Install High Sierra or higher on a Partition

[rlm45]

I have a late 2013 iMac running El Capitan on a 1 TB fusion drive using only about 200 GB.

It has become clear that I may need to upgrade the OS, some stuff just does not work.

However, I have a ton of apps I need, like MS OFFICE, etc.

So I thought I would partition the drive and install either High Sierra, or something newer on the partition.

In the app folder, EL Capitan, I have an install app for High Sierra.

How do I install an OS on a new partition using the install app from the other partition.

Also how do I move applications from one partition to another so I can test.

Not clear on how to do this.

 

[Slydude]

Others may chime in with a better approach but here is what I think I would do. It assumes that your current installation is working well and not experiencing a lot of unexplained slowdowns.

1. Create a backup of your current setup. A Time Machine Backup is fine but I'd probably opt for a bootable clone. In the event of a disaster, a clone can have you back up and running in the time it takes to boot from an external drive.

2. Carefully partition your current drive. You can do this using Disk Utility. Since you have a good deal of free space I'd probably split the drive in half so you have plenty of extra space on both partitions.

3. Load your current setup onto the new partition. Again a clone can come in handy here because you can work from your clone onto the newly created partition.

4. Update the partition that you just created to whatever newer OS your machine supports.

 

[Slydude]

I should have thought of the following simpler solution but requires an external drive. As always make sure you have a backup.

1. Clone your current installation to the external drive.
2. Boot from the external drive by holding down the option key during boot up or by selecting the external drive in your current Startup preference pane.
3. Update the external drive to whatever newer OS you want to use.

 

[rlm45]

The problem is when I try to install High Sierra over the El Capitan OS using the install app.

I get the following message.

 

[pigoo3]

So I thought I would partition the drive and install either High Sierra, or something newer on the partition.

In the app folder, EL Capitan, I have an install app for High Sierra.

How do I install an OS on a new partition using the install app from the other partition.

Also how do I move applications from one partition to another so I can test.

Not clear on how to do this.

Normally I'd be the first person to say install the 2nd macOS needed on a different/2nd partition...but from some recent experience I've had doing this...it doesn't work as seamless as it has in the past (at least for me).

First wanted to mention that installing macOS 10.13 High Sierra requires a firmware update (not really a big deal...but something that's not always needed when doing a macOS upgrade/install).

High Sierra is the first macOS to use the newer Apple storage format APFS (I think when you do the High Sierra install...you need to select APFS formatting).

Actually with APFS...Apple no longer calls these "Partitions"...they're called "Containers"...since "Containers" work & act differently than old-school partitions.

Here's my personal story with 2 macOS versions on the same drive (different partitions/containers). Had High Sierra in one container...and had Catalina in a 2nd container. I think due to the new APFS file system...in order to switch from one macOS to the other...a special "Data" folder is created for the newer macOS (Catalina in this case).

I think when the computer is rebooted from the older macOS (High Sierra in this case)...to the newer macOS (Catalina in this case)...the computer goes thru some sort of "gymnastics" to do this. Part of this "gymnastics" is...it takes a real long time to do a reboot when switching from the one macOS to the other.

When the computer was setup at a dual boot drive (High Sierra & Catalina)...when it was running High Sierra (the older macOS of the 2)...the computer would crash sometimes as much as 3x/hour...or more). If it was running the newer Catalina macOS...the computer was super stable.

At this point I didn't know if I had a software (macOS issue)...or a hardware issue (maybe a bad SSD). Since the computer ran super stable with the Catalina install...I wanted/needed to test if it was a software/macOS issue first. To do this I 100% wiped the drive (after a backup)...and then proceeded to ONLY install Catalina (no dual boot). After doing this all was fine...and the computer runs perfectly stable now.

Long story short. In my case with a High Sierra/Catalina dual boot combination...the computer was not very stable when running the older OS (High Sierra). Maybe it was due to the new/newer APFS disk formatting...maybe it was the firmware update...or maybe it was the "gymnastics" the computer seemed to go thru each time it booted into the other OS (on the dual boot computer).

Maybe an El Capitan/High Sierra dual boot combo will be more stable...maybe not (not sure). Just sharing this story before you jump in to a dual boot setup.

Good luck,

Nick

 

[pigoo3]

The problem is when I try to install High Sierra over the El Capitan OS using the install app.

I get the following message.

This is not the way to do it. If you want to have a dual boot computer with El Capitan on one partition...and High Sierra on the other...you need to create a new partition...and install High Sierra onto it.

What you're attempting to do...is install High Sierra OVER El Capitan...which will result in El Capitan being replaced by High Sierra. Thus still a single boot setup (High Sierra only).

If you need/want to keep El Capitan...you need to create a 2nd partition AND create a bootable installer of High Sierra on a USB thumb drive. Then boot the computer from this bootable High Sierra drive...and install it into the 2nd partition that was created on the drive.

Nick

p.s. Of course please read my long post above...with the less than positive experience I had with the 2 macOS's installed (two partitions). Maybe the issue was due to the APFS disk formatting...maybe the firmware update...or maybe the "gymnastics" the computer seems to go thru when booting from one partition to another (booting can take a really really long time)...this is the "gymnastics" I'm referring to.

 

[rlm45]

Mac OS sierra app is damaged - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

This fixed the above issue.

 

[pigoo3]

Mac OS sierra app is damaged - Apple Community

discussions.apple.com

This fixed the above issue.

In your earlier post you mentioned trying to install High Sierra. The link you provided is for Sierra. These are different macOS versions. Did the Sierra solution in the link help you with the High Sierra install you were trying?

Nick

 

[rlm45]

Thanks for the help. I was able to partition a 2 TB USB drive and install High Sierra. It took forever. I skipped the migration step. How to I migrate all my apps and data, email accounts, etc to High Sierra from the El Capitan drive to the High Sierra USB drive. There are a lot of apps. At some point if I decide to keep this I will need to move High Sierra to the iMac fusion drive. I have lot's of space.

 

[rlm45]

I guess it is best to use Migration Assistant. I am not sure how I would take a Time Machine El Capitan backup and move the data to El Capitan on the USB disk partition.

Comments.

 

[pigoo3]

Migration Assistant is probably the easiest the way to go. As you experienced...since one of the drives is external via USB...this process could take a while (USB interface is slow compared to internal drive speeds).

Nick

 

[rlm45]

Thanks for your help. I have successfully created High Sierra with all my apps and data on the USB drive. It was very slow. However, I also kept the original High Sierrs user name with just the High Sierra OS on the same drive that I no longer need. How do I delete that user. I don't need two on the USB drive. If i delete from Users and Groups will it delete all the files, the OS, associated with that user.

Now I am using time machine to make a backup of the completed High Sierra. When I am convinced this is good I will restore it to a partition on the iMac Fusion drive, and delete from the USB drive. I had real problems installing MS Office 11 because the product key server has been removed by MS. Their service team helped me get it loaded but it took an hour with them to get a product loading key.

El Capitan has been a stable OS, never any issues. Does High Sierra provide any improvements other than newer? I have loads of apps on El Capitan. However, now High Sierra looks just like my El Capitan OS.

However, I have lost the ability to fax with High Sierra, and faxing is still important.

Comments? Thank you,

 

[Slydude]

It was a good idea to keep the same user name. If you hadn't donne that you would have likely had permissions issues accessing some of those files.

Deleting aan unneeded user account is relatively easy but can take a few minutes depending upon how much you have to delete. Once you are sure that you have anything you might need from that user account do the following:

1. If you don't have another user account go to User & Groups and create a second account. Give that user account administrator privileges.
2. Log out of the account you are going to delete.
3. Log into the account that you just created and go to the Users & Groups pane. Select the account you want to delete and hit the - symbol.
4. You will be asked to confirm your choice. It may take several minutes to complete the process.

 

[pigoo3]

However, I have lost the ability to fax with High Sierra, and faxing is still important.

How are/were you faxing (what procedure do you or did you use previously)?

If you were faxing via your printer...then it may be a printer setup issue. Or were you scanning something...then faxing the scan digitally.

We need to know what procedure you followed for faxing previously...to know what to investigate with the new High Sierra install.

Nick

 

[ferrarr]

Just remember, a fusion drive is part SSD and part HDD. When you partition it, the new partition will be on the slower rotational HDD, not on the SSD. So the OS will not be as fast.

Edit: I wanted to post this yesterday, but for some reason went to bed without posting.

 

[rlm45]

How are/were you faxing (what procedure do you or did you use previously)?

If you were faxing via your printer...then it may be a printer setup issue. Or were you scanning something...then faxing the scan digitally.

We need to know what procedure you followed for faxing previously...to know what to investigate with the new High Sierra install.

Nick

Mac El Capitan allowed USB faxing. No longer with High Sierra, and my Lexmark printer has no fax function. I find it interesting Apple no longer thinks faxing is important, but Medical, Legal, Finance still use faxing. I am not buying new peripherals so I can fax. Thanks

 

[rlm45]

So now I have created a mess. I tried to delete the admin user account, and messed everything up and had to recover from time machine. In High Sierra I have a robertmyers 1 folder that should be in rmyers admin folder. I have a rmyers folder that has nothing in it. I have a robertmyers folder that has icon with red minus on them. I was trying to get the High Sierra folder to look like the El Capitan folder changing the user name to robertmyers on High Sierra. How do I get these user folders to match each other. the Desktops don't match either.

Not clear to me.

 

[rlm45]

Everything was good to go so I used Disk Utility to partition 1 TB fusion drive. Divided the disk in half to prepare for High Sierra load. Disk Utility froze and I lost half fusion drive storage, no partition. I had to erase the drive to get capacity back and reload time machine El Capitan. Seems like a lot of people have issues with fusion drives. How do I successful partition a fusion drive. I don’t want this to happen again. Is there a trick to creating a partition. Comments

 

[ferrarr]

Why not use an external drive? SSD if you can, also it can be as small 128GB or as large 1TB(+) as you like. USB 3 is pretty good speed wise.

Personally, I prefer D-I-Y enclosure and drive separately. Drives die before the enclosure usually.

 

[rlm45]

I have a WD Elements 1620 USB 3.0 running a High Sierra Mac OS X. I did a restore and it took forever.

I never got near the 60 Mbps speeds advertised as USB 3. It took hours to restore the OS.

All the port of this iMac are USB 3, why so slow???