clear that Apple's macOS installer is the only tool that can create a bootable APFS volume. In other words, you can format a new volume using APFS, you can convert an existing volume from HFS+ to APFS, and you can copy all of the system files to it, but you can't bless it and it will never boot.

Apple has indicated they intend to correct this limitation. But until they do, the only way to restore a High Sierra startup volume is to format it using APFS, use QRecall (or any other utility) to copy all of the files back on it, and then run the macOS installer (either from a second volume or using the remote installer) to install the OS files over the files you recovered.

Obviously, I prefer to use QRecall but using the advice one maintains multiple backups on multiple physical media, I also maintain an occasional Time Machine backup.

Do you know if for now (until Apple fixes the bootable APFS issues) you can boot into the Recovery Partition and select the option to restore from a Time Machine backup and that will give you a bootable APFS partition?

Could you then restore from QRecall over that?

All really good questions. I wish I had more answers.

From what little testing I've been able to do[1], here's what I surmise.

If the Time Machine (or QRecall) backup is macOS 10.12, then even if you use the recovery partition you'll end up restoring a macOS 10.12 installation, which must be on an HFS+ volume?10.12 can't read APFS volumes, so it could never boot.

So the only way to directly restore an APFS volume with macOS 10.13 is to first install 10.13, make a backup, then use the recovery partition to restore it.

What I suggested earlier should work, either (a) restore from a 10.12 system backup and then run the 10.13 installer over it or (b) install a virgin copy of 10.13, then use your 10.12 backup to recover just your applications and user documents.

[1] I've had very little luck creating an APFS volume on a mechanical HD for testing. I've made five attempts, and the only thing I've managed to do so far is render two hard drives, partitioned with different versions of the OS for testing, unreadable. I'd have had to completely wipe and reparation the drives twice now.

High Sierra seems to work just fine on HFS+, but I'm beginning to side with Apple that APFS on HHDs isn't ready for prime time.