New iMac M4 and Elements 10 External Hard Drive

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Level 1

8 points

New iMac M4 and Elements 10 External Hard Drive

I have a relatively new Imac M4 running Sequoia 15.7.2 and a new Elements 10TB External Hard Drive. I just formatted HD to EXFAT. It said that would run it on Mac or Windows. I then spent about 24 hours transferring data from 2 drives to it.

However, I just went to add a bunch of photos to the photo library and got this message:

PLEASE tell me there is a way for me to use Disc Utility to reformat without losing all of that data!

iMac 21.5″ 4K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 25, 2025 9:10 AM

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Answer 1

Limnos

Level 10

426,641 points

Nov 25, 2025 9:16 AM in response to imnokid2

Since you are not using APFS already I don't think there is a way to change the partitioning scheme and format without erasing all data.

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Answer 2

imnokid2 Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 25, 2025 9:55 AM in response to Richard.Taylor

Richard, thanx for the link to the article. I never knew that you shouldn't have a Time Machine backup on the same disc as your photos. Looks like I'm stuck with getting some old HDs out of the attic and transferring my data from the 10TB to them, then erase and reformat the drive and drag everything back. AAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!

It takes about 24 hours for each transfer, as I have about 8TB of songs, photos, and movies!!!!

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Answer 3

Nov 25, 2025 4:47 PM in response to imnokid2

I feel for you! I am backing up a bunch of old drives to 10TB 3.5" drives, and it takes forever! I'm used to using SSDs that are so much faster.

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Answer 4

Nov 25, 2025 9:33 AM in response to imnokid2

I'm afraid you're stuck. I looked to see if I could partition an ExFAT drive, and that's not possible. I saw this on the ad at Amazon

Luckily it doesn't hurt for a Photos Library to sit on an ExFAT drive, but running it from there causes irreparable corruption. See this from Apple:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

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