System: iMac M4, Sequoia 15.6 I found various suggestions for quick ways to create a large file for testing purposes. What I don't understand is what dd actually produces. Example: dd if=/dev/urandom of=bar.txt bs=1g count=10 seek=100 Finder window says "bar.txt 118.11 GB" . But the GetInfo window says "size 118,111,600,640 bytes (10.75 GB on disk) " Further, the GetInfo window for "Macintosh HD" seems to agree with the smaller value so far as disk space used vs. free is concerned. I'm guessing that my inexperience with dd means I'm not using bs and seek correctly? If so, what are a set of compatible args to use so the output file has a reliable size reported? As a side note, mkfile 10g fmkfile.txt produces a file that both Finder and GetInfo agree is 10.74 GB.

I have a MacBook Air running Big Sur with a 256GB hard drive that is formatted like this: Because of this, I have extremely limited storage space to work with, even though I never set it up this way and don't care for redundant drive. I have ample iCloud storage for backups. How can this be fixed, preferably by condensing to one volume?

I'd like to experiment connecting multiple drives to a Mac Mini (late 2012) model with a suitable SATA adapter. From what I have read, the SATA controller needs to supports port multipliers for this. Does this Mac Mini model have a SATA controller with the port multiplier feature? System report in SATA / SATA express section says it has "*Intel 7 series*" chipset.

i'm new with mac, the multiple "space/desktop" function is very cool, but it would be better if i could have different files and folder on each of my space. For example, i want to set up a space for programming works only, and put on desktop only related to this task files. can i ? is there a way to do it?

I have a 1 TB USB drive. I've been using it for months. My main iTunes library is on it. As of yesterday, for no apparent reason, it has become read only. I can't open iTunes. I also tried this... Here is the info panel on the drive: Note that the format is currently "Mac OS Extended Case-sensitive." "Ignore ownership of this volume" is checked, but greyed-out. Backing it up and reformatting is not practical due to the sheer amount of data. # How did the volume become effectively read-only? # Any suggestions for how I can get use of the drive back?

How to create a RAM drive (a.k.a. RAM disk) in macOS Ventura ? The Apple App Store lists only a single app for creating a RAM drive. And apparently that app does not actually work, per review comments. For the curious… Reasons to use a RAM drive include: - Avoid needlessly wearing out storage device, whether solid-state or spinning-rust . - Avoid polluting a continuous back-up mechanism, such as Time Machine on macOS , with multiple copies of rewritten files that we'll never need. - Avoid delays waiting for writes-to-storage to complete. RAM is *much* faster than storage, even solid-state storage (“SSD”). These problems are more acute for people developing and/or testing software. Modern file systems perform smart caching in RAM. However, this does not mitigate the problems in the above bullet-list.

I was wondering if MacOS Mojave (the most recent version I can be on due to some very expensive 32 bit applications) has a way to set up a system level "virtual" dir, or virtual drive, that combines two or more external drives and surfaces them as if they're one directory/drive to all applications. E.g. something that lets me say "create a virtual dir/drive called audio data" (that *isn't* JBOD/RAID0) and then specify two (or more) external SSDs such that the content of that dir/drive is the combined content of the solid state drives. If one has dirs Pro Logic data and Cubase data and the other has dirs Kontakt and Samples, then I'd like a single virtual dir/drive that shows:

--- data
 |--- Cubase Data
 |--- Kontakt
 |--- Pro Logic Data
 |--- Samples

When both SSD are connected, or if one of them's not connected, show

--- data
 |--- Cubase Data
 |--- Pro Logic Data

or

--- data
 |--- Kontakt
 |--- Samples

depending on which drive's still accessible. Or a flatout empty dir/drive if nothing's connected. With the explicit intent that if the SSDs that house dirs that some applications rely on aren't connected, then yes: those applications will throw errors. That's fine, and expected. I just want something that lets me surface a ton of data spread over multiple drives as a single dir/drive when they're all connected, with each SSD being "just a drive" that can also be connected to any random other computer that knows how to read/write the SSD's filesystem.

we’re just migrating my wife’s MacBook Pro to a new one, both most recent macOS versions via a TimeMachine backup. In the process all files are selected, Migration Assistenten on the new mac runs through smoothly without any errors. Except that it’s a lot faster than expected, and faster than it first estimates to be. We’re roughly talking about 200 Gb of data, it first estimates to take around 1:30 (h:min), but then finishes after just a couple of minutes. After rebooting the Pictures and Music folder for example are empty, haven’t fully explored, what else might be missing. The missing data definitely is on the time machine backup. Any ideas on what might have gone wrong here? Might try skipping the time machine backup and using Migration assistant directly Mac to Mac. One more thought: old Mac used case-sensitive Apple File System, new Mac doesn’t - might that be the source of the „error“? Thanks for your help! Sascha

I have a Mac Mini with two hard drives inside. The 1st one has an OS installed, and the files I work from. But I wanted to have the second one be used partly for storage, and partly have an OS installed in case the first HD crashes. I'm imagining that if my main drive fails one day, I will be able to keep working uninterrupted by updating drive 2 with **Time Machine**. However in the meanwhile, I'd like to use Drive 2 for storage (while booting from drive 1). I found this article , but it doesn't really say if this scenario would let the user use the rest of the partition for storage if the computer is booted from another drive. **Does this sound like a logical plan, and how would I format and instal the second drive?**

I listed all the hidden directories in my home directory and noticed four with names like .bfglF7097T2L1. They all have the format .bfglF[0-9]{4}T2L1, store a file named .sysdata, and have "staff" for the group owner. I've never noticed them before (and I do use Terminal and edit hidden files pretty frequently), even though some are dated as early as 2014. Googling around I can't find a single reference to these folders or what they are used for. What are they for? I don't like keeping mystery folders but I'm scared to delete them. PS I'm currently using macOS Mojave.

**Summary:** I just discovered that a lot of files were removed from my personal Mac two months ago. There is seemingly no pattern to which files are missing, except that no folders got deleted and only directories synched to iCloud Drive were affected. I suspect some software or misconfiguration to be at fault here, but I can't pin it down. ---------- I first discovered this three weeks ago when some slides for a past lecture were gone. I was sceptical, since the empty folder was still there, but I let it go. A few days later I noticed more files missing and when I tell you my heart dropped. I sat down and went through all directories and sure enough, about 20% of my filesystem is gone. Using my backups I was able to gather a lot of information about the affected files, and I can tell from the last modified date of affected folders that the files were removed on 10.01.2021 at around 2:00 am. Here is what I found out: ---------- **Affected Files:** There is no pattern regarding the file itself. Affected files are of every possible type (TXT, PDF, DOCX, PAGES, JPEG, MP4), file names are not related (no special characters etc.), creation and modification dates range from December to 4 years ago. Sizes range from >2 GB MP4's to 0 byte txt-files. **Affected Folders:** No folders were deleted. Files only went missing from random subfolders of Documents, which is synched to iCloud Drive. **Interesting Edge Cases:** In most cases all files in a specific folder are missing. But there are some edge cases which highlight the randomness of the deletion. The following folder contains scans of my old school reports, where 6 of 11 files are gone. Notice how types, names, sizes and dates are almost identical (there is also 1 Schulnachricht missing): *Folder containing all files before deletion:* *The same folder after 10.01.2021:* This is a similar case involving slides from a previous lecture, were 7 out of 9 PDFs were removed: *Folder containing all files before deletion:* *The same folder after 10.01.2021:* **My Setup:** I am using a 2018 13-inch MacBook Pro running Big Sur 11.2.1 (20D74). This machine is backed up to a Time Capsule using Time Machine. I also use a PC running Windows 10 (20H2) which is synched to iCloud Drive. I realise that the files also could have been deleted on my PC and my Mac synched the changes. I will go down that rabbit hole when I can rule out the Mac as the cause. I am the only user of those devices and nobody else has physical access to them. ---------- Even though I can restore all the missing files I noticed through the backups, I definitely need to investigate the cause of this event. Please throw any ideas you have at me, I am happy to look into every one of them! ---------- *Update*: While restoring my file system from the backup today, a possible cause came to mind. I might have enabled and, after a few days, disabled optimise Mac storage. Maybe this operation screwed up massively and only left small files behind, which is how my Documents folder shrank from 39 to 2 GB.

I noticed dupeguru webpage last has updates in 2018 and when opening the app, Ventura says it could be malicious software and the developer should update. I saw activity on GitHub, however not sure if anyone has compiled this from source. Does anyone know of this works on macOS Ventura?

I would like to understand the Format Partition APFS on Linux Side. I made this question https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/597308 I have a USB External SSD with 4 disk partitions. The file system of partitions are - APFS - ExFAT - ext4 - NTFS Now I would like to find the Label (The Volume is named 'APFS') on my APFS partition.... Using the command diskutil list Can you see the /dev/disk3. Checking the https://developer.apple.com/support/downloads/Apple-File-System-Reference.pdf Here another blogs 1. https://blog.cugu.eu/post/apfs/ 2. https://www.ntfs.com/apfs-structure.htm 3. https://digital-forensics.sans.org/media/FOR518-Reference-Sheet.pdf 4. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-3-030-98467-0_1.pdf *(last addition)* Here a resume that I made of the First structure or Format Header of APFS Partition. I would like the position of Label ('APFS' I named like File System) of my Volume. Checking my First 4096 first bytes on my disk **after NXSB** **nx_block_size** (4 bytes) is located at position 24(16) = 36(10) with value of 1000(16) = 4096(10) bytes. **nx_block_count** (8 bytes) is located at position 28(16) = 40(10), here 037E0E80(16) = 58592896(10). **nx_xp_desc_blocks** (4 bytes) is located at position 68(16) = 104(10) used with value of 0118(16) = 280(10) blocks (the checkpoint descriptor area consists of 280 blocks). **nx_xp_desc_len** (4 bytes) is located at position 8C(16) = 140(10) used with value of 02(16) = 2(10). (About the picture above)**Point 4:** What does it mean that nx_efi_jumpstart_t have 00 00 00 00 | 00 00 00 00, where is there supposed to be an address? (About the picture above)**Point 2:** nx_xp_desc_base How must be interpreted the bytes 45 81 00 00 | 00 00 00 00?, is it a relative memory position or absolute memory position or Jump? Little-endian: 45 81 00 00 00 00 00 00 Big-endian: 00 00 00 00 00 00 81 45 **Decimal**: 33093 (About the picture above)**Point 6:** nx_omap_oid How must be interpreted the bytes 46 7e 09 00 | 00 00 00 00?, is it a relative memory position or absolute memory position or Jump? Little-endian: 46 7E 09 00 00 00 00 00 Big-endian: 00 00 00 00 00 09 7E 46 **Decimal**: 622150 (About the picture above)**Point 7:** nx_fs_oid How must be interpreted the bytes 02 04 00 00 | 00 00 00 00?, Little-endian: 02 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 Big-endian: 00 00 00 00 00 00 04 02 **Decimal**: 1026 is it a relative memory position or absolute memory position or Jump? NXSB APSB Thanks a lot in advance!

I want to search only files created by Fl Studio but if I search in Spotlight for files with the .flp extension I get also the autosaved versions of the files. Is there any way to search only the .flp files and not the autosaved versions?

I had some files on an old thumb-drive, and recently I was going through and discovered that all/most of the files were no longer readable by any of my macs. I seam to remember having similar problems like this while back, and finding an apparent link to my choice of format, so I ran diskutil list in terminal: /dev/disk3 (external, physical): #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER 0: GUID_partition_scheme *134.2 GB disk3 1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1 2: Apple_HFS my-old-files 133.9 GB disk3s2 And I tried ls -l total 3858320 -rw-r--r--@ 1 kipbits staff 3430100 Nov 21 2016 2015-12-24.pdf drwxr-xr-x 8 kipbits staff 272 Sep 26 2016 2016-sep-14-files -rw-r--r-- 1 kipbits staff 25642888 May 18 2015 myold.mp4 -rw-r--r--@ 1 kipbits staff 884 Jul 31 20:20 someold.txt -rw-r--r--@ 1 kipbits staff 1320157184 Sep 21 2016 someold.iso drwxr-xr-x 4 kipbits staff 136 Sep 27 16:23 anotherdir -rw-r--r--@ 1 kipbits staff 626214959 Nov 5 2016 someold.mp4 drwxr-xr-x 14 kipbits staff 476 Nov 2 2016 sept2016files I think this looks normal? The problem is, I'm not able to open any of my files. I get the following errors: pdf: **The file “some-old.pdf” could not be opened.** It may be damaged or use a file format that Preview doesn’t recognize. txt: 800 byte files are blank rtf: **The document “some-old.rtf” could not be opened.** mp4: **QuickTime Player can't open "some-old.mp4".** To see if additional software is available that will enable QuickTime Player to open the movie, click Tell Me More. dmg, iso: will mount but did not test further pkg: **The operation couldn’t be completed. (com.apple.installer.pagecontroller error -1.)** Couldn't open "some-old.pkg" I found a thread on apple saying "*The partition map type doesn't really make any difference for non bootable volumes*", although i don't get any of these problems when using Master Boot Record & ExFAT. None of the files are more than a couple years old, so i don't think there should be any compatibility issues, and none of the files were corrupted when I copied them to the drive. I have had this same problem with other drives, and they were perfectly usable after reformatting, although this involved erasing files. My question is: **Is there a way to recover my files?** The file-sizes still display that the files are there. Is there a way to save these files and make them readable? ...Also, if it makes any difference, I am using El Capitan(for dev purposes) > **Update------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(04/Oct/2017)** I did a hexdump for some of the files in question. my output was something like this: 0000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 * 0000370 00 00 00 00 0000374 what does this mean? do you think a recovery app could even help me here? here are some threads that are perhaps related: ...Also could this possibly be related to SIP? I first noticed this problem around when i first upgraded to El Capitan. Or perhaps there is something else going on? I have recently been experimenting with windows and various forms of linux, and have been moving files around with thumb drives. Perhaps I plugged one in to the wrong computer and corrupted all the files? Whatever the cause, I'm wondering if the files might still be recoverable? Is hexdump a good way to diagnose recoverability? **Would buying a recover app just be a waste of $100?**

Say that I wanted to access a filesystem object (most probably a mere file or directory) at an application-specific virtual filesystem exposed by UIDocumentPickerViewController via the "Files" application, what path would that filesystem be mounted at? I presume that I could ascertain this by creating an application which: 1. ...accesses a file via the file picker screen (ignore the arrow; see the Google Drive "Drive" entrant above it): 1. ...and requests its path from the OS. However, I'm no Darwin software developer, and if I were, this'd be for SO, not here. I do occasionally have access to macOS, though, and have ascertained that on there, they're exposed at $HOME/Library/CloudStorage.

In recent versions of Word and Excel, when I press cmd-O or select Open from the dropdown, it gives me an annoying cluttered screen full of options I don't care about instead of actually letting me open my files. To get the latter I have to click "On My Mac", down under "Other Locations". Is there any way to make it just open the files from my filesystem by default, the way it used to until recently? I saw a related question that recommended deleting the OneDrive app to make My Mac be the default for saving. I do edit shared files in SharePoint/O365 at work, so I'm worried about that getting screwed up. Is there any other option? If deleting OneDrive is the only option, what will it do to my SharePoint workflow? If I have to live with this dialogue box, I guess it's not the end of the world, but it *is* really annoying so I thought I'd at least check if anyone had ideas.

I am summarising output from fs_usage with a simple awk to total io calls, io time including wait (I believe): sudo fs_usage -f diskio | awk 'START{print "Times include async wait time"}{if(lasT>=$1){t=substr($0,110,8);ioc++;ioT+=t;appio[$NF" "$2]++;apIOT[$NF" "$2]+=t} else {if(ioc>last_ioc){print "\n"ioc" IOs\t∑s",ioT"\t"$1; for (x in appio){print appio[x]" \t"apIOT[x]" \t",x} ;n=0; ioc=0; ioT=0; split("",appio); split("",apIOT);last_ioc=ioc }}; lasT=$1}' & This gives a useful summary any second that there is physical IO but I have to guess what the [content] after call type is, here is a sample...

244 IOs	∑s 0.195188	12:26:18
1  	0.001309  	 cfprefsd WrData[AT1] 
1  	0.000293  	 corespotlighRdData[SNT3] 
5  	0.117798  	 corespotligh THROTTLED
173 0.063006  	 kernel_task WrMeta[AP]
20  0.005587  	 coreduetd RdData[AT1]
1   0.000214  	 corespotligh WrData[ANT3]
1  	0.00015  	 cfprefsd WrData[AP]
40  0.006412  	 coreduetd WrData[AT1]
2  	0.000419  	 corespotligh WrData[AT3]

Here are a few guesses, First A=async, S=Sync T = time-out set? 123 maybe secs for timeout P=privileged, physical? N=?? Can anyone confirm/correct these and maybe list others that might seen? I found a reference to the source code for fs_usage but it was a 404... I always assume sorting the keyed array output is too much trouble or impossible, am I missing a trick? I also do not get my START header information visible, why? For others that might find this info useful: where and how is THROTTLING implemented? Obviously io calls are completed more slowly... It seems odd not to discriminate Write [WTHROTTL] from Read [RTHROTTL].

I'm trying to delete all backups of specific items backed up with TimeMachine on a backup drive formatted as HFS+ but using a Mac running Ventura. For a long time this was possible using the method described [here](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/333767/delete-all-backups-of-specific-file-folder-with-tmutil) and [here](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/180214/is-it-possible-to-use-tmutil-delete-or-another-command-to-delete-one-file-from) : The gist of it is don't bother with tmutil, use rm with the bypass helper script from TMSafetyNet.kext. I've used it successfully many times. Unfortunately, with newer versions of macOS TMSafetyNet.kext is gone -- not sure when exactly it disappeared, but it's no longer there as discussed [here](https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/459407/macbook-pro-m2-missing-tmsafetynet-kext) (in a different context). Now, I've tried the following: First, using what seems to be the official method as described in man tmutil I have tried: sudo tmutil delete -d /Volumes/ -p /Volumes//Backups.backupdb///Macintosh\ HD/path/to/file/ I get: Invalid deletion target (error 22), Total deleted: Zero KB Now, the same backup from which I want to delete a specific file also has a backup of my system files, including TMSafetyNet.kext. I thought let's try the old method, pointing it to the backup of the bypass helper script: sudo /Volumes//Backups.backupdb///Macintosh\ HD/System/Library/Extensions/TMSafetyNet.kext/Contents/Helpers/bypass rm -rfv /Volumes/ -p /Volumes//Backups.backupdb///Macintosh\ HD/path/to/file/ It fails, because, as @nohillside points out in the comment below, TMSafetyNet.kext is not loaded. How can I delete all backups of a file on an HFS+-formatted TM volume on newer machines running a macOS version that no longer has TMSafetyNet.kext?

In all apps, when I summon the “File, Open” dialog (file selector, file picker), it is supposed to open with the last location accessed. But instead, it is always opening at my home folder. Also, any clicks of “Recent Places” fail (instead of opening the clicked directory, they just open the home folder). This wastes a lot of time when I need to open (or upload) multiple files, and it frustrates me every day. Apple had me run many tests for several hours a day over several months, and they eventually gave up and said to wipe my Mac, reinstall macOS, and rebuild my machine manually from scratch. This week I invested five full-time days doing so, and just as I was nearly finished doing so, the bug has now randomly reappeared. MacBook Pro running macOS 14.5 Sonoma. Bug does not occur when I create a new user admin account. In searching the web, I see other people complaining about this, but I do not find a solution. Any help, ideas?