macOS Extended (Journaled) or AFPS?

[Dervla]

Hello,

I am going to make a new Time Machine backup on a new external hard drive to be used to migrate from my current iMac to a new iMac.

Should I use macOS Extended (Journaled) or AFPS to make the new Time Machine backup?

I have read AFPS is newer and faster but also I have read macOS Extended (Journaled) is better with portable external hard drives.

using external hard drive: a new Lacie Rugged USB-C 4TB All-Terrain Mobile Storage

to backup: my late 2015 27” iMac running Monterey 12.7.6. It has storage of 2TB (about 1TB used) on the Macintosh HD and 121GB on Extra Internal Storage.

to use to migrate to:
an M4 24” iMac with 32GB memory and 2TB storage.

Thank you

 

[bogdanw]

Apple: "Types of disks you can use with Time Machine on Mac" https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/mh15139/mac

 

[Fishrrman]

I suggest you try HFS+ first.

But... my understanding is that newer versions of tm (and newer versions of the OS) now REQUIRE that the tm backup be in APFS.

So... if HFS+ doesn't work, THEN reformat the drive to APFS and use that instead.

Hmmm...
A BETTER WAY to do this (if you don't presently have a backup):
Download SuperDuper by clicking this link:

https://shirt-pocket.com/mint/pepper/orderedlist/downloads/download.php?file=https%3A//shirt-pocket.com/downloads/SuperDuper%21.dmg

SuperDuper is FREE to use for this purpose.
It has an interface that is easy to understand and use.

Use SD to create the backup.

WARNING:
DO NOT begin setup on the new iMac until your backup is ready and connected.
You don't want to end up with two user accounts instead of one.

When the iMac comes, take it out of the box and set it up.
DON'T press the power one button until the backup is connected.
Then press power on and begin setup.
When setup assistant asks if you wish to migrate, YES, you do.
So... "point the way" to the backup and let SA digest everything (takes a while).

SA will present you with a list of stuff to migrate.
Coming from a recent OS like Monterey, I suggest you migrate everything.
Just let SA go to work and do its job.

When done, you should see the login screen, as before.

Good luck.

 

[Brian33]

I am going to make a new Time Machine backup on a new external hard drive

Monterey will always use APFS for a new Time Machine disk. IIRC even if you format it macOS Extended (Journaled), Time Machine will convert it to APFS before the first backup.

My opinion is go with the default.

(There is a "special trick" to get Monterey to start a new backup to a JHFS+ volume with Monterey, but it's probably best you stick to what Apple expects!)

 

[NoBoMac]

Monterey will always use APFS for a new Time Machine disk. IIRC even if you format it macOS Extended (Journaled), Time Machine will convert it to APFS before the first backup.

This. "Old" Mac is too "new" to use HFS for TM, will always create a new APFS volume, even if you already set one up as TM volumes are typed by APFS, type "Backup".

 

[FreakinEurekan]

A BETTER WAY to do this (if you don't presently have a backup):
Download SuperDuper

SuperDuper is not a data backup solution - it is a system recovery solution.

If you discover that you've accidentally deleted a file, or a portion of a file - then SuperDuper will simply back THAT up along with the rest of your system. There's no "Recovery" of past mistakes, if they're not caught immediately.

The only protection against accidental deletions; data corruption; etc is a true data backup solution. If you don't like Time Machine there are other options. But SuperDuper and Carbon Copy Cloner do not replace the data backup features of Time Machine!

 

[Fishrrman]

"SuperDuper is not a data backup solution - it is a system recovery solution. "

That comment is simply... nonsense.

I've used my cloned backups now and then to "get back" files which I needed.

I've also used cloned and bootable backups to "do surgery" on my Macs' internal drives.
Try that with time machine.

I want "a backup" that simply reflects "what is on my drive now".
Or, to say that more accurately, "what WAS on my drive the last time I backed up".

That works for me, and has worked well for many years.
I don't see myself changing soon ...

 

[FreakinEurekan]

"SuperDuper is not a data backup solution - it is a system recovery solution. "

That comment is simply... nonsense.

Unless you’re doing a SuperDuper backup on a regular basis to a completely fresh disk and maintaining a library of those disks going back in time - you’re not keeping a data backup, you’re just snapshotting one moment in time.

And if you ARE maintaining such a library… talk about data growth 😳

 

[throAU]

APFS, the default is fine. time machine used to do stuff using files that is now built into apfs.

the reason it did that is because HFS is ancient and never had the features built in.

 

[Dervla]

posted to macOS threads "reducing used/increasing available space on hard drive" and "macOS Extended (Journaled) or AFPS?”.


YES!

Did the migration. This post was sent from the new M4 24” iMac, with 32GB memory and 2TB storage, after the migration from the late 2015 27” iMac running Monterey 12.7.6, with 16GB memory and 2TB storage (about 1TB used) on the Macintosh HD and 121GB on Extra Internal Storage.

The Time Machine snapshots of the 300GB of files, which (the 300GB) I copied to external hard drives, deleted from the iMac’s hard drive, did a Time Machine backup, waited overnight, and did another Time Machine backup, disappeared on their own.

I used APFS to make a new Time Machine backup of the 2015 iMac and followed instructions for the migration to the 2024 iMac.

Time Machine is making automatic hourly backups of the M4.

Thank you to all who provided guidance.