Knowing a little about sparse and clone files in APFS is dangerous, as it can lead you to draw the wrong conclusions.
APFS
For Big Sur and later, specifically tailored to provide full analysis and troubleshooting of hourly Time Machine backups to APFS in Sonoma.
Coping with 64-bit code, APFS, the different CPU, the SSV, System Settings, Recovery Mode, and how to get the best from migration and sharing in iCloud.
What was the biggest and most important change in macOS this year? Pets in the People album in Photos, AirTag sharing, or iCloud Drive?
New version creates and maintains Case-sensitive APFS sparse bundles in addition to its previous range of formats.
Two different errors when backing up two different Macs, a recursive RTFD document, and APFS path length limits. But what’s this about FileProvider?
How should you restore a whole volume, or an old version of a document to a different folder? Includes details of backup structure.
APFS checks file system metadata, not file data. Consistency Scan has gone missing, verifying checksums doesn’t appear to verify data, and Verify Integrity seems to do something altogether different.
The most frequent error written to the log during my backups concerns a rogue RTFD that went recursive on me 4 years ago, and has come back to haunt me.
Detailed account and explanation of the sequence of phases during an automatic backup in Sonoma 14.0 and 14.1, with tear-out chart.
The Eclectic Light Company 