Have a Samsung EVO 1TB SSD in a 2012 MBpro. Attempting to update to APFS so I can upgrade OS to 10.15.
Started disk utility in recovery mode. No option to convert to APFS (option is there in non-recovery mode, but greyed out). Tried unmounting and erase in recovery disk util, but there is no option under the format menu for APFS, only Mac OS, MS-DOS and ExFAT. Please help!!
MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 10.14
Select the Physical device by its immutable manufacturer-given device name,
then click ERASE...
.... you should get the full range of options,
If not, ERASE the device as HFS+ Extended,
then follow the steps above again.
if no joy, ERASE the drive as exFAT, and try again.
if, at any time, it refuses to erase, the existing foreign file fomat AND files present may be blocking erasuse. In that case, pretend it said: "Are you sure?" and immediately choose ERASE again.
Select the Physical device by its immutable manufacturer-given device name,
then click ERASE...
.... you should get the full range of options,
If not, ERASE the device as HFS+ Extended,
then follow the steps above again.
if no joy, ERASE the drive as exFAT, and try again.
if, at any time, it refuses to erase, the existing foreign file fomat AND files present may be blocking erasuse. In that case, pretend it said: "Are you sure?" and immediately choose ERASE again.
Then erase in exFAT, or any of the other choices you have.
There is no risk of making a mistake, BE BOLD! What you want is a blank disk, and to get there, you need to remove what is sitting there, possibly in several stages.
Using the normal Disk Utility (NOT the recovery mode one), the APFS option is greyed out no matter what route I take.
It's sounding like maybe I need to remove the disk and connect to another machine? I consider myself pretty computer literate, this one has really stumped me though. If I remove it, then put it back in the machine, will I be able to boot into recovery mode in order to install a new OS?
Hi Grant,
Thanks so much for continuing to reply to me. If you look at the first photo I posted, HFS+ is also NOT an option that I have. My only options when trying to erase (again, in internet recovery mode, as that's the only recovery mode I seem to be able to reach), are:
Mac OS Extended (three different choices there)
MS-DOS
Ex-Fat
I apologize that I keep going in circles here, but desperately need to update this, and the solutions that keep getting provided to me are not options on this computer. Am I just out of luck with this machine?
If you have 10.14.4 running, you don't need to convert your startup drive to APFS to upgrade to Catalina.
The process of upgrading to Catalina includes the OS doing the drive format conversion to APFS on the fly.
Likewise, if you are using the Catalina upgrade installer to install onto any drive formatted with Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with GUID partition scheme, the upgrader will convert that to APFS format while installing macOS.
➡️ Download the macOS upgrade installer app:
Click > macOS 10.15 Catalina.
Once downloaded, double-click the “Install macOS…” app now found in the Applications folder to begin the upgrade.
Please see > How to download macOS - Apple Support.
❗️– IMPORTANT –
None of your old 32-bit apps will work in macOS Catalina or newer, including MS Office, Adobe Photoshop and many other older apps and drivers. This will require that you find 64-bit updates and/or replacement titles.
32-bit app compatibility with macOS High Sierra 10.13.4 and later - Apple Support
Use the free utility Go64 to check the 64-bit compatibility of your currently installed apps:
https://www.stclairsoft.com/Go64/
good point about erasing the ENTIRE device.
They call out in this article that you need to "show all devices" and ERASE the PHYSICAL device:
Erase a volume using Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support
(Be sure to select the version of the article specific to the version of MacOS in use.)
Understood. However if 10.13 works with APFS and I have 10.14.4 shouldn’t mine then work with APFS? Also do you have any idea how I could find the next version of 10.14 to upgrade to? Seems like the only thing I can find online is 10.15.7
if you removed you internal drive, you WERE running 10.14, and are now running nothing.
Where are you getting Disk Utility from?
Do you have a Time Machine backup from 10.14? it is said to contain a Recovery partition.
Also, if you have started in Recovery mode and the macOS Utilities window is offering the "Install macOS" Catalina version, you can install that on a Mac OS Extended formatted drive. Again, the installer will convert the format to APFS first, then complete the installation of Catalina.
Interbak drive is not removed. As I stated, was doing this in recovery mode, which all the forum posts would have me believe is how this is done. “Internet recovery mode” to be specific, which is what I got pressing cmd+r at startup.
Installers form around the time of 10.14 Mojave were willing to accept a HFS+ extended drive, and make a few changes to convert it to APFS drive.
so installing Mojave on the new HFS+ drive should be fine, and it it should do the conversion for you. then upgrade from there to Catalina.
When I tried to install the new OS I just got a message saying that it couldn’t install because the drive wasn’t formatted for APFS. Like I said, nothing that has been printed online so far for me is working.
If the drive you wish to reformat with APFS is currently formatted with either the Apple Partition Map scheme or the Master Boot Record scheme, then the APFS format is not displayed as an option in Disk Utility.
Easy to fix.
In Disk Utility, select that drive device (You may have to click View > Show All Devices) then click Erase.
Now click "Scheme" and select "GUID Partition Map".
Once that is selected, APFS should become a Format option which you can now select.
Do that, then click the Erase button.
Hi D.I.
Please refer to the photo I have posted. You'll see two things; 1) It's already a GUI Partition, and 2) There is no format option for APFS in the menu. Can you point me in another direction please? Like I've said here a few times, these are all solutions offered thus far on all the forums, and don't seem to work for me for some reason.
I would also add, the screenshot you're seeing is the disk utility in internet recovery mode. The disk utility in normal mode looks closer to the photo you posted, however on that one the APFS option is there, but greyed out.
No APFS options, tried ALL suggestions here
