Questions tagged [filesystem]
The system used to format and organize files on a disk. This includes directory structure, permissions management, metadata, and more. The current default file system for macOS is APFS (High Sierra and higher) and HFS+ (Sierra or lower).
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Why do I get `Bad file descriptor` when copying using hardlink flag?
Every once in a while I find that I need to use the -rl options of cp to clone a directory tree using hardlinks. This has always worked fine on Linux, and I can see that the BSD cp command accepts the ...
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How can I modify the "Date Added" of a file via the terminal? [duplicate]
Whenever I move files between folders or to an external hard drive, I lose the "Date Added" metadata of the files. I need this info for sorting purposes. How can I change that field via the ...
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Voice Memo file location, Ventura 13.5.2
Up until two days ago, my voice memos happily lived in ~/Library/Application Support/com.apple.voicememos/Recordings. Every time I'd record something, an m4a file would pop into that library, which I ...
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iPhone 13 photo and movie file suffixes have changed to strange characters, making them unusable
I move photos off my iPhone 13 (IOS 17.0) to my PC (Win 10) for further processing, using a cable.
There have never been any problems until recently, where photos (RAW format) and movies now have ...
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Deleting APFS volume doesn't free up any space
I had a corrupt APFS volume (caused by bad SATA connection — has since been alleviated) of 150 GB reported by First Aid so I decided to create a new volume and reinstall macOS there.
In the end of my ...
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Unable to send compressed zip file from a Mac
I was given a Google link to upload a zip file containing some python scripts and screenshots. But for some reason I wasn't able to click on the required zip file when the Finder opened up, but I was ...
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mounting a bit by bit copy of a partition in macos
Is it possible to mount a bit by bit copy of a partition in macos?
I tried with mount -t apfs backup.img backup/, but it didnt work. Is there a better way?
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Can't edit hosts file on macOS 13.5 (sudo not working)
I don't have permission to edit the hosts file, even if I use sudo and turn off SIP.
I use sudo vim /etc/hosts to open the hosts file. After entering :wq!, it shows:
"hosts" E212: Can't open ...
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Estimate "true" APFS disk usage of folder without counting cloned files multiple times
I would like to compute how much "true" APFS disk space is used by a folder. This folder has many APFS "cloned" versions of the same files. A "true" count of the disk ...
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There is an extra "volume" in /Volumes with a similar name to an external hdd, that persists even when HDD is disconnected
Here is the output of terminal with external drive connected:
eric@Mac f0 % cd /Volumes
eric@Mac /Volumes % ls
Backup Macintosh HD Heiffer Heiffer 1
eric@Mac /Volumes % ls -al
...
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Errors when running Disk Utility on APFS SSD (error: doc-id tree, volume corrupt)
On my Mac running Disk Utility / First aid produces errors that Disk Utility doesn't seem to be able to fix (full log at bottom).
First:
Checking the fsroot tree.
error: doc-id tree: record exists ...
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Is there a way to tell a FileProvider filesystem to keep certain files local?
I'm using a filesystem which is hosted on a cloud provider and is made available on macOS via the FileProvider API. While it seems to be the same framework that Apple's iCloud Drive uses, it doesn't ...
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How Far Back Should My .fseventsd Logs Go?
I've been trying to diagnose an issue with fseventsd eating up a tonne of CPU time after a restart, and I've discovered that the .fseventsd folder on each of my volumes contains thousands of files ...
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Mount a local directory in another location of the filesystem as READ ONLY?
I regularly, but manually, rsync a certain local directory (A) to a remote machine. More than once I have rsynced in the wrong direction and deleted stuff that was new in A. I have backups but it ...
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Does adding a new APFS container damage data on the volume?
This question sounds very basic, but I have not found the answer.
In disk utility I can add a new APFS volumes to an (external) disk. Does this operation affect data already on the disk?
I know that ...
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Can not delete a file in home directory
I was removing Dropbox from my computer, and it deleted the entire Desktop folder!
I was able to recover the files, but now there is a file named Desktop in my home directory which cannot be deleted. ...
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Can't remove executable bit from file on a removable volume
On an external hard disk, I have MP3 files. Some of them have the permissions 0777:
ls -l 1*
shows:
-rwxrwxrwx 1 ronaldfischer staff 16246125 Dec 10 18:09 1_SuicidalTrauma__MyMemories.mp3
Since ...
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Finder - disable appending of " (1)" when saving same file name, ie no versioning desired, overwrite original as default
Firstly, I searched this fervently trying terms such as:
"finder disable file save versioning"
"disable finders file save adding (1)"
"finder save overwrite by default"
&...
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In the Download folder, What ~$ mean?
In the Download folder, when I do ls, I can find this
El lobo solitario y su cachorro (Kazuo Koike y Goseki Kojima) - Tomo 01.cbr ~$OL 68412 Advanced Clinical Bioinformatics 2022 Timetable.docx
~$...
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What are the ~ds and ~d directories for and why do they resolve to /var/empty?
I stumbled across two strange filesystem objects named ~d and ~ds which look like folders/directories, but don't behave like regular folders/directories and point to /var/empty:
bash-3.2$ pwd
/Users/...
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Find a shared library that isn't in its stated location
I am writing c++ code, and using cmake to compile the application. I want to add the dylib (libraries) to the Frameworks folder. Macdeployqt does not find them all.
I have written my own python script ...
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Why are some applications visible in the Finder but are not really there? [duplicate]
MacOS 13 (Ventura) seems to have a mechanism whereby applications (and I assume folders in general) can appear to be in a given location when viewed in the Finder, yet be located physically elsewhere ...
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Permission of a binary executable to access certain files? [duplicate]
In macOS we can set in settings whether an app can access document/download/etc folders.
Now, how can one do access control on arbitrary directories and particular files, not just the a few ones above?...
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"illegal byte sequence" even with LC_ALL=C
My understanding is that setting the C locale turns off any encoding/decoding of characters. Somehow, I'm still getting an "illegal byte sequence" error.
% LC_ALL=C xxd ~/Library/Metadata/...
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Unable to remove uchg user immutable flag/lock with root user
General specs
key
value
OS
macOS Monterey 12.6.3
Application file
/Applications/Falcon.app
App appears in /System/Applications/?
No
The application is some kind of antivirus distributed by ...
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Why (and how) does the /Applications folder on Ventura show files from /System/Applications too?
Opening the /Applications folder from Finder I can see it contains the ootb Apple app TextEdit.app.
Yet running ls -alh /Applications from a terminal does not list the TextEdit.app.
Dragging TextEdit....
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Recovering time machine backup on failed external disk partition
I have an external disk with apfs filesystem that contains my encrypted time machine backups. The filesystem get corrupted and I'm not able to mount it any more. Disk Doctor is not able to fix the ...
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Creating Automator Quick Action to Extract (and Move) Media Files From Subfolders to New Folder (in Parent Directory)
I have an audio recording device that puts all files from any given capture into its own folder. (This includes all channels of the recording plus a metadata document.)
Typically, I navigate to the ...
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Where are file extended attributes saved?
It seems to be an obvious question, but for some reason I cannot find an answer. Apparently, I just discovered a well-known MacOS feature: extended file attributes.
Context: When I download a file, I ...
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Disabling SIP doesn't allow me to edit "protected" files
I wanted to make a small change to a file in a protected directory, so I went into recovery mode and entered csrutil disable. Now rebooted into normal macOS csrutil status returns System Integrity ...
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/dev/disk/by-id on macOS?
Suppose that we are doing some operations on drives using for example diskutil. Usually we use /dev/diskX to indicate which drive we are working on, but the number X could change next time we connect ...
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Can I use an APFS snapshot to generate a list of all files changed since an earlier point?
I just clean installed macOS on a new VM and now need to set it up with various preferences and stuff to customize it. What I am curious about is where all those customizations actually get stored.
I ...
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Are all the default applications duplicated?
I noticed that all of the default applications (Finder, Preview, etc.) each appear in /Applications, but also again in /System/Applications. Given that these applications are combined just under one ...
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MacOS Ventura sshfs? [duplicate]
seems old macfuse is not compatiable with the current version MacOS Ventura.
Any way to make sshfs to work?
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Where's my file dialog?
When I try to Save As (in Firefox, TextEdit or Thunderbird) or Open (in Fetch), the beachball spins for a minute and then goes back to arrow, without ever opening the directory dialog. What's up with ...
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Is there a layered file system such as UnionFS, aufs, mergefs, or overlayfs for macOS Ventura?
The title pretty much sums up the question: Is there a layered file system such as UnionFS, aufs, mergefs, or overlayfs for macOS Ventura?
I'm trying to solve a pain point I have with Lightroom. I ...
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How can I reverse lookup an alias, ie. find what links to a file or folder?
Suppose I have a folder /my/dir/ and an alias in ~/Documents (called thisdir) pointing to /my/dir/. How can I find the alias (ie. find all aliases) that points to /my/dir/?
This question is unlike a ...
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What does System Snapshot Mounted mean?
Installed macOS Ventura on external USB-C SSD.
Install went as expected but, when I look at “macOS” disk in “Disk Utility” app, I notice “macOS” disk is mounted as a snapshot.
Is that normal? If not, ...
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.app extension in folder with .service ending
I cloned a git repository and there's a folder with .service ending, so my Mac adds the .app extension. How can I disable it, because I simply can operate with that?
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How can a mac admin access my laptop by files while I’m offline?
I have a company laptop and my Mac admin was able to update my application apps, remove unnecessary apps, and clear old files in my document folder. However, he was able to do all of this while my mac ...
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Dot underscore (._) files reappear [duplicate]
I have an external USB drive that is formatted with ExFAT. I'm on MacOS Ventura. I noticed that some of my files on that drive have attributes that I deleted with xattr -cr. The attributes vanished ...
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Which files are required on the root of an APFS partition?
I have an external drive formatted as APFS. It contains folders such as .PKInstallSandboxManager, .Spotlight-V100, .TemporaryItems, .Trashes, and .fseventsd. Which of these files are safe to delete if ...
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Why does APFS claim my filesystem is full when I'm only using 100/250GB?
I've been tearing my hair out trying to figure out why my new machine (Mac mini M1 2020, Monterey 12.6) is supposedly running out of space. Running du/ncdu is showing only a total of 100 GB disk space ...
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Reducing RAM disk (diskimages-helper) memory usage
First, I create a RAM disk, like so:
diskutil erasevolume APFS RAM_Disk_4096MB $(hdiutil attach -nomount ram://8388608)
At first it occupies no RAM (system memory), as it is empty. When I copy/move ...
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Where to save files that won't be Desktop or Documents?
I was told by Apple Support to hold my computer's cloud drive on pause while I organize my files. They saw how I had many files on Desktop and Documents. I have now somewhat organized them into ...
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Available disk space slowly decreasing
My computer is a late 2011 MacBookPro with an original 128 SSD running MacOs 10.13.6.
For some years now the total of the used disk space plus the available disk space has been slowly shrinking.
In ...
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npm and git is very slow in some folders
In most places inside my home directory, npm install and git clone runs very slow, but not in ~/Library. npm install takes tens of minutes in reify stage. While git does not take that long, it takes ...
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I want to be able to quit Finder but can't edit Finder's Info.plist after disabling SIP
I'm trying to edit /System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Info.plist on my MacOS Ventura (13.01) to be able to quit Finder (remove from tab switcher):
m@ms-MacBook-Pro ~ % csrutil status ...
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How to recover APFS encrypted partition table
I was trying to install an encrypted Debian on my Macbook pro 2017 but somehow Debian erased the partition table and now when I boot in the macOS recover I can only see 3 unformated partition with a ...
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How come I cannot view /Users/foo/ from a second admin user, but I CAN view them from macOS on another partition?
I've been trying to get a clean macOS.
First effort was to create a second admin user. I found that userB couldn't see /Users/userA/*.
Second effort was to create a second APFS partition, and install ...
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