Skip to content

The Eclectic Light Company

Macs & painting – 🦉 No AI content
Main navigation
  • Downloads
  • Freeware
  • All Macs
  • M1-M5 Macs
  • Troubleshooting
  • Painting
  • Mac Front Page

Disk Utility

Access and repair a broken disk image

When trouble strikes a disk image, macOS normally refuses to accept and mount it. This details how to use hdiutil to attach the image as a device so it can be repaired by fsck_apfs.

March 25, 2026 Macs, Technology

Disk image performance: the cost of encryption rises

The new ASIF disk image type is now 18 months old. How well does it perform? Is it as good as claimed? It all depends on whether you want to use encryption.

March 23, 2026 Macs, Technology

Explainer: Disk images

They come in a multitude of formats and variants, and are used throughout macOS and apps. How do you use them, and what should be wary of?

March 21, 2026 Macs, Technology

What to do with APFS warnings and errors

Should you attempt a repair in Recovery mode? Is it just a warning? How to identify the file or folder with a problem, and what to do to fix or prevent it from recurring.

March 20, 2026 Macs, Technology

Does Safe mode check the startup disk?

Safe mode is claimed to do 3 things: block 3rd party extensions, clear caches, and check your startup disk. But what disk checks does it really make, and how are they different?

March 3, 2026 Macs, Technology

How to erase your Apple silicon Mac

T T Read More

How to erase just the Data volume, the whole Boot Volume Group, all volume’s in the Mac’s visible container, or the entire internal SSD.

February 19, 2026 Macs, Technology

Explainer: snapshots

Fundamentally simple: a preserved copy of a volume at a moment in time. How its size can only increase with time, how they’re managed, what they’re used for, and the tools for using them.

January 31, 2026 Macs, Technology

Explainer: Storage settings

T T Read More

It was notorious for its crashes and reporting discrepancies, but now it’s incorporated in System Settings it’s more reliable and helpful. But there’s still the problem of System Data.

December 20, 2025 Macs, Technology

What to do when APFS has problems

First Aid in Disk Utility, or running fsck_apfs in Terminal, return warnings or errors on one of your Mac’s volumes. Here’s what to do next.

October 7, 2025 Macs, Technology

Why did that macOS upgrade take so much space?

Why upgrading to Tahoe shouldn’t consume the last free space on your Mac’s SSD, and once it has settled should use little more than currently. How to clear out old snapshots and reduce System Data.

October 2, 2025 Macs, Technology

Posts navigation

Previous1 2 3 … 20 Next
Blog at WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • About & Contact
  • Free Software Menu
  • Macs
  • Painting
  • Downloads
  • SilentKnight, Skint, SystHist, silnite, LockRattler & Scrub
  • XProCheck, T2M2, LogUI, Ulbow, blowhole and log utilities
  • Mints: a multifunction utility
  • xattred, SpotTest, Providable, Spotcord, Metamer & xattr tools
  • Versatility & Revisionist
  • DelightEd & Podofyllin
  • Precize, Alifix, UTIutility, Sparsity, alisma, Taccy, Signet
  • System Updates
  • Spundle, Cormorant, Stibium, DropSum, Dintch, Fintch and cintch
  • Virtualisation on Apple silicon
  • Cirrus & Bailiff
  • Text Utilities: Textovert, Disclipper, Nalaprop, Dystextia and others
  • sysctl information
  • Extended attributes (xattrs)
  • 32-bitCheck & ArchiChect
  • Keychains & Permissions
  • PDF
  • VisualLookUpTest
  • Updates
  • Long Reads
  • Mac Troubleshooting Summary
  • Saturday Mac Riddles
  • Last Week on My Mac
  • Painting topics
  • Mac problem-solving
  • M-series Macs
Secondary navigation
  • Search

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • The Eclectic Light Company
    • Join 9,093 other subscribers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Eclectic Light Company
    • Subscribe Subscribed
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...