"Convert to APFS" greyed out on 2012 Mojave 27" iMac?

[jman995x]

Hello,

Tried to upgrade my 2012 27" iMac, running Mojave to the latest and greatest OS, and was told that it wasn't possible because the drive isn't formatted to APFS.

So, did some research, booted into Recovery mode, opened Disk Utility, but the option to "Convert to APFS" is there, it is greyed out / unavailable.

Why is that, and how to I fix that / convert this drive to APFS?

Thanks,

- Justin

 

[Bigwaff]

You can't convert the Disk Image "OS X Base System". The disk image is the installer. You need to select your Internal "Mac HDD" and convert that to APFS. Make sure you select menu "View > Show All Devices" before. Make sure you have a backup of your system.

Tried to upgrade my 2012 27" iMac, running Mojave to the latest and greatest OS,

What is the "latest and greatest OS"? Are you attempting to use OCLP to install ... what macOS version?

 

[chrfr]

Hello,

Tried to upgrade my 2012 27" iMac, running Mojave to the latest and greatest OS, and was told that it wasn't possible because the drive isn't formatted to APFS.

So, did some research, booted into Recovery mode, opened Disk Utility, but the option to "Convert to APFS" is there, it is greyed out / unavailable.

Why is that, and how to I fix that / convert this drive to APFS?

Thanks,

- Justin
View attachment 2359083 View attachment 2359084

If you were going to do the APFS conversion you’d need to click on “Mac HDD”, not “OS X Base System” but there may be more complicated issues here.

 

[Bigwaff]

but there may be more complicated issues here.

Agreed. Waiting for more details... a lot more details.

 

[Nermal]

I'd advise opening Terminal and posting the output of "diskutil list".

 

[DeltaMac]

It would also be good to know if the internal drive is an SSD, and you have named it Mac_HDD, because you chose that name, and it is not actually a "spinning rust" hard drive. You may not like the result, if you convert a mechanical hard drive to APFS.

 

[NoBoMac]

You may not like the result, if you convert a mechanical hard drive to APFS.

Correct. And if the case, then don't want to go past Mojave as that's last HFS+ OS iirc.

 

[jman995x]

Sorry for the delayed reply...posted right before walking out the door to work, and just walked in.

Here are the answers to your initial questions...

Fusion Drive.

So, from what I'm understanding, going to APFS so that I can upgrade to the latest Mac OS is not a good idea...correct?
Just out of (noobie) curiosity....why is that?

Any other suggestions?..the machine is still in great shape (although it is 2012, it's been in storage for the past 3 years)....
So, should I just replace the Fusion Drive with a 1TB-2TB SSD, if I plan to use the machine (as a second machine), for a few more years (but want the most current OS functionality / connectivity), etc.?

In other words, should I replace the Fusion with a 2TB SSD, in order to format to APFS, so that I can upgrade to the latest OS as long as possible, until some other hardware failure (or planned obsolescence or "no longer supported / upgradable" event) happens?

Thanks for any and all help.

- J.

 

[Bigwaff]

So, should I just replace the Fusion Drive with a 1TB-2TB SSD

There is no harm in reformat current Fusion Drive as APFS and installing. Note that a 10+ yr old Fusion Drive is a ticking time bomb. Replacing with an SSD will definitely be a big benefit in performance and reliability. Caveat is opening the iMac and putting back together is PITA.

 

[jman995x]

There is no harm in reformat current Fusion Drive as APFS and installing. Note that a 10+ yr old Fusion Drive is a ticking time bomb. Replacing with an SSD will definitely be a big benefit in performance and reliability. Caveat is opening the iMac and putting back together is PITA.

Good to know about the "Ticking Time Bomb".
Any good recommendations for which particular SSD to swap in there?

Also, this would be my first time tackling this task (I've opened the iMac case to replace something else...just not swap the HDD)...what would be the best way to go about it?

In other words, and my apologies for this noobie question....if I swap out the Fusion for new SSD, how do I go about setting up the new SSD to be bootable, with an OS on it?

Also, and my apologies again for the noobie question....if I make a Time Machine backup of my entire Fusion Drive before the swap, then "Restore From Backup" or "Time Machine" all of those files back onto the newly-updated-to-SSD iMac, are there going to be any issues (ie: the "Time Machine" backup was made when the iMac was HFS+, but will be trying to "Restore" to a APFS.....will there be any issues with that)?

Thanks for any and all help/guidance through this transition.

- J.

 

[Bigwaff]

what would be the best way to go about it?

Depending on how much you want to spend, you could replace the Fusion Drive components (Fusion Drive is SSD+HDD combo) w/ two SSD.

SSD Upgrade Kits for 27-Inch iMac (2012 - Early 2013)

Get everything you need to upgrade your 2012-2013 iMac SSD for a total system performance and capacity boost. All SSDs backed by a lifetime warranty.

eshop.macsales.com

how do I go about setting up the new SSD to be bootable, with an OS on it?

That is an excellent question. You are going to need to create USB installation media for a version of macOS which is natively supported by your 2012 iMac. I would create either Mojave or Catalina USB install media on 16GB thumb drive or USB external HDD if you have one.

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

Use an external drive or secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install macOS.

support.apple.com

After installing the new SSD(s), boot from the USB install media and format the SSD(s). At this point, you are going to have install Mojave or Catalina on the SSD to get a working iMac.

if I make a Time Machine backup of my entire Fusion Drive before the swap, then "Restore From Backup" or "Time Machine" all of those files back onto the newly-updated-to-SSD iMac, are there going to be any issues (ie: the "Time Machine" backup was made when the iMac was HFS+, but will be trying to "Restore" to a APFS.....will there be any issues with that)?

Once you have a working iMac, use Migration Assistant w/ your Time Machine backup to restore your data. You don't have to worry about HFS+ or APFS when restoring data files.

You never mentioned what the "latest and greatest" OS you plan to install... and how. More details in this regards will be very helpful.

 

[Nermal]

You never mentioned what the "latest and greatest" OS you plan to install... and how. More details in this regards will be very helpful.

Indeed. The latest supported on that machine is 10.15, only one step up from the current version. Newer versions will require "hacks".

 

[DSLY]

Мacbook Pro 2015 ssd Mojave (Macintosh HD - GUID) macos extended
I want to update to Catalina
this requires apfs
Recovery/ disc utility// APFS not allowed

 

[DeltaMac]

The Catalina installer will convert the drive to APFS automatically, during the install.