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Apfs Volume Vs Mac Os Extended
/Mac Tips /APFS Vs. HFS+: Data Recovery Differences Between The Two
You will see a report which will include something like this for an APFS formatted storage: Volume Name: Macintosh HD Mounted: Yes Mount Point: / Partition Type: 415-11AA-AA3EFEA File System Personality: APFS Type (Bundle): apfs Name (User Visible): APFS Owners: Enabled. (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Journal. Volume Name: Macintosh HD Mounted: Yes Mount Point: / Partition Type: AppleHFS File System Personality: Journaled HFS+ Type (Bundle): hfs Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Journal: Journal size 155648 KB at offset 0x3a38000 Owners: Enabled.
A topic we have to consider is APFS vs. HFS. What are these two and what are their differences? APFS refers to Apple File System. On the other hand, HFS refers to the Hierarchical File System. The former has brought about new advancements in terms of technology and data recovery.
Here, we will discuss the differences between APFS vs. HFS. We will discuss what is the APFS (Apple File System). We will also give you an overview of HFS and HFS+ (Mac Os Extended). Then, we will point out the differences between the two.
Article GuidePart 1. What Are APFS and HFS+?Part 2. APFS Vs. HFS+: Which Is Better?Part 3. Conclusion
Part 1. What Are APFS and HFS+?
In this section, we will give you an overview of the Apple File System (APFS) and also Mac Os Extended (HFS+). We will then give you details about the comparison between the two. Then, we will move onto the data recovery differences between APFS vs. HFS+.
What Is APFS?
APFS refers to Apple File System. It was released initially for iOS devices and including macOS devices as well. During that time, iOS was in version 10.3. While the macOS device is in macOS High Sierra 10.13.
APFS is actually a file system that’s new and advanced. It is optimized and created for flash storage devices and solid-state drives. These include devices such as Apple Watch, Apple TC, and the MacBook series. This file system offers better native encryption, better optimization, simplified backups, enhanced crash protection, enhanced security and safety, stable snapshots, and support for multi-key encryption.
APFS has actually replaced HFS+, which is also known as Mac OS Extended. It replaces the said file system, thus APFS is not the default one for solid-state drives and flashes storage devices. Ever since the iOS version 10.3 has come up, the Apple File System is used by default on all iPhones and iPads.
What Is HFS+?
HFS refers to the Hierarchical File System. On the other hand, HFS+ refers to Mac OS Extended. This is the main file system used by macOS versions before High Sierra. This is generally referred to as an older version of the macOS. Currently, macOS High Sierra uses Mac OS Extended for hybrid and mechanical drives.
HFS+ has features that are great enhancements as well. These include compression, journaling support, and disk encryption. However, because Apple Watch, Apple TV, and other storage technologies (e.g., flash drives and solid-state drives) have been included, there’s a need for a more versatile approach. This new approach will be used for the ever-changing landscape of IT and technology.
Part 2. APFS Vs. HFS+: Which Is Better?
Now, let’s talk about APFS vs. HFS+. Currently, APFS is regarded as one of the major updates made by Mac. It helps to enhance the performance of Apple devices. In addition, it has great features that offer a lot of enhancements for both iOS and macOS.
Data Loss: AFPS Vs. HFS+
The adoption of APFS, which are more advanced and flexible models, has been staggering over the past few years. But one question would have to be solved. Can we neglect the situation wherein data loss happens in one of the file formats? Because of how these file systems work, we cannot overlook situations wherein data loss may happen on both of them. Let’s check our AFPS vs. HFS+ in terms of data loss scenarios below.
Scenario Regarding Data Loss | AFPS | HFS+ |
Mistakenly deleting files | Yes | Yes |
Mistakenly formatting your drive | Yes | Yes |
Power failures | Yes | Yes |
Storage made electrical spikes | Yes | Yes |
Physical damage to storage devices | Yes | Yes |
Drive’s read or write head crash | Yes | Yes |
Issues with system booting | Yes | Yes |
Black screen of death | Yes | Yes |
White screen of death | Yes | Yes |
Invalid directory entries | Yes | Yes |
Software failure | Yes | Yes |
Hardware failure | Yes | Yes |
Upgrade failures of the operating system | Yes | Yes |
The file system is corrupted | Yes | Yes |
As you will notice both AFPS vs. HFS will experience data loss at some point. This can happen by mistakenly deleting your files or accidentally formatting your drive. Power failures can also lead to this. The same goes for hardware and software failures. As such, check out the table above for more information regarding data loss.
AFPS Vs. HFS+ In Terms Of Data Recovery
AFPS vs. HFS+ in terms of data recovery is significantly different. If, for instance, you have accidentally deleted your data, or if you simply lost your data, you can retrieve it easily using an APFS file system used for your drive. This is true in cases where you haven’t overwritten the files yet. This can happen when you’re upgrading your device to macOS High Sierra, for example.
You can also use data recovery software to recover lost data provided that you haven’t overwritten it yet. Another thing you can do is to go to a data recovery professional to help you recover your data easily. They are experts in data recovery especially when the loss of files and folders happen on your Mac computer. The same is true for iOS devices, Android devices, and Windows PCs.
Part 3. Conclusion
Because of various developments in modern processors, flash storage, and computing technology, your own file system must be fast enough and powerful enough to make sure it keeps up with various technological advancements. For over 30 years, Apple has used the file system HFS. Thus, there was a significant change needed to make everything perform faster.
On the other hand, APFS is a new file system created in order to support the new ultra-powerful Mac computers. It’s here to work for the current system and future systems as well. They’re created to support powerful technologies including terabyte drives.
Thus, in this APFS vs. HFS+ article, you will know that the former is more versatile. It’s also better in terms of security, scalability, data loss resistance, and more. The AFPS vs. HFS+ debate clearly shows that the former wins in terms of future augmentations that will happen with new Apple devices. As such, data loss must be handled through various software to avoid disasters.
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Free DownloadApple migrated its users to a new, modern file system called Apple File System alongside the release of macOS High Sierra 10.13 back in September of 2017, aiming to take advantage of flash and SSD storage drives, almost primarily because of the fact that all new Apple products use SSD as the storage disk.
This file system is specifically designed for Apple products but that doesn't necessarily mean that other files systems are bad, just that they serve other purposes. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in 2016 as a replacement for the then default Hierarchical File System Plus (HFS+) file system. Apple released APFS (Apple File System) for mobile devices on March 27, 2017, along with the release of iOS 10.3.
Migrating from HFS to APFS
Apfs Volume Vs Mac Os Extended Screen
APFS replaces HFS+ (also known as Mac OS Extended), Apple's proprietary file system that had been used for decades and which builds on the original HFS, referred to as Mac OS Standard. HFS+ was designed in an era when floppies and hard drives were the best storage technologies. But since then a lot has changed: almost all Apple products use SSDs, and the next-generation storage technology is continually evolving.
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APFS Key Features: Encryption
The new APFS was developed with encryption at its core, likely due to Apple’s requirements of using the same file system across various devices; consider multiple user keys within the file system on iPhone or iPad, or single-user keys on portable computers. According to Apple's documentation, APFS supports the following encryption models for each volume in a container:
- Unencrypted
- Single-key encryption
- Multi-key encryption with per-file keys for file data and a separate key for sensitive data.
The latter is particularly important for fully encrypted portable devices, but unlocking the iPhone or iPad gives the user access to additional keys and, as such, additional data.
Mac Os Extended Windows
Snapshots
By taking snapshots of the whole file system at a certain point in time, macOS essentially freezes a point in time that it can always revert back to. Every change made in the file system is then tracked and compared to that captured moment, and only new data takes up additional space. Essentially, it creates a read-only, independently mountable clone of the file system and saves the changes in a new location to preserve the integrity of that clone.
Space Efficiency
How many times have you struggled to optimize your Mac's storage by locating duplicate files and folders? The new file system now allows users to store data more efficiently, so if you copy a file to a new folder on the same computer, no data is actually duplicated. What happens instead is that the metadata is updated and the on-disk data is shared between locations. Changes in the ‘copy’ will trigger new space allocation, called copy-on-write, which also ensures that updates to the file system are crash protected.
While you might wonder why someone would create a copy of the file on the same computer, the average user might be tempted to keep a copy under a different name, such as “presentation-draft,” “presentation-1,” “presentation-final,” or “presentation-typo” when working on a Keynote presentation. Users working with larger files – such as video editors – might also see APFS’ space efficiency as a huge advantage.
Performance
Since APFS was developed for flash drives, it includes TRIM support. With this new file system Apple is also focusing on avoiding frustration among users caused by the annoying beach ball of doom. To do that, Apple uses I/O QoS (quality of service), which has the system arrange tasks into priorities, and obviously focuses on resolving the processes that are immediately important.
Apple applies a three-point protection method to ensure data integrity:
- All SSDs and hard drives used in Apple products use Error Correcting Code (ECC) to check for transmission errors, and corrects them.
- APFS uses the copy-on-write scheme.
- APFS uses the Fletcher's checksum algorithm for metadata operations.
The Negatives of APFS
Though there are a lot of benefits of using APFS, there are some drawbacks in making the switch from HFS+. While it is mandatory on Macs running High Sierra 10.13 or above – though the conversion process can be skipped with the right know how – it’s worth being aware of what will change with the new file system. The negative points of APFS are:
- It doesn't provide checksums of user data.
- It doesn't take advantage of byte-addressable, non-volatile random-access memory.
- It doesn't support compression.
- It doesn't support deduplication.
HFS+
With APFS Apple moved away from a file system it had used for the previous 30 years, HFS, which was introduced in 1985. Apple improved the original HFS in 1998 with HFS+ by adding support for much larger files and Unicode for naming files. It also utilized a full 32-bit allocation mapping table instead of HFS's 16-bits, increasing the allocation blocks to four billion. Despite its welcome benefits, the HFS+ lacks features that are considered highly important in modern file systems, including: data checksums, nanosecond timestamps, snapshots, support for dates beyond February 6, 2040, sparse file support, and better implementation of hard links.
APFS aims to fix these core issues by using 64-bit inode numbers, therefore enabling better space allocation and supporting over nine quintillion files on a single volume. It also increases read-write speeds on both iOS and macOS devices, as well as the available space on mobiles due to the way that APFS calculates the available data.
NTFS
Developed by Microsoft, the NTFS (New Technology File System) is shipped as the default of the Windows NT family. While the maximum number of files matches that of HFS+, NTFS has several advantages over Apple's previous default file system: it supports file compression and data deduplication, among other features.
For some reason, interoperability between the NTFS, HFS+ and APFS file systems isn't smooth: Windows computers can only read NTFS formatted drives, while macOS can read an NTFS formatted hard drive but it cannot write to it. This gap is closed by third party drivers such as Paragon NTFS for Mac, which enables writing to an NTFS-formatted disk. However, Mac users usually refrain from using this file system unless they are working with a Windows machine.
Summing up
It’s easy to understand how building a new file system was cheaper than spending time and money on maintaining and evolving a 30-year-old one. Yet despite the improvements, the new file system still has to mature, and Apple is apparently doing everything possible to speed the process up, especially since a file system can take a decade to mature. Still, APFS seems like a work in progress, because at this point it doesn't fully support HDDs and Fusion Drives. It also brings with it new problems, such as when partitioning a volume; the Time Machine's local snapshots feature doesn't allow partitioning unless these snapshots are disabled.
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