Got an old encrypted hard drive in a drawer? Apple just put a deadline on it. With the upcoming macOS 28 update, your Mac will flat-out refuse to mount encrypted drives using the old Mac OS Extended file system — so if you’re still holding on to one, now’s the time to deal with it.
This isn’t coming out of nowhere. Apple has been flagging incompatible hard drives by showing warning pop-ups since macOS 26 and has now confirmed a hard cutoff.
So take note: if you still have an old backup or an archive of camera footage stored on an encrypted Mac OS Extended volume in a drawer or cabinet, macOS 28 will lock you out unless you fix it.
macOS 28 dropping HFS+ drive support
Mac OS Extended — also known as HFS+ — was introduced way back in 1998 and continued to be the default file system for almost two decades before being replaced by the new Apple File System (APFS) in 2017.
APFS was built with encryption baked in, with Apple reminding Mac users to switch to the newer format. And discontinuing HFS+ with macOS 28 seems to be a more forceful step in that direction. Apple hasn’t explained the reasoning, but the change lines up with a support document the company published this week.
The move affects HFS+ formatted and encrypted drives, but unencrypted drives will continue working just fine on macOS 28.
How to see if your drive is affected
The process to find out of you’re still using a drive with the old Mac OS Extended file system is straightforward.
- Open Disk Utility (search for it using Spotlight)
- Now, click on View and choose Show Only Volumes.
- Select your drive in the sidebar.
- Look at the label under the drive.
If it says both “Mac OS Extended” and “Encrypted”, it’s on the chopping block.
Pick a fix before upgrading
If you have an HFS+ drive, there are two options to deal with this, and both are somewhat time-consuming. Fortunately, you have plenty of time — macOS 28 isn’t expected unti fall 2027.
Reformat the drive: This will wipe everything, so back things up first. Simply move all the files onto another drive. Once the HFS+ is empty, reformat it as APFS or APFS (Encrypted) using Disk Utility, and you are good to go for years.
Decrypt, then convert: Unlock the drive, Control-click on its icon and hit the Decrypt option.
If you have a bigger drive, it may take some time. Once done, you can convert it to APFS using Disk Utility without losing any data. Just note that the trick won’t work if you have encrypted Time Machine backup drives.
Apple’s own support document states it will only support unencrypted Mac OS Extended drives, leaving no ambiguity about what’s coming. You’ve got more than a year before macOS 28 arrives, so there’s no excuse for getting caught off guard.
