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Disk Utility

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

Sparse disk images in virtual machines

All you need to know about the sparse RAW disk images used inside lightweight VMs on Apple silicon Macs.

January 10, 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

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

Repairing Home folder permissions: a mystery

Once, you could run diskutil to ‘fix’ broken permissions in your Home folder, then it was replaced by repairHomePermissions in Recovery. Apple no longer documents this, but it’s still there. Should you use it?

November 18, 2022 Macs, Technology

Disk Utility and Time Machine in Ventura

Has Ventura brought any relief from Disk Utility’s inability to run First Aid on Time Machine’s backups, and what about changes in Time Machine itself?

November 9, 2022 Macs, Technology

Explainer: The arithmetic of snapshot size

T T Read More

A simple worked example showing the effect of snapshots and changes in hidden system files in consuming free space on APFS.

July 23, 2022 Macs, Technology

A user’s guide to Disk Images

They have more options than most new cars. What are they, how do you use them, how to pick the most appropriate, and which tools to use.

July 11, 2022 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Will Disk Utility ever work properly?

Apple could have chosen to make APFS open source or to document it fully, to help third parties develop maintenance tools. It chose not to, but Disk Utility still doesn’t work as it should.

May 22, 2022 Macs, Technology

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