Disk Utility on Mac supports several file system formats:

Jun 20, 2019  Format a New SSD in macOS Step 1: Navigate to 'Applications' 'Utilities' 'Disk Utility'. Step 2: Select the new disk in the left pane and click the 'Partition' tab in the right pane. Step 3: When a window pops up, select 'GUID Partition Table' and click 'OK'. Step 4: Click the 'Partition' tap. From the screen that loads use Disk Utility to Repartition the SSD as One Partition and in the Mac format and with a partition table of GUID, that is under the Options button. Then once that is all done try installing OS X on the SSD.

• Apple File System (APFS): The file system used by macOS 10.13 or later.

• Mac OS Extended: The file system used by macOS 10.12 or earlier.

• MS-DOS (FAT) and ExFAT: File systems that are compatible with Windows.

Apple File System (APFS)

How To Format An Ssd For Mac

Apple File System (APFS), the default file system for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later, features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing, and improved file system fundamentals. While APFS is optimized for the Flash/SSD storage used in recent Mac computers, it can also be used with older systems with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage. macOS 10.13 or later supports APFS for both bootable and data volumes.

APFS allocates disk space within a container on demand. The disk’s free space is shared and can be allocated to any of the individual volumes in the container as needed. If desired, you can specify reserve and quota sizes for each volume. Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the total size of the container, minus the size of all the volumes in the container.

Choose one of the following APFS formats for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later.

• APFS: Uses the APFS format.

• APFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume.

• APFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.

• APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Uses the APFS format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names, and encrypts the volume. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.

You can easily add or delete volumes in APFS containers. Each volume within an APFS container can have its own APFS format—APFS, APFS (Encrypted), APFS (Case-sensitive), or APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted).

Mac OS Extended

Choose one of the following Mac OS Extended file system formats for compatibility with Mac computers using macOS 10.12 or earlier.

• Mac OS Extended (Journaled): Uses the Mac format (Journaled HFS Plus) to protect the integrity of the hierarchical file system.

• Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted): Uses the Mac format, requires a password, and encrypts the partition.

• Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled): Uses the Mac format and is case-sensitive to folder names. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.

• Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted): Uses the Mac format, is case-sensitive to folder names, requires a password, and encrypts the partition.

Windows-compatible formats

Choose one of the following Windows-compatible file system formats if you are formatting a disk to use with Windows.

• MS-DOS (FAT): Use for Windows volumes that are 32 GB or less.

• ExFAT: Use for Windows volumes that are over 32 GB.

Formatting a drive so you can install and boot macOS requires the GUID partition map. Unfortunately, Disk Utility in macOS High Sierra doesn’t make that option easy to find. Read on to see where it’s hiding.

We’ll use an external drive for this example. Start by connecting the drive to your Mac. Once it’s mounted, launch Disk Utility. The app is hiding in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.

Disk Utility hides the GUID format option by default

Click the

How To Format Ssd For Mac And Windows

Disk Utility’s View option shows devices, not just volumes

Now click the

Disk Utility showing GUID option for drive format

How To Format Ssd For Mac Os High Sierra

Click