How APFS is the first Mac native file system to have true inodes and inode numbers. What they are, and how you can use them in volume groups and different types of file link.
Volume Group
What separates System and Data volumes, and how does macOS know they’re part of a boot volume group? What distinguished backup volumes, and what is Sidecar?
Updated charts of containers and volumes on boot volume groups for Ventura, with details of cryptexes and what they do.
In Monterey, these haven’t changed much since Big Sur. However, those small differences are significant, particularly on M1 Macs.
When you try ejecting a single volume of a bootable volume group on an external disk, other volumes are also ejected even though you chose to keep them mounted.
The split startup volumes in Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey can be disorientating. Here’s how to find your way in the Finder and Terminal.
macOS 12 Monterey promises consolidation and improvement, even truth and reconciliation perhaps. But Shortcuts and Universal Control promise strongly.
Detailed account of disk, volume and folder layouts on Big Sur’s boot disks, complete with roadmaps which are downloadable as PDFs.
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.
Diagrams of the layout of volumes on boot disks for macOS 10.13 to 11, covering both Intel and M1 models.
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