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Stopem Author

Level 1

8 points

Brand New External Hard Drive - Fomatting.

Hi there all,

I would like to know which format to apply to my brand new LaCie USB-C External Portable Hard Drive (you know, the one which looks like a stealth rectangle). I'm thinking the newer APFS (Apple File System) is best since I will only ever be using the drive on the one MacBook Pro. It's not a SSD, but my research has led me to the conclusion that the latest file protocol yields the most benefit for speed and reliability, which is what I would go for if given choices and reasons. I don't use Time Machine at all so if this is not yet compatible with APFS then that's not an issue. Is this the best strategy? Can anyone give sound advice and their own recommendation? If I need to use Mac OS Extended I will, however as far as I can tell there is no reason to go backwards in this regard. My computer is as follows:

MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2017, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) 3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

The drive is the new Lacie 2TB (and 4TB - I have two new drives) USB-C

Any help and advice from a Mac professional would be appreciated.

Regards,

Stopem

Posted on Jul 10, 2021 6:44 PM

Top-ranking reply

Axel Foley

Level 10

149,478 points

Posted on Jul 11, 2021 12:12 AM

Hello Stopem,

You are on the right track. Your external drive should be formatted with APFS if you are using macOS Catalina or Big Sur. Time Machine works well with APFS format as well. This format is efficient and reliable according to Apple.

Axel F.

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Brand New External Hard Drive - Fomatting.

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