In Disk Utility, you chose "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" instead of "APFS." The macOS installer (High Sierra or later) refuses to proceed because it expects APFS for optimal performance and security.
APFS (Apple File System) is Apple’s modern file system, introduced with macOS High Sierra (10.13) in 2017. It’s optimized for SSDs (solid-state drives), flash storage, and SSDs soldered onto Mac logic boards. It offers better encryption, space sharing, crash protection, and faster directory sizing.
A: The older Mac may have an outdated firmware that doesn’t fully support APFS external booting. Update the older Mac’s firmware via a standard macOS update.
List all drives: diskutil list
Have you run into this error before? Let me know in the comments — or share your own fix if you found a different solution.
You might see this error in Disk Utility, the macOS Recovery partition, or during a clean install via a USB boot drive. For many users, this message is confusing because they know their drive works, or they have already erased it.
Once you have successfully installed macOS on an APFS drive, follow these guidelines: this mac can only install macos on apfs-formatted drives
From the macOS Utilities window, select → Continue .
A: Yes. Erasing to APFS is a destructive process. Back up your data first via Time Machine or drag-and-drop.
The error means: Your target drive is currently formatted with an older file system (usually Mac OS Extended, also called HFS+), but your Mac and the version of macOS you’re trying to install require APFS. In Disk Utility, you chose "Mac OS Extended
This message typically appears right when you think you’re ready to go—after erasing your drive, selecting it in the installer, and clicking “Install.” Instead of progress, you get a halt.
Sometimes the drive is APFS, but the installer is looking for a specific of APFS. This happens when you are using a very old macOS installer (e.g., High Sierra 10.13.0) with a new NVMe SSD.