This file system is an upgrade of HFS (HFS Standard or Hierarchical File System). It is the file system used on all Mac OS 8.1 and later, including Mac OS X, since 1998. Mac OS Extended (Journaled) is also known as HFS Plus or HFS+.

Apple has also designed it for optimizing access to solid-state drives (SSDs) and flash storage devices.įrom macOS 10.13, APFS has become the default file system of Mac hard drives (or startup disks).ĪPFS volumes also enable snapshots for creating a point-in-time and read-only instance of the file system, which can be a backup of your data.įor Macs with SSDs before 2016, they have auto-converted to APFS when upgrading the macOS. APFSĪPFS, short for Apple File System, was introduced with the launch of macOS 10.13 (High Sierra) in 2017. But they have differences in some aspects. They control how data is stored and retrieved on a storage device, such as hard drives. What are APFS and Mac OS Extended (Journaled)ĪPFS and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) are file systems for macOS. What format option is better, APFS or Mac OS Extended? What are APFS and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) Mac OS Extended ( HFS+)? Are you confused about which one you should choose for disk formats? Please read this post to get the answers.

Mac os extended or windows disk format