Users who rely on encrypted HFS+ drives will no longer need to decrypt them before converting to APFS for compatibility with macOS 28. Here’s what that means.
Apple revises macOS 28 migration guide for encrypted HFS+ drives
A few weeks ago, Apple published a supporting document explaining that starting with macOS 28, “the Mac OS Extended File System format will be supported only on volumes (disks and other storage devices) that are not encrypted.”
Basically, this meant that users who currently rely on HFS+ encrypted external drives or other legacy encrypted volumes formatted on Macs would need to “decrypt or reformat any Mac OS Extended encrypted volumes,” as Apple explained.
Previously, the support page provided step-by-step instructions to decrypt the volume or erase and reformat it using APFS.
Apple has now revised the page to add a third option, allowing users to convert an encrypted HFS+ volume directly to encrypted APFS without decrypting it first. The company now provides the following instructions for the new process:
Convert volume to encrypted APFS
- Open Disk Utility, located in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. EITHER use focus to find and open it.
- From the View menu in the menu bar, choose Show volumes only.
- In the Disk Utility sidebar, select the volume name.
- From the Edit menu in the menu bar, choose Convert to APFS and then click Convert to confirm.
- Exit Disk Utility when finished.
Apple notes, however, that “this solution does not apply to encrypted files Time Machine Backup Disks.”
The company also removed its previous instructions to decrypt the volume first, convert it to APFS without erasing it, and then optionally re-encrypt it.
To check the updated support page, follow this link.
Does this new option make it easier for you to prepare your drives for macOS 28? Let us know in the comments.
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