“Sometime next year, Apple will start using a new file system on all its hardware,” Edward Mendelson writes for PC Magazine. “The new Apple File System (APFS) will replace Apple’s old HFS+ file system, used on all Macs since 1998 which in turn was based on the archaic HFS, introduced in 1985.”
“For now, APFS is available in the developer beta of Apple’s next-generation OS, macOS Sierra,” Mendelson writes. “Most users won’t notice anything radically different about hardware with APFS on the hard disk, but a lot of subtle differences are hidden below the surface. Most notably, APFS uses integrated encryption instead of the essentially tacked-on encryption technique used by the existing OS X FileVault feature that slowly encrypts or decrypts an entire drive. APFS can encrypt whole disks and individual files with separate keys for the file and its metadata, giving granular control.”
“Apple’s current file system time-stamps files with one-second precision, not enough to keep track of file changes with today’s hardware. APFS time-stamps files with one-nanosecond precision,” Mendelson writes. “Other advantages of APFS disks include flexible space allocation, so that two APFS “disks” can borrow disk space from each other when they need it, and not be limited by the space allocated to them when they were created.”
Read more about what APFS means for Apple device users in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: APFS was a long time coming, but sorely needed. It’s going to improve the whole experience from cloud storage to speed!
SEE ALSO:
APFS: New Apple File System promises more speed, flexibility, reliability – June 17, 2016
The feds’ll hate this: Apple’s new APFS file system ‘engineered with encryption as a primary feature’ – June 14, 2016
Buh-bye HFS+, hello APFS (Apple File System) for macOS! – June 14, 2016
Apple can do better than Sun’s ZFS – October 26, 2009
Apple discontinues ZFS project, turns attention to own next-gen file system – October 24, 2009
Apple’s Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server’s ZFS goes MIA – June 9, 2009