Mac - formatting external drives to APFS

[Zenon]

I updated to Big Sur while allows Time Machine to work with AFPS. I reformatted the Time Machine drive which is a spinning disk to AFPS. I've never seen a complete backup that fast. Less than an hour.

I'm considering reformatting my external drives that store my RAW files. Also spinning disks. What would be the best method? Lightroom points to one drive and the other drive is the backup. I use CCC to backup the RAW files from one ED to the other.

Is it even worth it? Should I just reformat the main drive and copy the files from the backup and then reformat it? Should I get recovery software for this? I've done similar things before but I'm wondering if there is an easier method.

 

[clee01l]

I converted all of my Thunderbolt drives to APFS when Apple introduced that option for HDDs. I was not aware that any one thought this to be inefficient. I certainly have not been hampered by the conversion to APFS.

 

[Zenon]

One drive is pretty old. I think I'll buy a new one first. Convert and copy my files over and then reformat the backup.