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#1
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Big Sur Intel Mac APFS To HFS+ HDD?
After perusing some old threads, I decided that I should ask just so I am sure that I am on the right track. . .
I have an old bootable clone on an HDD partition. I just want to backup my internal drive to the partition. I do not need it to be bootable. I don't want to reformat the external drive to APFS. I just want a local data backup. Should I erase the old backup before proceeding? An external SSD is in the cards but figuring out which NVME M.2 memory and enclosure is taking longer than I anticipated. LOL |
#2
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Well, first, you should reformat to APFS. If you don't want to, you can use Mac OS Extended, but you should use APFS.
Then, use "Backup - all files" with "Smart Update", which should allow you to copy everything but the OS. I would generally just get this SSD, which works well: https://amzn.to/3u4pTVh -- it's 1TB for about $120.
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--Dave Nanian |
#3
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I went ahead and reformatted an HFS+ partition as APFS. I did run into a problem when Disk Utility could not unmount the disk. Unfortunately, I do not understand the meaning of the error message:
The volume couldn't be unmounted because it is in use by process 86 (fseventsd) So I tried reformatting the volume as HFS+ and that was successful. Then I formatted it again as APFS and it worked. I used SuperDuper to copy the internal Mac SSD to the new APFS volume and that went without a hitch. Thanks for your help. |
#4
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Usually just restarting will fix any situation where an OS process (like fsevents) is operating on a drive. Glad you got it done and things worked out, though.
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--Dave Nanian |
#5
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Dave, I've been wondering why you suggested reformatting the volume to APFS. I understand that APFS is much slower on mechanical drives, which doesn't really matter for my backups. (I assume it would be a problem when booting from the external volume, something I won't be trying since the HHD is connected via USB 3.)
If the reason for reformatting are the various improvements in APFS, there is no need to list them. I've already read about them. If there is some other reason(s) I'm not aware of, I'd like to know about it. BTW, I'm not receiving "instant email notifications" even though it is checked and my personal info is up to date. Nothing is showing up in my local and email server spam folders. |
#6
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Since the source is APFS, and there are features of APFS that cannot be replicated on HFS+, such as sparse files, it's wise to use the same format. It's not required, but, for example, a 2TB "sparse file" on the source that might only have 200K of data in it will take up 200K on the source and 2TB on the backup...and will be 2TB once restored, if you use HFS+.
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--Dave Nanian |
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