How to Format External SSD on macOS Big Sur

External Solid State Drive Set Up on macOS Big Sur

[@hectorbmatos1017]

Thank you again !!! I just finished backing up my new Mac Pro 16" with a Scan disk Extreme 1050 MB/s!!!! Very fast !!! It will be dedicated just for back ups ;it is 1TB . Thank you so much for such an instructional video !!! Thanks for helping an old US veteran from the Viet - Nam era !!! Never too old to learn something new !!! Great video !!!

[@otmarraus8060]

My very first external SSD drive (Samsung 980PRO with ORICO M2 enclosure), lucky I clicked on you, all is up and running, thanks.

[@WashingtonMoyo]

Thank you, This helped me. I am going to be using Macs more

[@mydailywalkindeliverance]

You are a lifesaver. I really needed this and there you were. Thanks. Subscribed.

[@TechandDesign]

Glad I could help!

[@luksmuga]

Thanks for creating this video! Your tutorial has been very helpful. Keep up the good work 👍

[@TechandDesign]

Glad it was helpful!

[@williamtinajero3712]

Best tutorial for my specific situation bro, thank you💯

[@TechandDesign]

Glad it helped

[@simonpaulengland7833]

Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.....Fantastic, thank you man.....Gold dust....!!!!

[@TechandDesign]

😃

[@angrychick7543]

great video, thanks for making it

[@joonajks]

Would you recommend this process for formatting a cheap Ebay use nvme SSD that’s not recognizing on the computer?

[@nevenkofilipek]

Why not to format external ssd to apfs?

[@mohdkhairuddin5057]

what to do if at external section my external ssd not showed out.

[@0g.Ghost.7373]

So if my internal HD is 512gig I should go with double that? How many backups will that keep?

[@theuncharted2621]

It doesn't work for me in Big Sur with the T7 (MBP2020). I can only access the HD, I can't use the Touch program. Does not recognize the program, is in a loop, asks to install something that is already installed.

[@slssims]

this might be a stupid question but after everything gets backed up to time machine do i delete everything off my
mac book myself or it automatically deletes it

[@TechandDesign]

this is how Time Machine works: ua-cam.com/video/lhZ4_KS1qP8/v-deo.html

[@frankjudnich6749]

What about APS format

[@alexbreyer6921]

Do you mean APFS? You can format your SSD for that if you only plan to use it with storing files for the Mac. And it works awesome for that. Unfortunately, Apple hasn't recoded Time Machine to work with APFS, so if you want the drive for Time Machine it would have to be the Journaled format. I have different drives for backup and storage, so I use both.

[@alexbreyer6921]

Hey Frank I just researched this again. Apparently, Apple has updated Time Machine to now backup with APFS. So you can format a backup drive as either Journaled or APFS. Not sure when they made the change because just last year I was dealing with this. Note that an APFS formatted drive will not work with older Macs that don't support APFS in their OS.

[@luksmuga]

@@alexbreyer6921 Thank you, Alex, for checking. This is really helpful!

[@Bartetmedia]

APFS is the best for new SSD drives

[@TechandDesign]

yes, for ssd. that's why in the updated video you see that. Nothing wrong with journaled though

[@PianistTanooki]

​@@TechandDesign Actually, I made the mistake of formatting my new external SSD to "Mac OS Journaled (Extended)" and it ended up nearly costing me 2TB of data because my Mac stopped recognizing the drive. I managed to recover most of it, but I still ended up losing certain projects that I now have to start from scratch because of this incredibly terrible advice.
*DO NOT DO THIS*
So I would say there's *a lot* wrong with "Journaled" for SSDs.

[@roychang723]

Why would people want to format their External SSD only specifically on Mac or PC if there is an option that is capable for both? Can someone answer me plz?

[@SteveDignam]

Newer file systems are developed over time that are better than preceding ones. If people exclusively use either Mac or Windows, why rely on legacy systems?

[@alexbreyer6921]

ex(FAT) is not really an ideal formatting for Mac, although you can get it to work. It doesn't store the data as efficiently. Plus, the Time Machine backup software only works with the Journaled format. I'm rarely using a PC these days, but if I do need to share a file I can do it through the Internet in a cloud drive. Or you can format a USB stick to be ex(FAT) and move the file that way.

[@EllieMandyArt]

Wait! So…. If i click on Erase. I’m going to lose everything in my SSD! What are you saying? I have like 550GB of shit that i will never be able to get back… 🥺

[@alexbreyer6921]

If you need to re-format the drive, this is the only way to do that. If the drive has problems but you don't want to erase, you may want to try the First Aid option in Disk Utility, or there are other repair software apps on the market for recovery.

[@illustratorkarina923]

Couldn’t open device. : (-69877) ERROR, Erase process has failed.