How APFS containers and volumes work. What hard links, clones and sparse files are, and when they break down.
Sparsity
Tired of HFS+? Disenchanted by APFS? Why not copy or back up to a different file system? Here are crocodiles waiting to bite you.
Sparse bundles, sparse files, and sparse matrices explained in a nutshell, and how a sparse bundle could have a band which is a sparse file containing a sparse matrix.
New version searches for sparse files and clones, reporting their individual sizes and totals for the folder or volume examined.
Can APFS really store more on disk using sparse files and clones? Is there such a thing as a free lunch, or do these tricks have a cost?
APFS can ‘clone’ files when copying or duplicating them within the same volume. But how can you tell whether any given file is a clone?
If there’s one thing we’re learning about APFS, it’s that file sizes are flexible. That means that free […]
How to bring a Time Machine backup to its knees: get it to back up a sparse file to an HFS+ disk. It’ll take forever and run you out of free space.
Looking in more detail at newer tricks used by APFS on the data of files: sparse files, which can squeeze vast empty files almost to nothing; file clones; and compression, opening up in Big Sur.
An ingenious idea to save storage space: leave out empty areas in large files – make them sparse. Do they exist in APFS as claimed?
The Eclectic Light Company 