Apple to End Support for Mac OS Extended File System in macOS
Apple announced that macOS 28 will discontinue support for the Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) file system format. The older format is being replaced by APFS.
Apple has announced that its upcoming macOS 28 operating system will no longer support the Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) file system format. This change reflects Apple's ongoing transition to more modern and secure file systems.
The company stated that Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) is an older security file system format specific to previous macOS versions and has been superseded by APFS (Apple File System) with encryption. Apple has already been issuing warnings since macOS 26 when users connect external drives formatted with the older system.
Starting with macOS 28, systems will not support this legacy format. Users are advised to use the Disk Utility application to reformat their external drives to formats such as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) or ExFAT before upgrading their operating system.
APFS was first introduced in 2016 and became the default file system for macOS starting with High Sierra (10.13). It offers advantages like improved encryption, space sharing, snapshots, and enhanced performance, particularly for SSDs.