Unable to erase APFS SSD from iMac for external use

I have a late 2012 iMac running Catalina. I want to remove the SSD I added a few years ago and use it as an external drive on my air. The drive is formatted apfs and shows up in disk utility as Fusion, then Container 2, then Macintosh HD and Macintosh - Data. Disk utility will not allow me to erase. I have tried several online methods using Terminal commands but none worked. It appears the key is to erase the drive which I cannot do, even booting into recovery mode. Since the iMac is old and display takes ten minutes to show icons, I want to dispose of it but save the SSD. Any suggestions?

Posted on Jan 18, 2026 9:49 AM

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D.I. Johnson

Level 8

35,303 points

Posted on Jan 18, 2026 10:00 AM

To erase that drive while it's still installed in the Mac, you must reboot the Mac in recovery mode and use Disk Utility while in that mode.

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

Otherwise, you can remove the drive, connect it to another Mac via adapter cable or enclosure, and then use Disk Utility on that Mac.

In any case, you must also make sure that when you launch Disk Utility, you click View > Show All Devices so that you can access the drive device - "Apple SSD... Media", for example - to erase and reformat it.

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Unable to erase APFS SSD from iMac for external use

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