Setting up a new or repurposed Mac may involve updating its firmware – EFI, SMC, and T2 chip if necessary. You can’t do that using imaging, but must run an Apple system installer or updater.
SSD
With Apple’s SSD prices so high, you may for the first time have less internal storage in your new Mac than your old one. Tips to help you cope.
Disk Utility claims to perform secure erase on SSDs, but does no such thing. Here are workarounds to do what it doesn’t, and details of a bug preventing encryption of APFS volumes.
Can you trust Disk Utility to securely erase hard drives and SSDs? How to prepare your Mac’s internal storage before selling it, so you don’t give your bank details away with it. And much more.
With narrowing of the cost difference between Fusion Drives and full-size SSDs, it’s worth considering likely differences in working life.
It was easy to decide that this iMac needs to be replaced. Working out what to replace it with, proved more complex. How much would that iMac Pro cost?
Should you buy a cheap cable to connect your external SSD to a Thunderbolt port, or pay over $/€/£50 for high performance? Here are some test results.
A close call for Apple this week, as it only just met its own deadline to deliver a 64-bit update to Compressor. For High Sierra only, though. Where does this leave us?
Buying or replacing external storage for Macs is extremely uncertain at the moment because of issues over APFS. Here’s some guidance for selecting hard disks, for backups and more.
What happens next with Apple’s new file system is a strong indicator of its commitment to the Mac as a computer platform. Copy-on-write is the issue.
The Eclectic Light Company 