There are a number of things that are good about it – such as it being more efficient and more reliable.

We’ll describe them below, and you’ll be able to choose the one that suits you.ĪPFS (Apple File System) – This is the new file system that Apple bought to Macs with High Sierra and it will be the default if you are using that version of macOS. There are a few file formats that you can use but the one that’s right for your circumstances depends very much on what you are going to be using the drive for. Making a bootable macOS install drive (covered here) and if you areĭoing a clean install of macOS. Other reasons you might want to use Disk Utility include Each volume within an APFS container can have its own APFS format - APFS, APFS (Encrypted), APFS (Case-sensitive) or APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted).Using Disk Utility on a Mac here. You can easily add or delete volumes in APFS containers. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders. For example, folders named “Homework” and “HOMEWORK” are two different folders.ĪPFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted): Uses the APFS format, is case-sensitive to file and folder names and encrypts the volume. Choose this option if you don’t need an encrypted or case-sensitive format.ĪPFS (Encrypted): Uses the APFS format and encrypts the volume.ĪPFS (Case-sensitive): Uses the APFS format and is case-sensitive to file and folder names. Each volume uses only part of the overall container, so the available space is the total size of the container, minus the size of all the volumes in the container.Ĭhoose one of the following APFS formats for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later.ĪPFS: Uses the APFS format. If desired, you can specify reserve and quota sizes for each volume. When a single APFS container has multiple volumes, the container’s free space is shared and automatically allocated to any of the individual volumes as needed. macOS 10.13 or later supports APFS for both bootable and data volumes.ĪPFS allocates disk space within a container (partition) on demand. While APFS is optimised for the Flash/SSD storage used in recent Mac computers, it can also be used with older systems with traditional hard disk drives (HDD) and external, direct-attached storage. Apple File System (APFS), the default file system for Mac computers using macOS 10.13 or later, features strong encryption, space sharing, snapshots, fast directory sizing and improved file system fundamentals.

Disk format for windows and mac