Level 1

16 points

Can't format Samsung T5 to APFS

I have updated to the final High Sierra on my Mac Pro and my internal drive is now APFS all good. I have an external Samsung T5 to extend my storage due to limits in Mac Pro.

I have tried to convert it to APFS and it comes back with an error (com.apple.StorageKit error 118.).

I am not sure if this is just a problem with Samsung SSDs or all external drives at the moment? The drive was formatted in High Sierra as a normal MacOS Extended Journaled but won't do the conversion.

Mac Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13)

Posted on Sep 25, 2017 3:23 PM

Top-ranking reply

macmustache

Level 1

62 points

Posted on Sep 29, 2017 9:49 AM

I have solved this problem by removing all formatting and partitions from the T5.

I did this using Gparted, the well-known Linux disk management utility, running on Lubuntu - this of course on a Linux computer. While Gparted immediately offered to reformat the drive with a Linux file system, I simply declined any formatting.

With the T5 showing in Gparted as entirely unallocated, I removed it from Lubuntu and reattached it to the High Sierra Mac. As is normal, the Mac reported that this drive was not usable and offered to Initialize.

I launched Disk Utility. NOTE: The unallocated T5 did not appear in Disk Utility until I used the Show All Devices command in the View menu.

Selecting the T5 I was able to Erase this drive as APFS. Interestingly, Disk Utility first automatically formatted the drive as HFS+ and continued on to APFS.

The T5 mounts, identifies as APFS and passes Disk First Aid as an APFS volume.
Obviously this solution required Linux, so hopefully there is a Mac-only alternative.

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25 replies

John Galt

Level 10

155,300 points

Sep 29, 2017 9:53 AM in response to macmustache

And people wonder why their Macs don't work when Apple releases a macOS update.

SnakeDog

Level 1

20 points

Oct 7, 2017 9:06 AM in response to strobe_flash

I've got the same issue with a WD My Book Element 1TB.

This is on a MacBook pro running 10.13.1 Beta (17B25c)

I had no problem converting two other drives.

Oct 12, 2017 2:09 PM in response to SnakeDog

I have no problems.... everything worked just fine. Just giving feedback.

SnakeDog

Level 1

20 points

Oct 12, 2017 2:38 PM in response to Victor Bellehumeur

Sorry, I read that you couldn't. my mistake.😊

Oct 21, 2017 8:30 AM in response to richardfromvero beach

ExFat is not APFS so you are not experiencing the same thing that this thread is about. If ExFat is the formatting that works for your situation then stay with it.

OneF

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2017 7:19 PM in response to strobe_flash

This worked for me. Thank you.

tbirdvet

Level 6

17,090 points

Dec 31, 2017 5:02 AM in response to SnakeDog

Must be something with HDD's or your setup. I have tested several SSD's external and there is little no speed change between HFS and APFS format.

trhee

Level 1

4 points

Oct 31, 2017 5:13 AM in response to Rivershack

Follow the instructions on this website and you’re good to go.

At first I was a bit perplexed by this issue but once reading this article and following the directions, my T5 was converted to APFS.

Preparing your backup disk for a backup of macOS | Carbon Copy Cloner | Bombich Software

SnakeDog

Level 1

20 points

Oct 9, 2017 9:01 PM in response to SnakeDog

I think I solved this... (after an hour of trying different things).

From what I can see High Sierra Disk Utility no longer gives the options of choosing a scheme (GUID vs MBR) when formatting a drive. (I've submitted a request to Apple for them to put it back in). APFS needs a GUID partition.

(See below, it used to look like this before High Sierra, but now the third option is gone)

Screen+Shot+2017-10-09+at+9.18.42+PM.png

I ended up taking my external HDD and plugging it into a Windows 10 computer, using Disk Management to convert to GUID and then tried to convert the drive to APFS. (Note APFS isn't even an option when erasing a disk in MBR format, but when erasing the drive after converting to GUID it gave me the option).

However, I ended up having issues because I couldn't convert the drive to APFS or even to Mac OS Journaled after it was converted to GUID. It gave me errors stating that there is not sufficient free space on the drive. (Even though I had just wiped it clean): "Mediakit reports not enough space to complete operation"

I figured out how to fix the "Mediakit reports not enough space to complete operation"... Follow the instructions from this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqico9ENA-4

----

Now, this is very embarrassing for Apple, but after some hard work, and a Windows 10 computer I was able to solve the error: com.apple.StorageKit error 118

Oct 21, 2017 7:19 AM in response to Rivershack

I just received and installed the T-5 500gb. Don't know if I'll have problems down the road but installed the package and accompanying drivers and working great/read-write and its FAST! . Didn't do anything with Disk Utility. Perhaps Samsung updated the driver. The format shows ExFAT...

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Can't format Samsung T5 to APFS