External Drive - APFS or HFS+
I am storing video on an external drive (USB). Does it much matter for speed or reliability if it is formatted as APFS or HFS+? I have it as HFS+ but since the new MacOS (internal drive) is now APFS, I didn't know if the external should match.
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I just ordered a new Mini. I know i don't a choice with the new mini ssd. But have some of the same questions with my multiple connected USB drives and a new raid that i just ordered. Link From Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208018
APFS has some (dubious) advantages on an SSD, but not for hard drive storage of media. When I copy a video file, I want an actual duplication performed, not just a link to a pseudo-instance of the data. Sure it's much faster to pretend to make a copy, but that doesn't create actual data redundancy.
Under SS usage scenario, APFS delivers no benefit on your external hard drives.
Hi, it’s a few years later now and I wanted to see if you still agreed that the external drive where the recordings are being saved to should be formatted as HFS+ journaled instead of APFS. I just bought a new Sandisk Extreme Pro 2TB SSD and want to make sure I format it properly. Thanks
Thanks for checking @rpmartinez - in the last couple of years we have seen some problems with HFS+ format disks on newer macOS versions and Mac hardware. Therefore, on new systems, we now recommend using APFS for all disks.
Great to hear, thank you!