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APFS vs Extended (journaled) on external hard disk for Time Machine?

D

Dutch60

macrumors 6502
Original poster
May 18, 2019
312
551
Hello everyone. I'm on a Mac mini M4 Pro and at the moment I have 1 LaCie 10 Tb external hard disk and 1 6Tb LaCie external hard disk. The 10Tb permanently attached to my Mac mini (Time Machine backups and folders), formatted as Mac OS extended (journaled).
Every now and then I copy new files from this HD to my 6Tb LaCie. But now that 6Tb is completely filled. The 10Tb has almost 7Tb on it (Time Machine and files).

I plan to get a new external hard disk for Time Machine and Time Machine only. My 10Tb LaCie then gets the role of my current 6Tb drive (which is full now, as I said); every now and then copy files to that (still 3Tb left).

Beside that I like to buy an external SSD for files that I can work on (mainly photos (images (2Tb of images already) /documents / etc....in short files that I use/change/modify/delete/add..daily).
It seems that APFS format is the way to go for such an SSD (?)
But then....what about a new external hard disk (only for Time Machine backups)? APFS....or Mac OS extended (journaled)? Here users don't seem to agree at all. What's your opinion? What's your experience?
Would formatting to APFS on both externals be beneficial in any way? Or would Mac/APFS, SSD/APFS and external HD/macOS Extended (journaled) work just as good?

I do not share anything with any Windows machine.

And while I' m here, maybe you also can recommend me a good external SSD? I work on large photo files and I already have 2Tb of these on my external HD (would like to bring them over to a new SSD). So, 4Tb seems to be a good size. I like speed, so I know about those new Thunderbolt 5 SSD's....it's just...well...4Tb gets very expensive!

Thank you very much!
 
Last edited:
I could be mistaken (I don't use tm), but I believe that time machine now requires [with recent Mac OS releases] that the tm drive be in APFS format.

DO NOT use "case sensitive" (not sure that's even an option any more with APFS...)
 
Ditto Time Machine uses APFS in newer OS versions, no option for HFS+. Matter of fact, initial TM backup will reformat as APFS so it can assign a role of Backup to the volume.
 
Fishrrman said:
I could be mistaken (I don't use tm), but I believe that time machine now requires [with recent Mac OS releases] that the tm drive be in APFS format.

DO NOT use "case sensitive" (not sure that's even an option any more with APFS...)
Click to expand...
True; that’s what I read as well. But instead of using Volumes, it’s possible to partition that drive. In which case extended (journaled) is possible
 
NoBoMac said:
Ditto Time Machine uses APFS in newer OS versions, no option for HFS+. Matter of fact, initial TM backup will reformat as APFS so it can assign a role of Backup to the volume.
Click to expand...
Partitioning still seems possible.
 
I believe if you partition the drive, you can use one of the partitions (volumes) for TM and TM will reformat APFS. The other volume can be formatted HFS+... or APFS... or ExFAT, etc.
 
This other than APFS partition could be used for files and such, not Time Machine….

Edit: ….don’t think this is correct (see next post)
 
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Bigwaff said:
I believe if you partition the drive, you can use one of the partitions (volumes) for TM and TM will reformat APFS. The other volume can be formatted HFS+... or APFS... or ExFAT, etc.
Click to expand...
I think Time Machine still supports macOS Extended (journaled)
 
Fishrrman said:
I could be mistaken (I don't use tm), but I believe that time machine now requires [with recent Mac OS releases] that the tm drive be in APFS format.

DO NOT use "case sensitive" (not sure that's even an option any more with APFS...)
Click to expand...

A new Time Machine setup will prepare the drive by formatting it APFS Case Sensitive. No choice in the matter.
 
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