APFS does a few things differently than HFS does. Some of it is under-the-hood stuff that has to do with encryption and security. But in terms of your day-to-day use, there are a couple of odd tricks it can perform. Multiple volumes per disk partition Most file systems create one volume per disk ...
Welcome to APFS
This is a more technical post, so you can just skip it if it's not your bag. All of the data on your Mac's drive has to be organized in some fashion, so that you can get to it. This is accomplished via what is known as a file system, and the only metaphor I can come up with for it is increasingly ...
Why you might run older versions of macOS
macOS (or OS X, or Mac OS X, as it has been variously called) has had 13 major versions. Each brings with it new capabilities, but each also drops some older ones as well. Here is a non-comprehensive list of some of the things I might use an old version of macOS for: 10.0 Cheetah, 10.1 Puma, 10.2 ...
Migration Assistant and the MacBook 12″
The MacBook 12" is a truly elegant computer: it's ridiculously thin and weighs only two pounds, and has a beautiful screen. It's underpowered in most other regards -- it has one lonely USB-C port for both power and devices, and is generally kinda pokey -- but if you want the ultimate portable Mac, ...
Use a Time Capsule without attaching it to a router
Every now and then, you need to back up to a Time Capsule, but you don't have access to the router, or a wired network jack. You've got to go 100% wireless. I discovered a way to set it up 100% wirelessly, with no cables attached. You'll need: a Time Capsule (any model; an AirPort Extreme with ...
Mac Target Disk Mode now includes USB, hooray
Target Disk Mode has long been one of the Mac's unique capabilities -- it allows you to bypass the operating system entirely and access the internal drive directly, as though it were an external drive. This makes it easy to migrate data from one computer to another, perform disk repairs, or ...