Skip to content

The Eclectic Light Company

Macs & painting – 🦉 No AI content
Main navigation
  • Downloads
  • Freeware
  • M-series Macs
  • Mac Problems
  • Mac articles
  • Macs
  • Art

GUID Partition Table

What are UUIDs and why might I need them?

Where would you find a 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC? How UUIDs have taken over to identify so much, and how to generate your own.

April 6, 2024 Macs, Technology

APFS: Containers and volumes

From the GPT division of storage space, through APFS containers, down to individual volumes, an account of how APFS works.

April 2, 2024 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

Juggling with HFS+ and APFS partitions and volumes: a primer

T T Read More

The differences between HFS+ and APFS volumes explored. What a container is, and how to add new HFS+ and APFS volumes to a disk.

October 12, 2021 Macs, Technology

Last Week on My Mac: Intricacies of the boot disk

Boot disk volume layout is intricate in Big Sur. M1 Macs lose the EFI partition on their internal SSDs and gain two more for APFS. Contents of /System/Volumes has also changed.

January 10, 2021 Macs, Technology

Inside the file system: 1 Disks and partitions

What you need to know about disk formatting using the GUID Partition Table (GPT) to understand its problems and how to repair it.

October 6, 2020 Macs, Technology

EFI System Partitions: a hidden problem?

What do you know about the hidden and unmounted EFI partition on all the disks you use with your Mac? It could be very important.

June 16, 2020 Macs, Technology

Fusion Drives in APFS

T T Read More

How does the volume structure differ between Fusion Drives in HFS+ and APFS formats? Does Disk Utility show an accurate picture?

October 15, 2018 Macs, Technology

Disks, partitions, volumes, containers

I’ve got two volumes showing in the Finder. So how come diskutil list tells me I’ve got four disks with a total of 12 partitions?

August 1, 2018 Macs, Technology

What’s a UUID?

They’re almost everywhere now: UUIDs and GUIDs identify disk volumes, printers, even the processes running on your Mac. Here’s an explanation.

August 16, 2017 Macs, Technology
Blog at WordPress.com.
Footer navigation
  • Free Software Menu
  • About & Contact
  • Macs
  • Painting
  • Downloads
  • Mac problem-solving
  • Extended attributes (xattrs)
  • Painting topics
  • SilentKnight, Skint, SystHist, silnite, LockRattler & Scrub
  • DelightEd & Podofyllin
  • xattred, SpotTest, Spotcord, Metamer & xattr tools
  • 32-bitCheck & ArchiChect
  • XProCheck, T2M2, LogUI, Ulbow, blowhole and log utilities
  • Cirrus & Bailiff
  • Precize, Alifix, UTIutility, Sparsity, alisma, Taccy, Signet
  • Versatility & Revisionist
  • Text Utilities: Textovert, Nalaprop, Dystextia and others
  • PDF
  • Keychains & Permissions
  • Updates
  • Spundle, Cormorant, Stibium, DropSum, Dintch, Fintch and cintch
  • Long Reads
  • Mac Troubleshooting Summary
  • M-series Macs
  • Mints: a multifunction utility
  • VisualLookUpTest
  • Virtualisation on Apple silicon
  • System Updates
  • Saturday Mac Riddles
  • Last Week on My Mac
  • sysctl information
Secondary navigation
  • Search

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

  • Subscribe Subscribed
    • The Eclectic Light Company
    • Join 8,875 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