Fresh Install: Filevault Help.

[Robdmb]

Question: I am doing a reformat/fresh install on my Macbook Pro. Is the best way to do APFS file system and then enable Filevault after? Or should I choose APFS Encrypted at format?

Also, do you have to turn Filevault off on the existing install before you do the reformat/reinstall?

 

[chabig]

Apple's instruction for erasing and installing do not say to format the drive as encrypted APFS. They just say to use regular APFS. I have read elsewhere that that macOS installer will refuse to install on a volume that is already encrypted. So just format as APFS, install, then go to System Preferences and turn on FileVault. You should turn off the existing FileVault encryption first because Disk Utility won't let you format an encrypted volume. There may be command line instructions you can run from terminal to workaround these limitations but why mess with it?