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APFS... why and for what reason?
- Thread starter zoran
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Yes, APFS is the filesystem Apple is using on all Macs now, as well as all iOS and iPadOS devices.
Being able to use iOS apps within MacOS - that is revolutionary and was meant to happen since both platforms existed on different devices...
Now your MacOS devices can run your iPad/iPhone iOS apps !
Practically, what issues might a user encounter when he is using older macOS's? For example, im using ElCap on my iMac and iOS12 on my iPhone. I am thinking of installing a 2nd ssd on my iMac and make it bootable using HSierra. The other ssd alrady in my iMac is bootable with ELCap.
APFS is optimized for SSDs, utilizing their performance better than HFS+ or ExFAT, etc.
Older OS is fine for most general uses - I even have my oldest 2011 11" MBA that I still have around on HFS+ and limited to High Sierra OSX. Runs web browsers and Microsoft office 2016 just fine.
I also have an older iMac (2013) and the wife loves it because it no longer uses the internal spinning HDD that is a slug.
Instead, I have connected the iMac to an Thunderbolt external SSD 1TB formatted APFS running Catalina where it is now the primary boot drive and no more spinning beach balls!
iOS has been using APFS since version 10.3. It has no effect as to whether or not the Mac will connect to the phone.
Apple devices running iOS 10.3 (or newer), watchOS 3.2 (or newer), tvOS 10.2 (or newer) all run APFS as the file system. Macs that have internal SSDs that are not in a Fusion Drive configuration have their OS volume converted to APFS upon installing macOS High Sierra (any version) or newer. Macs that have either internal hard drives or a pairing of an internal hard drive and an SSD in the form of a Fusion Drive have their OS volume converted to APFS upon installing macOS Mojave (any version) or newer. I believe there are roundabout ways to opt out of it in High Sierra, but I believe this goes away with Mojave.
If you are installing High Sierra or newer on a Mac that has never installed High Sierra yet, you'll want to format your drive as HFS+ and let the installer convert the drive to APFS. Similarly if you are installing High Sierra, Mojave, Catalina, or Big Sur on a Mac that has yet to go past Sierra, you will want to format your drive as HFS+ and let the installer convert to APFS. Why? Because your Mac will need to install a firmware update that lets it recognize and boot from APFS formatted drives.
As for why it exists? Apple's stated reasoning is that it adapts better to SSDs and modern data management conventions specific to SSDs. Considering that all Apple products (save for older ones with hard drives and Fusion drives that will eventually cycle out of regular use) use some form of solid state drive, I think this is them building for the future. Plus, it's more space-efficient (copies of files are just pointers to the original, saving loads of space). Though, I'm not gonna lie, I find it far more confusing than HFS+. But, the average user isn't supposed to be bothered by it. APFS makes possible many features fundamental to both T2 based Intel Macs and Apple Silicon Macs.
It didn't occur now. It occurred in 2016 for iOS/iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS, in 2017 for SSD-based Macs, and in 2018 for hard drive and fusion drive based Macs. As for the timing? I'd say that Apple built it in to optimize iOS/iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS devices, also to build for T2 Intel Macs and Apple Silicon Macs, both of which are built around the Mac using APFS and not HFS+.
It shouldn't. The version of iOS on an iPhone should have no bearing on the Mac that's running it, so long as said Mac is running a new enough version of iTunes to support connecting and syncing that iPhone. If you're stuck on High Sierra and you're trying to sync an iPhone 12, you might have issues. But I'd imagine that whatever the most recent version of iTunes that runs on High Sierra ought to have no issue syncing an iOS 12-based iPhone.
Similarly, there's nothing about your Mac having made the jump to APFS that would stop it from syncing with an iPhone still on iOS 12.