Converting external hard drive to APFS

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Level 1

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Converting external hard drive to APFS

I've recently updated my MacBook pro to macOs High Sierra 10.13.4 and i realized that my external hard drive is no longer readable by my mac giving me a message saying "the disk you inserted was not readable by this computer" and after searching for a solution i found out that i have to convert my hard drive to APFS to be able to use it again and that i will have to erase it using the disk utility app.

so i was wondering if erasing it will delete all of my files on my hard drive?

i wanted to know if anyone has tried it without getting all of their stuff deleted?

i have a macbook pro (retina, 13 inch, late 2013) and a WD my passport external hard drive which worked perfectly fine right before i installed the update.

i have also used the first aid in the disk utility app which didn't help.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.4), WD My Passport External Hard Drive

Posted on Apr 19, 2018 7:02 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 19, 2018 8:50 AM in response to its.yasmine

Yes it does. https://www.macworld.com/article/3220984/storage/high-sierra-hfs-apfs.html

And, APFS does not work on rotational drives: How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended when formatting a disk for Mac - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Apr 19, 2018 7:15 AM in response to its.yasmine

You don't need to convert it to APFS in order for your Mac to read it.

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Answer 3

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Apr 19, 2018 7:08 AM in response to its.yasmine

You shouldn't need to erase it. In Disk Utility go to the menu bar and choose Edit > Convert to APFS.

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Answer 4

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,398 points

Apr 19, 2018 9:18 AM in response to its.yasmine

You can read more.

Prepare for APFS in macOS High Sierra - Apple Support

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Answer 5

leroydouglas

Level 10

199,398 points

Apr 19, 2018 9:02 AM in response to its.yasmine

its.yasmine wrote:

My hard drive is currently formatted in HFS+ and apparently that format no longer works with macOS High Sierra.

This is absolutely false.

Fact is it is not recommended to convert an external drive too apfs at this point in time.

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Answer 6

its.yasmine Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 19, 2018 7:33 AM in response to macjack

That option is greyed out, the only options available are first aid, erase, restore.

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Answer 7

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 19, 2018 9:07 AM in response to its.yasmine

It works. I’ve got an APFS formatted SSD in High Sierra and I back it up to an HFS+ external drive. Works perfectly.

You could convert, but there’s no need.

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Answer 8

y_p_w

Level 6

17,762 points

Apr 19, 2018 9:10 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

It works. There’s not necessarily a need though. I had a WD Black 7200 RPM drive formatted in APFS as a High Sierra boot drive. My backup was an APFS clone.

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Answer 9

its.yasmine Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 19, 2018 7:36 AM in response to BobTheFisherman

My hard drive is currently formatted in HFS+ and apparently that format no longer works with macOS High Sierra.

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Converting external hard drive to APFS

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