Why macOS may refuse to give you a very large sparse bundle, how you can’t change the password of encrypted sparse bundles, and more.
Disk Utility
Many of us keep an emergency external drive at the ready by our Mac, in case we need to use it to recover from problems. What’s the equivalent for Apple silicon?
Two problems undermine Disk Utility’s First Aid: it persisting bug in failing to unmount volumes to check and repair, and its default omission of containers. And errors in APFS seem to be on the rise.
How to use First Aid in Disk Utility to check and repair APFS storage, whether it’s part of your boot disk, or general storage.
Should you just try to upgrade in the hope that your Mac’s storage has sufficient free space? What can you do to free up a bit more if needed?
What’s in APFS, and what are its tools? How to interpret the version number, and what do we know has changed with different versions? How compatible are they?
When you’ve worked out which files or folders are causing errors in APFS, what can you do to ensure they don’t recur?
If you’re wondering how to store snippets of private info, sensitive files, or folders full of secrets, here’s how to use the right features in macOS.
Repairing permissions has a long history in Mac OS X. The permissions concerned have changed over the years, and it’s no longer what it once was.
How to protect collections of files using different encryption passwords, and making most efficient use of storage space.
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