Erasing your disk: For most reasons to erase, including when reformatting a disk or selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac, you should erase your entire disk.
Sep 11, 2020 APFS (Apple File System) is a proprietary system for organizing and structuring data on a storage system. APFS, which Apple initially released with macOS High Sierra, replaces the 30-year-old HFS+ system previously in use on Macs. What's more, APFS formatted drives are not recognized by OS X 10.11 Yosemite and earlier, so you won't be able to transfer files to an older Mac using an APFS drive. When the new Apple File. APFS is the norm for an upgrade or a new install unless the user specifies that he requires the older file system. The main advantages of using APFS is the exponential increase in reading and write speeds on solid-state drives (SSDs) and the increase in the maximum supported storage space. Reading a Mac drive from Windows. While Apple says in its APFS FAQ, 'For example, a USB storage device formatted as APFS can be read by a Mac using High Sierra, but not by a Mac using Sierra or earlier,' this seems incorrect. Apr 01, 2020 The Apple File System (APFS) is the file system used with Mac devices running macOS 10.13 High Sierra and later, while the older Mac OS Extended file system is available for older versions of macOS. You can still use either file system for your hard drives and attached storage devices, with both having their own pros and cons.
Erasing a volume on your disk: In other cases, such as when your disk contains multiple volumes (or partitions) and you don't want to erase them all, you can erase specific volumes on the disk.
Erasing a disk or volume permanently deletes all of its files. Before continuing, make sure that you have a backup of any files that you want to keep.
How to erase your disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the disk your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - Choose View > Show All Devices from the menu bar in Disk Utility. The sidebar now shows your disks (devices) and any containers and volumes within them. The disk your Mac started up from is at the top of the list. In this example, Apple SSD is the startup disk:
- Select the disk that you want to erase. Don't see your disk?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the disk to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- Scheme: Choose GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase to begin erasing your disk and every container and volume within it. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the disk you erased, reinstall macOS on the disk.
How to erase a volume on your disk
- Start up from macOS Recovery. Then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window and click Continue.
If you're not erasing the volume your Mac started up from, you don't need to start up from macOS Recovery: just open Disk Utility from the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. - In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the volume that you want to erase. The volume your Mac started up from is named Macintosh HD, unless you changed its name. Don't see your volume?
- Click Erase, then complete these items:
- Name: Type the name that you want the volume to have after you erase it.
- Format: Choose APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Disk Utility shows a compatible format by default.
- If you see an Erase Volume Group button, the volume you selected is part of a volume group. In that case, you should erase the volume group. Otherwise, click Erase to erase just the selected volume. You might be asked to enter your Apple ID. Forgot your Apple ID?
- When done, quit Disk Utility.
- If you want your Mac to be able to start up from the volume you erased, reinstall macOS on that volume.
Reasons to erase
You can erase at any time, including in circumstances such as these:
- You want to permanently erase all content from your Mac and restore it to factory settings. This is one of the final steps before selling, giving away, or trading in your Mac.
- You're changing the format of a disk, such as from a PC format (FAT, ExFAT, or NTFS) to a Mac format (APFS or Mac OS Extended).
- You received a message that your disk isn't readable by this computer.
- You're trying to resolve a disk issue that Disk Utility can't repair.
- The macOS installer doesn't see your disk or can't install on it. For example, the installer might say that your disk isn't formatted correctly, isn't using a GUID partition scheme, contains a newer version of the operating system, or can't be used to start up your computer.
- The macOS installer says that you may not install to this volume because it is part of an Apple RAID.
About APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra or later can erase using either the newer APFS (Apple File System) format or the older Mac OS Extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended
Disk Utility tries to detect the type of storage and show the appropriate format in the Format menu. If it can't, it chooses Mac OS Extended, which works with all versions of macOS. If you want to change the format, answer these questions:
- Are you formatting the disk that came built into your Mac?
If the built-in disk came APFS-formatted, Disk Utility suggests APFS. Don't change it to Mac OS Extended. - Are you about to install macOS High Sierra or later for the first time on the disk?
If you need to erase your disk before installing High Sierra or later for the first time on that disk, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). During installation, the macOS installer decides whether to automatically convert to APFS—without erasing your files. - Are you preparing a Time Machine backup disk or bootable installer?
Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for any disk that you plan to use as a Time Machine backup disk or as a bootable installer. - Will you be using the disk with another Mac?
If the other Mac isn't using macOS High Sierra or later, choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Earlier versions of macOS don't work with APFS-formatted volumes.
How to identify the format currently in use
If you want to know which format is currently in use, use any of these methods:
- Select the volume in the Disk Utility sidebar, then check the information shown on the right. For more detail, choose File > Get Info from the Disk Utility menu bar.
- Open System Information and select Storage in the sidebar. The File System column on the right shows the format of each volume.
- Select the volume in the Finder, then choose File > Get Info from the menu bar. The Get Info window shows the Format of that volume.
If your disk or volume doesn't appear, or the erase fails
- Shut down your Mac, then unplug all nonessential devices from your Mac.
- If you're erasing an external drive, make sure that it's connected directly to your Mac using a cable that you know is good. Then turn the drive off and back on.
- If your disk or volume still doesn't appear in Disk Utility, or Disk Utility reports that the erase process failed, your disk or Mac might need service. If you need help, please contact Apple Support.
Learn more
Apfs Encrypted
- If you can't start up from macOS Recovery, you can use a different startup disk instead.
- If Disk Utility shows a Security Options button in the Erase window, you can click that button to choose between a faster (but less secure) erase and a slower (but more secure) erase. Some older versions of Disk Utility offer the option to zero all data instead. These secure-erase options aren't offered or needed for solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage.
APFS is more reliable, faster and safer to protect data in macOS High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina. If you lost data on an Apple's APFS drive due to mistaken deletion, SSD/HDD formatting, encryption or system corruption, you can use EaseUS APFS data recovery for Mac to recover APFS files in three steps. In addition, you can also try to open or recover APFS data on Windows as instructed here.
What Is APFS
APFS, short for Apple File System, is a faster and safer file system first enabled in macOS High Sierra. It has replaced the HFS+ and will be deployed on all Apple products from Apple Watch to Mac in the future. Except for optimization for flash and SSD drives, APFS provides a uniform encryption method for each Apple device, multi-key encryption for each file, and a separate key for sensitive metadata.
What Is Apfs On Mac Mojave
APFS Data Recovery
With these great features, APFS decreases the chance of data loss due to hard drive/system crash or virus attack. You may lose files most likely because mistaken deletion, hard drives formatting, trash emptied, or other scenarios. However, nothing is absolute. Data loss is inevitable during the daily use of Mac. What matters is how to recover files from APFS drive on Mac when accidents come.
How to Recover APFS Files on Mac
Due to the macOS requirement, you are not able to access the built-in APFS system drive from any apps. Therefore, if you happen to lose some critical files and want to recover deleted files from the system disk under macOS High Sierra 10.13, macOS Mojave10.14 or macOS Catalina 10.15, you have to rely on a professional and reliable APFS data recovery tool.
EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free for Mac is such an APFS data recovery program that enables you to retrieve accidentally deleted videos, audios, photos, documents, archives, and other files from APFS SSD/HDD. You can recover data from an emptied recycle bin, or restore lost files on APFS partition after formatting, macOS upgrading/corruption, etc.
Besides deleted file recovery, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac is simple and reliable APFS data recovery software for all data loss situations:
01Encrypted APFS Drive Data Recovery:
Let you recover deleted or lost data from encrypted APFS drives of Macintosh HD and external drives. Simply enter your password to decrypt the drive in the first place and continue scanning.
02APFS Formatted Drive Data Recovery:
Able to recover files after mistaken formatting, disk repartition, initialization or any unexpected manner that erases APFS drive data under macOS Catalina/Mojave/High Sierra.
03Unmountable APFS Drive Data Recovery:
Recover data from unmounted APFS boot volume on Macintosh HD as well as on all types drives like external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards and so on.
04Inaccessible APFS Drive Data Recovery:
Recognize, scan and recover data from the inaccessible APFS hard drives, external hard drives, USB flash drives, SD cards, memory cards and more.
Now, download and install EaseUS APFS data recovery tool on your Mac and follow the solutions below to get data back on the APFS drive.
Step 1. Select the disk location (it can be an internal HDD/SSD or a removable storage device) where you lost data and files. Click the 'Scan' button.
Step 2. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac will immediately scan your selected disk volume and display the scanning results on the left pane.
Step 3. In the scan results, select the file(s) and click the 'Recover Now' button to have them back.
As you can see from the above operation guidance, it's effortless to do APFS data recovery on Mac with the help of EaseUS Mac Data Recovery Software. Further, you can still use the software can recover lost data from HFS+, as well as NTFS, FAT & ex-FAT disk on Mac.
Windows 10 APFS Data Recovery
As far as we know, Apple File System (APFS) is a new file system for macOS, iOS, and Apple devices. Have you ever thought that setting up an APFS drive on a Windows-based computer? Or, is it possible to connect an Apple APFS drive to a Windows PC and access data in it? If this is the case you're concerned, there is third-party Windows 10 APFS data recovery software that will make it happen to read and write files on APFS file system HDD, SSD, and removable flash drives.
APFS for Windows by Paragon Software
Paragon, a third-party developer, solves the incompatibilities between file systems of each OS with its product called APFS for Windows, to enable users to freely access, modify and share files on an APFS drive across Windows and macOS platforms. To read and write APFS data in Windows 10, here is a simple guide for you.
What Is Apfs Format On Mac Os
Step 1. Download and install APFS for Windows by Paragon Software.
Step 2. Connect your APFS drive to your PC.
Step 3. Your drive will show up in Explorer. Now you can open the drive and manage data in Windows 10.
Conclusion
What Is Apfs On Mac Air
By reading through the article, you've learned how the APFS file system works on Mac and how to use the best APFS data recovery tool for recover lost, deleted, formatted, encrypted or inaccessible APFS internal hard drives as well external ones. Meanwhile, to help Windows users who need to read and write data on an APFS drive, we find APFS for Windows by Paragon Software is reliable and workable.