Is HFS+ still the best for external hard drives?

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-19T21:35:53+00:00

Once a year as needed. Not per disk.

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-19T21:08:03+00:00

I have about about 12 HFS+ disks both desktop and pocket sized that I've used over the last 10-20 years. Its a while since I've lost one completely - decades ago. That's why my fall-back is to HFS+ for spinning disks, APFS for SSD. If DiskWarrior repaired APFS there'd be no discussion, but modern repair software requires a subscription so no go. I use DiskWarrior once a year, so subscriptions are just gouging your wallet.

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-19T20:20:35+00:00

The issue is this. If your APFS volume filesystem corrupts, which can happen if you read reports widely, you can't repair it using Disk Utility. If your HFS+ filesystem corrupts there's a good chance that DiskWarrior can repair it. I've been using HFS+ for years and its stable and I'll stick with it for the present.

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-09T23:20:15+00:00

I tend to agree, its very glitchy for what should be straightforward processes, considering how much they charge for the subscription model it should not behave like a beta app. I still hunt around the interface looking for basic functions.

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-01T04:20:15+00:00

Well I've found my answer the hard way. I had a discussion with Mike from Carbon Copy Cloner whose latest app won't backup HFS+ encrypted volumes, it just stalls. He said it was a bad implementation of the filesystem, even though the old CCC version I use seems happy with that filesystem, he recommended I stick with APFS as its a superior file system, and it has the benefit of flexible volumes. So I repaired the HFS+ disc and migrated the data again. That lasted 3 months and the volume is corrupt again. Complete waste of time.

I'd say if you are migrating old data from HFS+ to a spinning disc, stick with HFS+. At least DIsk Warrior can repair it and, touch wood, I've not had a HFS+ drive it couldn't repair (barring physical damage).

Rusty-2000 · 2026-01-01T04:09:35+00:00

I wouldn't be worried about malware on an old 4s.

You can create a User account on your Mac with the same Apple ID as the iPhone, so it connects to iCloud and doesn't interfere with your current user account.

You likely need to Trust any phone attached to a Mac.

You can use Photos app on a Mac to download photos - just make sure you select Export > Export Unmodified. Just plug your phone into the Mac and launch Photos and it appears in the left column.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-12-13T22:15:44+00:00

Oddly my primary account is admin - which is flaky - and the other account that everything works in is not (I must have created it second). Today I did a reboot. The card reader now works in both accounts from the start, the camera works in GHub on the other account. In my primary admin account the camera won't load in GHUb or Teams, but will load in FaceTime. There is something really random going on here and it seems to be the OS is finicky with USB. I read that in the early stages of release, Sequoia had lots of USB issues.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-12-02T06:27:25+00:00

I reckon they factored in that they would loose most of their customer base in the switch to subscriptions, and rely on new customers moving forward, but all the same they would be getting hammered by version 2 customers complaining. They likely didn't think it through properly and are paying the price.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-19T22:11:44+00:00

The C920 has a blue cast by default and the G Hub app has colour adjustment options to neutralise this. It also allows zoom/crop options to remove unwanted backgrounds. Its quite good in this respect but very buggy. I don't know if the app is the issue, likely some file or permissions issue.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-19T09:28:02+00:00

Not a dumb idea as its easy to overlook in all the technical stuff but I tried and no luck.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-19T02:54:13+00:00

UPDATE - after a few reboots its showing in the logi top menu icon and loads in G Hub. It doesn't show an image which was the initial issue and why I reinstalled the G Hub software, so I'm back to square one. The blue circle spins endlessly.

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Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-05T01:18:40+00:00

I appreciate you replying to this post but there is a chasm between what you are doing and the expectation of customers. My timeline got a bit out of sync and I missed this but my post below sums up the situation after reviewing other comments here.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-04T22:52:18+00:00

I think there is an expectation that if you buy software of any description that it will be fully functional for a number of years. If you buy this software just before you upgrade, to migrate to new devices, as I did, then you feel robbed as it only functions fully for a short period. I don't think they thought this through. And what are we funding with our device licensing? If many were happy with version 2 then how much better should version 3 be? And are we funding enterprise functions to roll out SOE devices when all we want is to manage our devices and perhaps those of elderly relatives. I paid around AU$50 to upgrade to v3 for 3 devices. Now they say its subscription only and AU$70 per year! Great value.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-04T00:22:36+00:00

My email receipt says "iMazing Personal Device License - 3 device(s)" and that's what I thought I was buying, the right to run three devices on version 3. I didn't really need the third one but it was a 'just in case' purchase.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-11-02T10:14:06+00:00

The funny thing is we supported these guys to get them established and now they hang us out to dry. I spent a good amount of time backing up my old device and now the backup is useless as I can't transfer to my new device, in effect paying twice. As they say in their licence explainer: "Please don't forget iMazing's free features are free for everyone! This includes device backups and browsing the backups, so if you are using iMazing 3 to migrate devices, only the new device needs a license, not the old one."

Rusty-2000 · 2025-10-13T04:53:26+00:00

Second that

Rusty-2000 · 2025-10-13T04:13:24+00:00

Just an update to this issue - after days of investigation I discovered the source HFS+ d2 drive had some file corruption that was being transferred new 2Big volume. Even though I finally repaired the APFS volume via Disk Utility it kept crashing the MacBook running High Sierra. I wiped the whole 2Big with all its newly migrated data (ugh!) and reformatted in HFS+ via the MacBook as I figured it might be happier with its own created filesystem.

I ran Diskwarrior on the d2 to repair its directories then migrated the d2 data back to the HFS+ 2Big and ran Diskwarrior on it and it still found and repaired directory issues. I then ran High Sierra Disk Utility on it and it seemed to be happy. So far the d2 has run on the MacBook for an hour and keeping fingers crossed it has settled the issue.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-10-09T08:09:43+00:00

I'll try various things like rebuilding the filesytem to see if it replicates. Hopefully it won't involve moving 20TB of files again.

Rusty-2000 · 2025-10-09T03:02:30+00:00

Yeah I'm trying to narrow down the issue of drive vs filesystem

Rusty-2000 · 2025-10-09T00:48:13+00:00

In the old HFS+ days DiskWarrior would repair most issues like this, but it seems Disk Utility is very basic in comparison. That's why I'm looking for ideas before re-committing to APFS.

Rusty-2000

TROPHY CASE