Hi, I do understand that with Big Sur Time Machine to APFS USB drives is now an option as well as formatting TimeCapsule as APFS...
...but how about a USB-connected APFS drive to an AirPort Extreme?
It doesn't seem to show up in AirPort Utility.
No.. the disk in a Time Capsule is not formatted APFS.. it is now and forevermore HFS+
Time Machine has always loaded a SparseBundle onto the disk which has been in all earlier versions HFS+ but also case sensitive.. from Big Sur it MUST use APFS which changes the format of virtual disk sitting on the normal TC disk.
Exactly the same thing will happen with USB drive.. it still must be formatted HFS+ but Time Machine will create APFS formatted virtual disk onto it.
No airport can read or write to APFS drive unless Apple makes a stupendous update to the Airport firmware.. which has not happened.. nor do I ever expect it will. To this day only two formats are possible. They are HFS+ (always used by TC internal drive) and FAT32 for USB as a possible alternative so windows can read it, but should never be used except perhaps for a small USB memory stick. FAT32 has size issues with both disks and files and is a much poorer format all around.
No.. the disk in a Time Capsule is not formatted APFS.. it is now and forevermore HFS+
Time Machine has always loaded a SparseBundle onto the disk which has been in all earlier versions HFS+ but also case sensitive.. from Big Sur it MUST use APFS which changes the format of virtual disk sitting on the normal TC disk.
Exactly the same thing will happen with USB drive.. it still must be formatted HFS+ but Time Machine will create APFS formatted virtual disk onto it.
No airport can read or write to APFS drive unless Apple makes a stupendous update to the Airport firmware.. which has not happened.. nor do I ever expect it will. To this day only two formats are possible. They are HFS+ (always used by TC internal drive) and FAT32 for USB as a possible alternative so windows can read it, but should never be used except perhaps for a small USB memory stick. FAT32 has size issues with both disks and files and is a much poorer format all around.
So I do have to reformat back to HFS+ for now...
Yes if you want to connect the drive to the AirPort Extreme and back up very slowly that way. No, if you want to connect the drive directly to your Mac that is running Big Sur.
..do you expect any firmware updates on the discontinued ArPorts to bring APFS anytime?
It's been about a year and a half since the last update. Personally, I would be surprised if we ever see another firmware update for products that were discontinued over 2 years ago. If an update does appear.......highly unlikely in my opinion.......I would be amazed if it included APFS functionality.
Are you sure? I now can format a drive as APFS, connect it directly to my Mac via USB and Time Machine works that way - no HFS+ involved...
...connecting an APFS USB drive to an AirPort makes it invisible via Network 🤔
Because Mac OS talks APFS as well as HFS+
Remember the disk plugged into the Airport must talk formats that Airports have in their very limited firmware (OS) .. hence it must be HFS+ or FAT32.
Again I go back to the point it is not the Airport that creates the backup virtual disk.. but the Mac which is able to now, in Big Sur format it APFS. The APFS virtual disk sits on top of the HFS+ formatted disk.
The AirPort Extreme will only support a hard drive that is formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled), also known as HFS+ or in FAT 32. It will not support a drive that is formatted in other Windows formats or APFS.
Ok, understood! Last question: So I do have to reformat back to HFS+ for now...
...do you expect any firmware updates on the discontinued ArPorts to bring APFS anytime?
AirPort Extreme and APFS Hard Disk
