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Removing Apples APFS Filing System

Tags: Mac

I have just updated my operating system from OSX 10.11.6 El Capitan to OSX 10.15.4 Catalina. I wish to remove this and go back to El Capitan. I can’t do this because the new OSX uses Apples APFS Filing system. I can’t reformat the hard disk back the HFS+ because I can’t unmount the internal drive. Can somebody advise me if there is a way around this problem please.
Regards Salicet.

Topic

Downgrade to El Capitan

In reply to Removing Apples APFS Filing System

Hi, I downgraded from Catalina to Mojave recently as I wasn’t happy with the update either. I understand your frustration with reverting to HFS+, but it is possible. However, you will need a bootable El Capitan Installer.
Get a 12GB external drive and download El Capitan installer from this link – do not open it when it finishes downloading;
Open Disk Utility. Click on “View” in the top left corner of the window and choose “Show All Devices”;
Select the root drive in the sidebar;
Click on Erase. Choose MacOS Extended (Journaled) as the format and GUID Partition Map for scheme. Click on Erase again and wait for the drive to be set up.
Go to Terminal. Copy and paste the following text: sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app – MyVolume is your drive name;
Press Enter and type in your password. Wait for the process to be done;
Now, to downgrade APFS to HFS+ El Capitan you need to restart your Mac;
As the Mac is booting immediately hold Option;
At the startup manager page, choose the bootable installer that you just created;
Go to Disk Utility → Show All Devices → Erase. Choose MacOS Extended (Journaled) for format and change your drive name;
Quit Disk Utility;
Choose Reinstall macOs and select the new drivename as the volume.

Done. You should be able to migrate your data with Time Machine backup. Hope this helps.

[Author]

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