{"id":626,"date":"2018-11-23T13:31:08","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T18:31:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/?p=626"},"modified":"2018-11-23T13:31:08","modified_gmt":"2018-11-23T18:31:08","slug":"external-apfs-fusion-drive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/2018\/11\/23\/external-apfs-fusion-drive\/","title":{"rendered":"External APFS Fusion Drive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier this year and on a previous post<\/a>, I explained how I constructed and configured an external fusion drive using Apple’s CoreStorage via the diskutil<\/span> utility. Since I upgraded to macOS Mojave and it has the Apple File System (APFS<\/span>) with Fusion Drive support, I decided that I want to convert my old external Fusion Drive setup to APFS<\/span>. Always being an early adopter!<\/p>\n

I tried to find online instructions on how to accomplish this, but there were just bits and pieces. \u00a0So in case I forget in the future and also someone else may find this useful, I decided to place the instructions here.<\/p>\n

First, I did try to convert my old external fusion named, MediaFusion<\/span>, with the diskutil<\/span> application. Unfortunately that was unsuccessful and it returned an error. Therefore, I had to backup all the contents in MediaFusion<\/span>, split the old fusion drive and create a brand new APFS<\/span> container with multiple drives and partitions. Following are all the command line steps that I executed via the Terminal<\/span> application.<\/p>\n

First, let me show you what I had to begin with:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n$ diskutil cs list\n\nCoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)\n|\n+-- Logical Volume Group 33383C9C-0CE7-4361-8A72-0DD606CDB079\n    =========================================================\n    Name:         mediafusion\n    Status:       Online\n    Size:         4500172365824 B (4.5 TB)\n    Free Space:   40960 B (41.0 KB)\n    |\n    +-< Physical Volume 42A28BA6-0C40-4650-BE03-23FF7F377E58\n    |   ----------------------------------------------------\n    |   Index:    0\n    |   Disk:     disk4s2\n    |   Status:   Online\n    |   Size:     499762860032 B (499.8 GB)\n    |\n    +-< Physical Volume E7E51D4E-B65A-44C9-961C-B1ACB70ACF92\n    |   ----------------------------------------------------\n    |   Index:    1\n    |   Disk:     disk3s2\n    |   Status:   Online\n    |   Size:     4000409505792 B (4.0 TB)\n    |\n    +-> Logical Volume Family C1F85922-A4C2-42B2-A8FF-BF46ED8B2641\n        ----------------------------------------------------------\n        Encryption Type:         None\n        |\n        +-> Logical Volume 6C87BA11-AC3D-449B-B591-D53C99C98078\n            ---------------------------------------------------\n            Disk:                  disk5\n            Status:                Online\n            Size (Total):          4499551551488 B (4.5 TB)\n            Revertible:            No\n            LV Name:               MediaFusion\n            Volume Name:           MediaFusion\n            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS\n            LVG Type:              Sparse\n<\/pre>\n\n\n
Next, I have to split the two drives, the disk4s2<\/span> (SSD 500GB) and the disk3s2<\/span> (HDD 4TB) mechanical drive.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n$ diskutil cs deleteVolume 6C87BA11-AC3D-449B-B591-D53C99C98078\n\nThe Core Storage Logical Volume UUID is 6C87BA11-AC3D-449B-B591-D53C99C98078\nStarted CoreStorage operation on disk5 MediaFusion\nUnmounting disk5\nRemoving Logical Volume from Logical Volume Group\nFinished CoreStorage operation on disk5 MediaFusion\n\n$ diskutil cs delete 33383C9C-0CE7-4361-8A72-0DD606CDB079\n\nStarted CoreStorage operation\nDestroying Logical Volume Group\nErasing disk4s2\nInitialized \/dev\/rdisk4s2 as a 465 GB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume with a 40960k journal\nMounting disk\nErasing disk3s2\nInitialized \/dev\/rdisk3s2 as a 4 TB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume with a 311296k journal\nMounting disk\nFinished CoreStorage operation\n\n$ diskutil list\n\n\/dev\/disk3 (external, physical):\n   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER\n   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *4.0 TB     disk3\n   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1\n   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                4.0 TB     disk3s2\n\n\/dev\/disk4 (external, physical):\n   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER\n   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk4\n   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk4s1\n   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                499.8 GB   disk4s2\n\n<\/pre>\n\n\n
Once the drives are properly split and reverted back to their original partition maps, I can then create my multi-device APFS Container<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n$ diskutil ap createContainer disk4s2 disk3s2\n\nCreating container with disk4s2 disk3s2\nStarted APFS operation on disk4s2 Untitled\nCreating a new empty APFS Container\nUnmounting Volumes\nSwitching disk4s2 to APFS\nSwitching disk3s2 to APFS\nCreating APFS Container\nFusionLC autodetect: regular Fusion\nCreated new APFS Container disk5\nDisk from APFS operation: disk5\nFinished APFS operation on disk4s2 Untitled\n\n$ diskutil ap addVolume disk5 APFS MediaFusion\n\nExporting new APFS Volume \"MediaFusion\" from APFS Container Reference disk5\nStarted APFS operation on disk5\nPreparing to add APFS Volume to APFS Container disk5\nCreating APFS Volume\nCreated new APFS Volume disk5s1\nMounting APFS Volume\nSetting volume permissions\nDisk from APFS operation: disk5s1\nFinished APFS operation on disk5\n<\/pre>\n\n\n
Be sure to specify the faster drive (disk4s2) as the first device!<\/strong> Once both the container and volume is completed I now have two APFS based fusion drives.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n$ diskutil ap list\n\nAPFS Containers (2 found)\n|\n+-- Container disk2 1D566DF6-F26A-4E92-BE2F-5C38B62C579B\n|   ====================================================\n|   APFS Container Reference:     disk2 (Fusion)\n|   Size (Capacity Ceiling):      3121506295808 B (3.1 TB)\n|   Capacity In Use By Volumes:   1924724002816 B (1.9 TB) (61.7% used)\n|   Capacity Not Allocated:       1196782292992 B (1.2 TB) (38.3% free)\n|   |\n|   +-< Physical Store disk0s2 123F0CDD-E154-4CC6-8F2D-D344166F04E8\n|   |   -----------------------------------------------------------\n|   |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk0s2 (Main)\n|   |   Size:                       121123069952 B (121.1 GB)\n|   |\n|   +-< Physical Store disk1s2 9A6CCF8F-D0A1-4791-9F1C-DBFB1BB38461\n|   |   -----------------------------------------------------------\n|   |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk1s2 (Secondary, Designated Aux Use)\n|   |   Size:                       3000383225856 B (3.0 TB)\n|   |\n|   +-> Volume disk2s1 0C36C0CE-B273-3626-A17C-E04BC605FA25\n|   |   ---------------------------------------------------\n|   |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk2s1 (No specific role)\n|   |   Name:                      Macintosh HD (Case-insensitive)\n|   |   Mount Point:               \/\n|   |   Capacity Consumed:         1913007661056 B (1.9 TB)\n|   |   FileVault:                 No\n|   |\n|   +-> Volume disk2s2 58E58B2A-7F7E-4E02-944B-5F1FF84B0BAF\n|   |   ---------------------------------------------------\n|   |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk2s2 (Preboot)\n|   |   Name:                      Preboot (Case-insensitive)\n|   |   Mount Point:               Not Mounted\n|   |   Capacity Consumed:         30584832 B (30.6 MB)\n|   |   FileVault:                 No\n|   |\n|   +-> Volume disk2s3 EEF4C40B-75B8-4D86-90A4-85AD764F3BD4\n|   |   ---------------------------------------------------\n|   |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk2s3 (Recovery)\n|   |   Name:                      Recovery (Case-insensitive)\n|   |   Mount Point:               Not Mounted\n|   |   Capacity Consumed:         509845504 B (509.8 MB)\n|   |   FileVault:                 No\n|   |\n|   +-> Volume disk2s4 CC23597C-9267-4F93-8DE3-73892FEA6ABF\n|       ---------------------------------------------------\n|       APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk2s4 (VM)\n|       Name:                      VM (Case-insensitive)\n|       Mount Point:               \/private\/var\/vm\n|       Capacity Consumed:         2147516416 B (2.1 GB)\n|       FileVault:                 No\n|\n+-- Container disk5 2A73D327-63D2-4BFA-973C-B62B00CA5B70\n    ====================================================\n    APFS Container Reference:     disk5 (Fusion)\n    Size (Capacity Ceiling):      4500440801280 B (4.5 TB)\n    Capacity In Use By Volumes:   9130835968 B (9.1 GB) (0.2% used)\n    Capacity Not Allocated:       4491309965312 B (4.5 TB) (99.8% free)\n    |\n    +-< Physical Store disk3s2 851807A7-E19E-47CD-85E7-5A6EC82FBFD1\n    |   -----------------------------------------------------------\n    |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk3s2 (Secondary, Designated Aux Use)\n    |   Size:                       4000543723520 B (4.0 TB)\n    |\n    +-< Physical Store disk4s2 1811B401-B8B7-4C49-802F-91F24F535962\n    |   -----------------------------------------------------------\n    |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk4s2 (Main)\n    |   Size:                       499897077760 B (499.9 GB)\n    |\n    +-> Volume disk5s1 AF4C9AE1-1236-4171-8C73-F4BB4387CC8A\n        ---------------------------------------------------\n        APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk5s1 (No specific role)\n        Name:                      MediaFusion (Case-insensitive)\n        Mount Point:               \/Volumes\/MediaFusion\n        Capacity Consumed:         839680 B (839.7 KB)\n        FileVault:                 No\n\n<\/pre>\n\n\n
The first (disk2<\/span>) is the internal fusion drive converted by the Mojave installation process. The second (disk5<\/span>) is the newly created drive.<\/p>\n
That is it! After I recopy my original contents back onto the newly created APFS<\/span>, I am good to go.<\/p>\n
Another benefit for knowing how to do this is that new Apple hardware configuration is becoming more limiting, only offering internal SSD configurations. This is great for performance but not so great for one’s pocket books. Knowing that we can create an external APFS<\/span> fusion drive using USB 3 or Thunderbolt 3 is very reassuring that we can still have this frugal compromise, while keeping up with Apple’s latest file system advancements.<\/p>\n
I hope you find this useful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Earlier this year and on a previous post, I explained how I constructed and configured an external fusion drive using Apple’s CoreStorage via the diskutil utility. Since I upgraded to macOS Mojave and it has the Apple File System (APFS) with Fusion Drive support, I decided that I want to convert my old external Fusion … Continue reading “External APFS Fusion Drive”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[76,75,77,72,79,74,73,78],"class_list":["post-626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-apfs","tag-apple-file-system","tag-diskutil","tag-fusion-drive","tag-hdd","tag-macos","tag-mojave","tag-ssd"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2018\/11\/title-825x409.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7V6i8-a6","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":642,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/642"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lufamily.ca\/kang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}