How to Downgrade a Drive from APFS to HFS+

As many of you Mac users know, the new High Sierra brings with it a new type of file system called APFS. The new file system APFS is a modern format particularly designed for use with SSDs. So, if have an SSD and you upgrade to High Sierra, then it will be automatically converted to APFS.

Although APFS file systems do have certain advantages like greater efficiency, high read and write speed, and better system performance, there are some drawbacks however. For instance, your APFS file system is still not compatible with Time machine, File Vault, and some of the fancy and useful features Mac offers. So, if you find this to be a problem, then it is possible to revert to High Sierra without any issues.

Of course, you cannot use the standard Disk Utility, but it is possible with the help of the Terminal.

Steps to downgrade from APFS to HFS+

Go to the Terminal application which is located in the Applications > Utility folder
Once you are in the Terminal window, type the following command ‘diskutil list’

Now, you will be displayed a list of drives that are inside your Mac as well as the ones connected to your Mac. Please note down the name of the identifier for the APFS volume.
Next, we are going to erase the APFS volume. So, if you have data stored on it, please make sure you have a backup and then proceed with this step. In the command, replace the bracketed part with the APFS volume identifier you noted down in the previous step.

‘diskutil apfs deleteContainer [name of the APFS volume]’

Next, we are going to format the drive using the following command. Please replace the first bracketed term with any desired name and the second bracketed term with the identifier noted in Step 3.

‘diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ “[Name of the volume]” [name of the APFS volume]’

Now the disk will be formatted to the HFS+ file system and renamed with the name you provided in the last step. But please remember, the key thing to remember is that going from APFS to HFS can be a nightmare if you don’t have data backed up. So, be sure to back up data on the drive before you attempt to convert from APFS to HFS.

Data recovery using Yodot data recovery software

Ideally, before you go ahead and format a drive, it is important that you have a working backup in place. If not, all data on that drive would be lost. If you happen to be in such a situation, luckily it is still possible to recover data using a tool called Yodot data recovery software for Mac.

Yodot is an ideal data recovery tool that can recover data after formatting a drive, re-formatting a drive, or partitioning a drive. All the recovered data will retain the same structure and file names as the original.

Moreover, this tool can be used to recover data from hard drives, USB flash drives, iPods, SD cards, and various other storage devices.

Yodot Software