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Support for the encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) format will end with macOS 28 next year

Dennis Sellers

In a new support document — as noted by Macworld — Apple announced that support for the encrypted Mac OS Extended (HFS+) format will end with macOS 28.

That update of the operating system for the Mac won’t arrive until 2028. macOS 27 is now in beta testing and will likely arrive to end users in September. 

Mac OS Extendedis a traditional file system that Apple created in 1998 to organize data on Mac computers. It served as the standard format for macOS until Apple introduced the modern Apple File System (APFS) in 2017. And it works well with older Mac operating systems released prior to macOS High Sierra.

With macOS 28, users will need to reformat or decrypt any storage device formatted with encrypted Mac OS Extended to use the drive with macOS 28. To check your Mac’s format and encryption:

Starting with macOS 26, your Mac might notify you that you’re using an encrypted Mac OS Extended disk and that it won’t be compatible with macOS 28 or later.

The notification will identify the volume by name, but if you want to confirm that the volume is using Mac OS Extended format and is encrypted:

  1. Open Disk Utility, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder. Or use Spotlight to find and open it.
  2. From the View menu in the menu bar, choose Show Only Volumes.
  3. In the sidebar of Disk Utility, select the name of the volume.
  4. Look for the information shown directly under the name of the volume on the right. If you see both “Mac OS Extended” and “Encrypted” for your volume, that volume won’t be compatible with macOS 28 and later. Example:
    • CoreStorage Logical Volume • Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)

macOS 28 and later will continue to support unencrypted volumes that use Mac OS Extended format. Mac OS Extended is also known as HFS Plus (or HFS+).

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Article provided with permission from AppleWorld.Today
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