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Hi there, A few months back I installed a new SSD in my 13” MacBook Pro Mid 2012. I used the kit offered here on ifixit and followed the steps to a T. I found it strange afterwards that I was unable to re-encrypt my hard drive, but thought nothing of it at the time. Yesterday, I tried to download the newest version of macOS Mojave. When I clicked on my hard dive to install, I received an error message stating that “this volume is not formatted as APFS”. I’ve done a little reading on APFS online to see what the issue is. Apparently my new SSD was formatted as Journaled HFS+. I have seen a few guides on how to convert from Journaled HFS+ to APFS. My question, however, lies with data recovery. Converting from Journaled HFS+ to APFS requires that one erases their hard drive. I have everything saved on a Seagate Plus Slim external hard drive. It too, however, is formatted as Journaled HFS+. If I erase my internal SSD and covert it to APFS, how do I ensure that the data backed-up on my external hard drive will transfer back to my Mac properly? Do I need to convert my external hard drive to APFS as well? If so, what are the risks associated with doing so? I look forward to hearing from y’all. Best, C

All right, I think everything is good now! First, I made a bootable USB of High Sierra (the oldest OS I could find on the App Store) and saved everything to my backup drive via TimeMachine. Next, I erased my SSD. I then installed High Sierra on my SSD. Next, I went to restore my data from my backup drive. I received an error message when doing so. When you save your data in a newer OS format on a backup drive but your internal SSD is operating on an older version of OS, the data won’t transfer. In response, I subsequently I updated my SSD to Mojave. (It probably would have been best to have started with a bootable USB of Mojave in the first place, I guess.) I was able to restore all of my data without any hiccups after that. At first, I thought all of this work was for naught. Then I checked out FireVault and found that my disk was capable of being encrypted again. While my file system is still Journaled HFS+, I think I’m in a better position now should I ever need to convert to APFS. Thanks for your patience and guidance everyone. Best, C

The format of your external drive can be different than your internal so thats not a worry! At this point you’ll need to see if you need to update the driver on your drive before you do anything. In the mean time I would recommend you first create a OS installer drive with your current MacOS following this guide How to create a bootable macOS Sierra installer drive. Make sure it boots up using the Option (⌥) key. You might want to setup a Mojave installer as well. Reference: Mac startup key combinations

You’ll want to start fresh on the SSD, make sure show all devices is selected in disk utility. Select the least indented item from the top left and erase. I’m not sure about this APFS / HFS+ stuff. But what I always use GUID partition table / Journaled Format on a HD install then upgrade to Mojave via running installer while MacOS is booted into system from a USB OS installer drive or upgrade to it via app store. I think it converts to APFS file system on upgrade to Mojave? What’s the benefit to going APFS? I just use defaults or whatever works.

All you have to do is:

  1. Boot from Catalina or Big Sur USB drive
  2. Click on your boot drive (left pane)
  3. Click on ‘Unmount’ on the top right header icon
  4. The drive will be greyed out when unmounted… may have to do several times… it does not happen quickly
  5. Right click on greyed out drive in left pane
  6. Click on ‘Convert To APFS’
  7. Wait until done… about 30 seconds