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How to fix "iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes" on Macs with a Fusion Drive

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Last modified: Jun 7, 2020 8:50 AM
7 15367 Last modified Jun 7, 2020 8:50 AM

This user tip has been moved to:

How to Fix the Error: iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes


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Some users experienced this problem after upgrading to Mojave on iMacs with a Fusion Drive, formatted APFS. When they wanted to enable iCloud Photos, this error message appeared:


The user williamfromeaston posted this fix - you just have to run the Disk Utility First Aid tool on the system drive after booting into the Recovery partition:

Re: icloud photos - formatting error Oct 9, 2018 2:49 AM in response to Brad2610a


OK, I just got off the phone with Apple Support and it was much easier than it seems.

First, shut down. Then reboot, and then immediately hold the Command+R, until you see the progress bar, then release.
Then, you should get a screen that has 4 choices - choose the bottom one - Disk Utility.
Select your HD on left and run "First Aid" (first button in center menu). It should take a few minutes to run.

Once complete, restart from Apple menu, and sign in as normal. Your iCloud Photos should be working.


This document explains in more detail how to start the Mac in recovery: How to start up your Mac in Recovery Mode

This user tip was generated from the following discussion: icloud photos - formatting error

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