Level 1

17 points

icloud photos - formatting error

New iMac being setup. Opened photos and went to turn on iCloud Photos and getting this error:

"iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes."

To check the format of a volume, select the volume in the Finder and choose Get Info from the File menu. The type of volume appears in the Format field.

This is a new 21" iMac with Fusion drive. It is formatted as APFS. Unsure of why I am getting this error and cannot turn on the cloud photo sharing.

iMac, iOS 12

Posted on Sep 27, 2018 5:24 AM

Top-ranking reply

williamfromeaston

Level 1

22 points

Posted on Oct 8, 2018 5:49 PM

OK, I just got off the phone with Apple Support and it was much easier than it seems.

First, shut down. Then reboot, and then immediately hold the Command+R, until you see the progress bar, then release.

Then, you should get a screen that has 4 choices - choose the bottom one - Disk Utility.

Select your HD on left and run "First Aid" (first button in center menu). It should take a few minutes to run.

Once complete, restart from apple menu, and sign in as normal. Your iCloud Photos should be working.

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26 replies

léonie

Level 10

202,927 points

Nov 8, 2018 2:30 AM in response to williamfromeaston

I posted a link to your solution in the User Tip section. This way it will be easier to find again, if someone else has the same problem. How to fix "iCloud Photos is only available on macOS Standard, macOS Extended and APFS formatted volumes" on Macs with a Fusion Drive

Nov 29, 2018 4:31 PM in response to Brad2610a

Same problem here. Temporarily fixed using Disk Utilites but it came back weeks later.No reboot during this time. Photos just decided stop working by itself sometime.

My system is iMac 2017 with 1T SSD internal drive so it’s completely irrelavent to FusionDrive issue. Simply a bug in either APFS or iCloud.

Trying to fix again with Disk Utilites and see whether and when it will come back again.

Brad2610a Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 27, 2018 6:20 AM in response to léonie

Internal Fusion drive. The computer is brand new. First time opening photos.

Brad2610a Author

Level 1

17 points

Sep 27, 2018 4:34 PM in response to Brad2610a

I have now disconnected the external and created a new library. Still having same issue.

Oct 21, 2018 2:46 PM in response to williamfromeaston

Absolutely. This needs to go to the top of the list of replies. MacBook Pro w/ Flash Drive.

Oct 27, 2018 1:00 PM in response to williamfromeaston

Brilliant. Worked for me. Thank you.

Oct 27, 2018 1:41 PM in response to léonie

Honestly, I don't know what the pre- vs. post- Mojave update format was. I purchased that computer in April 2018, so it may have come with High Sierra on it.

léonie

Level 10

202,927 points

Oct 27, 2018 3:01 PM in response to williamfromeaston

Thank you for the additional information, William. That fits in with what the other people posted.

zit

Level 1

66 points

Nov 7, 2018 4:09 PM in response to Brad2610a

Thanks for the solution.
Didn't expect it to cure the problem, but it did :-)

Nov 28, 2018 1:29 PM in response to williamfromeaston

Unfortunately it works once and then the problem comes back.

léonie

Level 10

202,927 points

Sep 28, 2018 5:02 AM in response to Brad2610a

Now that we know for sure, that Photos 4.0 can work with an APFS fusion drive - thanks to dwb, you may want to test if the problem is system wide or only occurs in your current user account. (See: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204443)

If the problem is not system wide, it may suffice to start over with a new user account.

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icloud photos - formatting error