iMac HD APFS vs Samsung T5 1TB External SSD (no APFS option)

[wommy78]

I have a late 2013 iMac (21.5, 2.7GHz, Quad-Core Intel Core i5) running macOS Catalina 10.15.7. It runs incredibly slowly so I want to back everything up to an external SSD and use that as the startup drive to try to speed things up.

Problem is when I go to set up the external SSD there's no option for matching it to the internal HD APFS volume. The options I'm given are:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
MS-DOS (FAT)
ExFAT

Every article I've read/video I've watched on this subject seems to suggest using the first option above (Journaled), BUT they all also say to match the format of the external SSD to the internal HD which is AFPS.

Can anyone explain what I should do?
Any help much appreciated!

 

[Lufbrarunner]

What is the current format of your drive?

I added an external drive to my mac recently and it was formatted as FAT 32, and like you I did not get an option for AP{FS from disk utility. I formatted to Mac os extended (journaled), and after that The APFS option was there.