Keep Bootcamp Partition and Reformat APFS Boot Partition

Question

Keep Bootcamp Partition and Reformat APFS Boot Partition

Can I reformat boot partition from APFS to HFS+

and keep the Bootcamp partition created with the OS APFS install?

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 23, 2020 6:29 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 23, 2020 8:18 PM in response to Darrell Stall

Please do not. The layout of APFS and HFS+ are very different. A 'downgrade' is not officially supported, unless you fully erase the disk and re-install an older non-APFS version (which is macOS Sierra). macOS High Sierra and later need APFS. I also do not recommend any third-party tools do such a downgrade.

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Answer 2

Oct 24, 2020 7:04 AM in response to Loner T

I did fully erase the disk (partition).

Bootcamp is installed on its own separate NTFS partition.

I made bootable backup of Mac OS High Sierra on HFS+ drive with Carbon Copy Cloner.

Then erased the MacOS APFS partition, reformatted it as HFS+, and reinstalled MacOS High Sierra from CCC backup.

Performed Safe Boot, SMC reset and PRAM reset.

Works fine.

High Sierra installs and runs just fine on HFS+ drives.

It only forces APFS format on SSD drives, but does not absolutely require it.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Oct 24, 2020 8:11 AM in response to Darrell Stall

High Sierra is fairly buggy. Mojave and APFS work well, Catalina brings new issues with APFS. In general, APFS is prone to corruption. It is understandable that you wanted to use HFS+. The disk layout in High Sierra is partition-driven (EFI, macOS, Recovery HD and BC) vs APFS Container/Volumes and Bootcamp. If APFS were a bit more stable, I personally see APFS as better choice.

As long as HFS+ meets your needs, you should be fine. It also has wider support across many OSes, compared to APFS.

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Keep Bootcamp Partition and Reformat APFS Boot Partition

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