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Thus, if you're using an older Mac, you'll need to either keep using Mac OS Extended or use an alternative such as ExFAT instead.Īnother benefit of using Mac OS Extended is that it's optimized for mechanical hard drives (HDDs), whereas APFS was specifically created to work well with Solid State Drives (SSDs). The biggest downside to using APFS is that Macs with older macOS versions (macOS 10.12.6 Sierra and older) can't read, write, or access drives that use it. This, alongside its speed and optimization improvements, makes APFS a great file system format. Similarly, improvements to metadata mean it's very quick to determine file details, such as how much space a folder is taking on your drive.ĪPFS is also more reliable, leading to less file corruption when compared to Mac OS Extended.
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It became the default format with 2017's macOS High Sierra and offers many benefits over Mac OS Extended, the previous default.ĪPFS is much faster at basically everything-data handling, copying, and pasting are quicker. If you've recently bought a Mac or moved over from Windows, you may be wondering-what is the AFPS format? APFS, or Apple File System, is Apple's newer file system for solid-state drives and flash memory. But what's the difference between both, and which one should you choose? Here, we'll discuss both file systems and offer a comparison to help you decide.
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