Some more light reading, right in time for the weekend – the 147 pages long reference to APFS.
Apple File System is the default file format used on Apple platforms. Apple File System is the successor to HFS Plus, so some aspects of its design intentionally follow HFS Plus to enable data migration from HFS Plus to Apple File System. Other aspects of its design address limitations with HFS Plus and enable features such as cloning files, snapshots, encryption, and sharing free space between volumes. Most apps interact with the file system using high-level interfaces provided by Foundation, which means most developers don’t need to read this document. This document is for developers of software that interacts with the file system directly, without using any frameworks or the operating system – for example, a disk recovery utility or an implementation of Apple File System on another platform. The on-disk data structures described in this document make up the file system; software that interacts with them defines corresponding in-memory data structures.
This document could prove quite useful to developers who might wish to add APFS compatibility to for instance Linux.
Thomas Holwerda,
Edit: Since apple’s own document doesn’t specify “AFS” anywhere, I think it would be best not to start conflating these file systems on osnews.
Edited 2018-09-21 19:30 UTC
That’s because it should be APFS and I messed up. Fixed!
Is APFS still only for SSDs, with HFS+ left for HDDs, or has that limitation been lifted?
Anyways, what are the options/filesystems available for a scenario where one wants to have access to a partition/disk from 3 OSes on one machine, Linux, macOS, and Windows? Still FAT32? :/
zima,
EXT3/4 are theoretically supported by 3rd party drivers on macos and windows:
http://osxdaily.com/2014/03/20/mount-ext-linux-file-system-mac/
http://www.ext2fsd.com/
But this stopped working for me after a windows update and I haven’t gotten it working again since. Now when I need to access linux files from windows, I resort to a userspace ext file system browser, which at least can access the raw disk partition without mounting it in windows.
http://ext2read.blogspot.com/
Microsoft restrictions are an impediment to open source file system development. Many would-be indy contributors don’t have access to windows driver signing keys, which is a major motivator for devs like me to prefer linux development instead. Freedoms (or lack thereof) drive a lot of my decisions and opinions.
Edited 2018-09-23 15:31 UTC
So, probably NTFS it is… (I’m thinking about building a hackintosh, to explore a bit current macOS before Apple moves to ARM
…we’ll see how it goes from there / if I’ll like it) I’m guessing NTFS might have better support on macOS than EXT3/4 on macOS and Windows (for example also due to reasons you mention at the end); and NTFS already is the format of my shared data partitions…
…though maybe, like avgalen says, exFAT (it hadn’t occured to me to use it on not only pendrives, also internal HDDs
)
Both Alfman and Zorg are correct:
If you only want a shared filesystem for yourself: NTFS
If you want to exchange data with others: exFAT
The rest of the world has stopped worrying about filesystems for exchanging data and uses “sharing” through whatever cloud service they prefer
Technically APFS isn’t SSD only, but also available for HDD. However since Apple only sells single-disk, SSD-based devices* it seems pretty clear where the optimizations, testing and development is focused.
* With the only exception that I know of being “hybrid SSD+HDD” in some neglected product-lines
21.5-inch iMac ships with 1TB HDD by default… I know right?
APFS full supports Fusion drives in Mojave now.
And, I’m not sure what you mean by neglected, since every iMac offered today (except the Pro) offers Fusion Drives. Some models include the 1TB Fusion drives by default, with 2TB and 3TB options available.
Edited 2018-09-25 05:30 UTC
Yes, it was the iMacs that I meant. I missed that they got an update to 7th gen CPU last year so I thought they hadn’t been updated in at least 3 years (hence the “neglected”). I also thought these devices had at least an SSD+HDD (Fusion drive), but apparently they start with a plain old harddisk!
I still stand by my statement that Apple optimizes, tests and develops APFS for single-device SSD’s that they put in all their other devices (phones, macBooks and “workstations”)
It is only 143 pages long.