So, if you don’t have this Mac OS installed on your Mac, you won’t be able to open any drives using the APFS format.ĪPFS offers a ton of benefits that you don’t find in HFS+. One thing to keep in mind about APFS is that it only works on macOS High Sierra.
However, it is best suited for flash and solid-state drives. APFS has been optimized for SSDs and flash drives but can be used for external and hybrid drives as well. It offers several advantages over its predecessors and is automatically applied to your hard drive upon the installation of macOS High Sierra. This new file system replaces the previous file system, Mac OS Extended or HFS+, which was used by all the Mac OS versions which came before it. It was introduced by Apple in the year 2006 and is now the default file system of the latest Mac operating system, macOS High Sierra. How to Convert External Drive to APFS Format?ĪPFS is the short form of the Apple File System.