File data stored towards the periphery of the disk is read and written nearly twice as fast as that near the centre. How to take advantage of this.
hard disk
Which is faster with a hard disk: using APFS or sticking with HFS+? Are there any differences in their performance on SSDs?
Which of the external disks tested can be used to boot from? Do they work reliably with Secure Boot? Could you boot from an external hard disk?
Internal or external? Hard disk or SSD? USB or Thunderbolt? Cooled or compact? Branded or separates? An external boot disk? Do you have a return and refund option?
M1 Macs don’t support SMART monitoring over USB-C, forcing us to choose between Full Security without SMART, or Reduced Security with SMART support.
Not long ago, many of us paid for software which tied our Macs up for hours every month or so, defragmenting their hard disks. Why, and why not now?
Most hard disks become increasingly likely to fail after 3 years. All Time Capsules are now in that zone, and should either be replaced or have their hard disks replaced.
By now, the current release of macOS has had all major bugs fixed or worked around. Isn’t this a good time to upgrade? Some practical advice on deciding and upgrading tips.
The Eclectic Light Company 