APFS not an option to format portable ssd

jimmcs06 wrote:

Mac OS Monterey. Unable to format portable ssd drive with option APFS. That option does not show up when doing erase. The drive I ams using currently on this Mac was formatted apfs about a year ago.

Erase and reformat a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac

https://support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility/erase-and-reformat-a-storage-device-dskutl14079/21.0/mac/12.0

Within Disk Utility click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so that the physical drives appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. Erase the whole physical drive as GUID partition and APFS (top option).

macOS Monterey also is known to have some issues with external devices which can complicate matters. Try disconnecting all other external devices and even try erasing the drive while booted into Safe Mode in case some third party software is interfering with the normal operation of macOS (typically anti-virus apps, cleaning apps, third party security software).

I think you are implying that this external drive currently is using APFS, but that is not clear to me so please confirm the current file system on this drive and also how you are using this drive. If you are using this drive for a Time Machine backup, then you will need to disassociate TM from this drive using the TM preferences since I believe Monterey locks the TM backup drives these days.

What specific portable SSD?

What options are available when you select Erase/