APFS reformated SSD to HFS+ / data recovery

joecool · Feb 23, 2022

2017 13" MBP 256GB macOS Big Sur APFS

SSD was formatted to HFS+ via terminal while booting from external USB drive. It was not secure erase.
Scanned the drive with Disk Drill utility via Thunderbolt connection from another Mac, but it cannot see any data to recover.

Why is that not possible if only the drive format was destroyed?
The actual data was not over written.

Solaris17 · Feb 23, 2022

Because APFS isn’t a traditional file system. The OS lives inside a virtual machine that the boot loader loads into.

joecool · Feb 23, 2022

Ok, that would explain why I don't see any... thank you

System Name	Rocinante
Processor	I9 14900KS
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z790I Edge WiFi Gaming
Cooling	be quiet! Pure Loop 240mm
Memory	64GB Gskill Trident Z5 DDR5 6000 @6400
Video Card(s)	MSI SUPRIM Liquid X 4090
Storage	1x 500GB 980 Pro \| 1x 1TB 980 Pro \| 1x 8TB Corsair MP400
Display(s)	Odyssey OLED G9 (G95SC)
Case	LANCOOL 205M MESH Snow
Audio Device(s)	Moondrop S8's on schitt Modi+ & Valhalla 2
Power Supply	ASUS ROG Loki SFX-L 1000W
Mouse	Lamzu Atlantis mini (White)
Keyboard	Monsgeek M3 Lavender, Akko Crystal Blues
VR HMD	Quest 3
Software	openSUSE Tumbleweed
Benchmark Scores	I dont have time for that.

APFS reformated SSD to HFS+ / data recovery

joecool

Solaris17

Super Dainty Moderator

joecool