What makes APFS more consistent?While HFS+ runs on all of Apple's current devices, from Apple Watch to Mac Pro, there are differences in how it's been implemented across those devices, including key areas like encryption. For that, you need something new.Sometimes, to make it to the future, you need a fresh approach. Running in the red, maybe, held together with bubblegum and paperclips, but running.But running in the red is no way to get to the future. We've gone from rigid, single-threaded data structures to more flexible approaches.Through it all, HFS+ and its valiant crew have kept it running.
Apfs File System High Sierra Code Base WithThat should minimizing beach balls and spinners.It also does fast directory re-sizing, which means you shouldn't have to wait to see how big a directory is, if you're in the habit of looking. So, it prioritizes things like app launches and data delivery. APFS does several things to make Apple devices feel faster.APFS, for example, focuses on low-latency. It's faster to reach for a drink on the table next to you than to have to get up and go get it from the fridge. Will APFS be faster?A great deal of speed has to do with perception. That should allow for a single code base with fewer resources need to develop and maintain it and allow it to grow faster and better.They're similarly more space-efficient at first, also not duplicating data until changes are made.This makes creating both snapshots and clones far faster and more efficient than making traditional copies. It also means changes can be reverted.Clones are copies of "files" (both real files and the Mac's bundled folders-as-files). It's initially more space-efficient, because it doesn't duplicate any data until changes begin to be made. What about the snapshots and clones?Two of the most high-profile features of APFS are snapshots and clones.Snapshots create a read-only copy of the system at that single point in time. That's the flash storage chips inside Apple Watch, Apple TV, iPhone, iPad, MacBooks, and high-end Mac desktops.What Apple means by this is that APFS writes in a way optimized for solid state, and supports the TRIM command which is helpful for people who delete a lot of files and like to keep a lot of space free.What about data integrity and crash protection?APFS has atomic-level save state. If a partition needs more space it can claim it from the container, regardless of whether or not that space is physically adjacent to the partition.Questions remain about how APFS will handle recovering storage from deleted files that have been cloned, though, since space can't be reclaimed as long as a single clone still exists.APFS also supports sparse files, so storage is only allocated when it's really needed. Basically, APFS sidesteps the issue of one partition running out of space when there's free space elsewhere on the drive by creating a container around all the partitions.![]() Likewise checksums on data. Things like compression aren't yet available, which feels like an obvious next step. Is APFS missing anything?APFS is in its first generation, and that means not everything is included yet. Unlike current implementations, where macOS has disk-level encryption and iOS has file-level encryption, thanks to differences in implementation and hardware capabilities, APFS has a more consistent single-key and multi-key implementations for system-level, file level, and even specific data and metadata.The type of encryption can vary between AES-XTS and AES-CBC depending on hardware. APFS is better for encryption, though, right?Apple makes security and privacy first-class, public facing, top-down features for their products and APFS is no different. In other words, files use copy-on-write so a new version is created and the old version only released when the save is successful.There are also checksums on metadata, though not on user-data. IOS is well contained and controlled environment, so it makes sense for Apple to start there. Should you use APFS?If you've updated to iOS 10.3, you're on APFS. Over the years, Apple has either kept open and continued to contribute to, or themselves open sourced, the Mach Kernel, WebKit, LLVM, and Swift, among other projects.Whether that will eventually include APFS we'll have to wait and see. Will APFS be open sourced?APFS is not currently open source. Get adobe lightroom for free on macJust don't trust any important data to any APFS volumes until it's out of beta and into release.
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