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APFS

Backing up to network storage: checks and balances

Backing up with Time Machine to a NAS or other network storage is different. Here’s an account of how it creates and handles sparse bundle storage in Ventura 13.2.

February 1, 2023 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: How APFS trims a disk image to size

How APFS can trim free space in a read/write disk image and transform it into a sparse file, so it uses storage more efficiently.

January 15, 2023 Macs, Technology

Which disk image format?

Plain read/write (UDRW), sparse image (UDSP), and sparse bundle (UDSB) compared for storage efficiency, performance, and convenience.

January 12, 2023 Macs, Technology

How plain disk images went sparse in Monterey

In Monterey and Ventura, regular read-write UDRW disk images can now be APFS sparse files, and work more efficiently than sparse images or sparse bundles.

January 9, 2023 Macs, Technology

Should you use a disk image or a volume?

Disk images originated in the 1960s, and are still valuable tools in modern macOS. They have their limitations, though, and in some cases should be replaced by APFS volumes.

January 7, 2023 Macs, Technology

Lightweight VMs are sparse files, and how to keep them compact

Virtual Machines for lightweight virtualisation on Apple silicon Macs rely on sparse files. Here are tips to ensure they stay small and don’t explode to full size.

January 5, 2023 Macs, Technology

Inside APFS: from containers to clones

How APFS containers and volumes work. What hard links, clones and sparse files are, and when they break down.

January 2, 2023 Macs, Technology

Free space on an APFS volume is an illusion

You’re in control of a traditional file system, but with snapshots, clones, sparse files and other volumes sharing free space, APFS isn’t as simple.

December 30, 2022 Macs, Technology

Estimating the remaining life of a Mac’s internal SSD

Making sense of the SMART indicators for NVMe SSDs, including all recent models fitted by Apple to Macs.

December 13, 2022 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Similar hardware but different by design

The iPad Pro has the same M2 chip as a MacBook Air, a keyboard and trackpad, and a single Thunderbolt/USB4 port, but there the similarities end.

December 11, 2022 Macs, Technology

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