Can someone help me with APFS?

[pedzsan]

I do a bit of videography. The raw files are 100G and then I make an Apple Pro Res intermediate file which are 500G and this is just for 6 minute videos.

I create the files and, of course, they get put into a snapshot which implies that when I delete the files, I don't get the space back (unless I delete the snapshots but that scares me a bit).

Can I create a volume (I think that is what they are called) and call it temp. I will not use Time Machine on temp so I assume TM would not create snapshots for it. temp would be in the same container so it will share space with Macintosh HD but be excluded from snapshots and TM Backups. Is my understanding of APFS, TM, snapshots correct in all of the above?

If it is, I guess I would just go to Disk Utility, select the container, right click and do Add APFS Volume?

I'm a little timid about just plowing ahead since this is the boot disk of my laptop.

 

[dmccloud]

I would suggest picking up an external SSD or HDD, depending on your budget and what capacity you would need. That way you can keep those snapshots without affecting either your Time Machine or boot drives.

 

[gilby101]

I create the files and, of course, they get put into a snapshot which implies that when I delete the files, I don't get the space back (unless I delete the snapshots but that scares me a bit).

You do get it back after 24 hours (assuming default TM settings) - or sooner if space gets tight. But you are right to want to avoid all these large snapshots.

Can I create a volume (I think that is what they are called) and call it temp. I will not use Time Machine on temp so I assume TM would not create snapshots for it. temp would be in the same container so it will share space with Macintosh HD but be excluded from snapshots and TM Backups. Is my understanding of APFS, TM, snapshots correct in all of the above?

If it is, I guess I would just go to Disk Utility, select the container, right click and do Add APFS Volume?

Yes to all of that.

 

[pedzsan]

I would suggest picking up an external SSD or HDD, depending on your budget and what capacity you would need. That way you can keep those snapshots without affecting either your Time Machine or boot drives.

Yea. I might. need to rethink things. When I start doing video, the 4TB that the MBP has is no longer "absurdly huge".

 

[pedzsan]

You do get it back after 24 hours (assuming default TM settings) - or sooner if space gets tight.

The application that transforms the video has the "feature" that it checks available space first and it finds that I don't have enough space.