Hello Robert, This is just my opinion, but the answer kind of depends upon whether or not you intend to run Mac OS on your USB external drive.
If the USB device is a solid-state drive (SSD) and you plan on using it as a boot partition, for instance by cloning your internal drive such as one would do using an application such as Super-Duper, then the drive must be formatted APFS. However, if the USB device is not an SSD, then you may boot from it using the Extended Journal format. Again, my assumption is that you intend to clone your internal boot partition; because when I think of a backup drive, cloning is what comes to mind. Now some people elect to employ proprietary software techniques for backing up a drive, for instance using Time Machine. I do not use such methods because, if something goes wrong, even a little thing, then you could lose some or all of your data. To me, the only true reliable backup of any drive is to clone it, bit-for-bit using good old copy and paste, such is what is done in Super-Duper. Just my opinion. Mark -----Original Message----- From: 'Robert Cole' via MacVisionaries [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, July 19, 2019 10:13 AM To: Email Groups Subject: APFS or Mac Extended Journal for backup drive Dear List, My Mac is APFS, but my backup drive is Mac Extended Journal, Should I convert the USB external drive to APFS? Thanks in advance, Rob -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/FBD01D2B-655E-4E27-A6AB-8AB5394A57A4%40icloud.com. -- The following information is important for all members of the Mac Visionaries list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your Mac Visionaries list moderator is Mark Taylor. You can reach mark at: [email protected] and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/macvisionaries/000301d53e92%24153d3da0%243fb7b8e0%24%40edu.
