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Yaniv-P-UK Author

Level 1

4 points

Message "iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes."

I keep my photos on an external drive. The PHOTO app is directed to it.

I tried syncing it to iCloud for the first time and I receive the error message: "iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes...."

I am working with macOS Big Sur 11.6

I read some blogs telling me to run the Utility Disk on the drives. It didn't work.

I would appreciate your help.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 11:43 AM

Best reply

TonyCollinet

Level 7

23,861 points

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 1:09 PM

What format *is* the drive? (Open up the info pane for the drive). If it is not APFS or MacOS extended then it is not compatible with a photos library.

You will need to move the library to a compatible drive. DO NOT reformat the drive (using disk utility) until you have moved the library since reformatting will erase everything on the drive.

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Message "iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes."

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