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APFS

Hi there. I’m trying to format a new Kingston DTMax 256 GB SSD flash drive to APFS on my MacBook Air M2. (macOS Ventura).

The APFS option is nowhere to be found.

Read somewhere that first I needed to format to Apple Extended.

Did that and tried again.

Still, no APFS option.

Any ideas?

Thanks


MacBook Air (M2)

Posted on Mar 6, 2023 8:48 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 6, 2023 1:40 PM

Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Who knows what weird type of partitioning may be on the drive from the factory since most external drives purchased tend to have NTFS file system on them from the factory and sometimes may even have a manufacturer's partition to hold their proprietary software. macOS and Disk Utility can become confused by these odd unexpected setups.


Also, try disconnecting all other external devices from the laptop in case one of them is causing a problem. Plus connect the new drive directly to the Mac.


5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 6, 2023 1:40 PM in response to avalanche88

Within Disk Utility you may need to click "View" and select "Show All Devices" so the physical drive appears on the left pane of Disk Utility. Select the physical drive and erase it as GUID partition and APFS (top option). Who knows what weird type of partitioning may be on the drive from the factory since most external drives purchased tend to have NTFS file system on them from the factory and sometimes may even have a manufacturer's partition to hold their proprietary software. macOS and Disk Utility can become confused by these odd unexpected setups.


Also, try disconnecting all other external devices from the laptop in case one of them is causing a problem. Plus connect the new drive directly to the Mac.


APFS

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