Choosing the right file system for your Mac is an important decision that can impact performance, reliability, and features. Two of the main options are APFS (Apple File System) and HFS+ with journaling enabled, often referred to as “macOS journaled”. APFS is Apple’s newest file system, introduced in 2017 with macOS High Sierra. HFS+ with journaling has been macOS’s default file system for many years. So which one is better for most Mac users?
What is APFS?
APFS stands for Apple File System. It was designed specifically for solid state drives and flash storage. APFS replaced HFS+ as the default file system in macOS starting with macOS High Sierra in 2017.
Some key features and benefits of APFS include:
- Optimized for solid state drives (SSDs) and flash storage
- Space sharing – Shares available storage space between volumes on the same physical drive
- Fast directory sizing – Quickly determines the sizes of directories
- Copy-on-write metadata – Reads and writes metadata only when files are modified
- Snapshots – Provides read-only, point-in-time copies of the file system
- Crash protection – Quickly saves disk metadata for protection against crashes
- Encryption – Supports native encryption on a per-file or per-volume basis
Overall, APFS offers improvements in performance, efficiency, reliability, and security compared to older file systems like HFS+.
What is HFS+ Journaling?
HFS+, also known as Mac OS Extended, is the file system that was the default on Mac OS X and macOS for many years until it was replaced by APFS.
By default since 2002, HFS+ uses a feature called journaling. File system journaling records pending file system operations, like writes and metadata changes, into a journal data structure before committing them to the main file system. If the system crashes or loses power, journaling allows committed operations to be replayed when the file system mounts again, preventing corruption.
Some key attributes of HFS+ journaling include:
- Reliability – Journaling prevents file system corruption from improper shutdowns.
- Backwards compatible – Works with older macOS versions unlike APFS.
- Slower performance – Compared to more modern file systems like APFS that are optimized for SSDs.
While generally reliable, HFS+ is quite dated now, being originally introduced in 1998. Journaling helps prevent corruption but does not improve HFS+’s fundamental performance or feature limitations.
Performance and Speed
One of the main areas where APFS shines compared to HFS+ journaled is performance and speed. APFS was designed from the ground up to take advantage of modern solid state storage. Several performance enhancements make APFS much faster than HFS+ with journaling:
Faster writing
APFS uses a delayed allocation system that batches up multiple write operations before allocating disk space. This speeds up writes significantly compared to HFS+ journaling.
Rapid cloning and duplication
APFS has native support for fast copying or cloning of files and directories through metadata copy-on-write. This makes duplicating files on APFS nearly instantaneous.
Optimized SSD storage
APFS uses 64-bit inodes for tracking file system objects compared to HFS+’s 32-bit inodes, allowing support for a vastly greater number of files. The larger block size also better matches SSD storage for faster data access.
Snapshot performance
APFS snapshots are virtually instantaneous since they simply capture read-only pointers to existing data. On HFS+ journaled, snapshots require copying all data which is much slower.
Faster metadata
APFS has faster metadata operations across the board compared to HFS+ journaled, from faster directory sizing to quicker reading and writing of metadata like file permissions and attributes.
Crash protection
APFS’s crash protection can save disk metadata within 3 seconds, whereas HFS+ journaling takes significantly longer and risks metadata corruption on power loss.
| File System | Write Performance | Snapshots | Metadata | Crash Protection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| APFS | Faster | Instant | Faster | Faster |
| HFS+ Journaled | Slower | Slower | Slower | Slower |
As you can see, APFS outperforms HFS+ journaled across the board when it comes to speed and performance. The faster write speeds, rapid duplication, and quick metadata operations make everyday file management much snappier.
Reliability
In addition to performance, file system reliability is crucial for protecting against data loss and corruption. Both APFS and HFS+ journaling provide robust data protection but APFS has additional safeguards.
Journaling
Like HFS+ journaled, APFS uses journaling to enable crash recovery and prevent data corruption. Transactions are saved to an APFS overlay area before being written to the main file system.
Copy-on-write metadata
APFS uses copy-on-write for metadata updates. This means metadata blocks are never overwritten. Instead, changes get written to new blocks while the old blocks become free space. This prevents corruption.
Snapshots
APFS snapshots provide an additional layer of data protection by creating read-only, point-in-time copies of file system. Snapshots can save previous versions of files in case of accidental changes.
Improved volume management
APFS has advanced support for virtual volumes within a container, allowing for features like space sharing, drive spanning, and fast volume creation. This improves redundancy and storage flexibility.
Integrity checking
APFS offers integrity checking through checksums on both data and metadata to detect any corruption across the file system.
| File System | Journaling | Copy-on-Write | Snapshots | Volume Management | Integrity Checking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APFS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Improved | Yes |
| HFS+ Journaled | Yes | No | No | Basic | Limited |
The additional reliability features like snapshots and checksumming make APFS better suited than HFS+ journaled for protecting critical data on modern SSD storage.
Features
APFS also provides several advanced features that HFS+ journaled lacks:
Space sharing
APFS allows sharing free space across volumes on the same physical disk. HFS+ journaled treats each volume separately.
Native encryption
APFS supports file system level encryption with minimal performance impact. Full disk encryption is not directly built into HFS+ journaled.
Snapshots
As mentioned earlier, APFS allows extremely fast read-only snapshots for easily rolling back changes or versions. Snapshots are not possible on HFS+ journaled.
Scalability
APFS scales much better to large volume sizes and large numbers of files. HFS+ journaled runs into performance issues at higher scales.
Custom attributes
APFS supports user-defined file system attributes for extending metadata. HFS+ journaled has fixed attributes.
| File System | Space Sharing | Encryption | Snapshots | Scalability | Custom Attributes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| APFS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Better | Yes |
| HFS+ Journaled | No | No | No | Worse | No |
The expanded features in APFS like snapshots, encryption, and attributes offer more flexibility and functionality over the aging HFS+ file system.
Compatibility
The main advantage HFS+ journaled still maintains over APFS is backwards compatibility. As the legacy Mac file system, HFS+ journaled can be read by macOS versions dating back to Cheetah in 2001. APFS is only fully supported on macOS High Sierra from 2017 and newer.
Using HFS+ instead of APFS allows compatibility with older Macs running older macOS versions. It also facilitates dual booting with older operating systems. However, compatibility comes at the cost of missing out on the performance and features of APFS.
For most users with modern Macs running current macOS versions, APFS compatibility is a non-issue. But certain niche use cases like maintaining legacy software or OSes may still require HFS+.
Conclusion
For current Macs and macOS versions, APFS is generally better than HFS+ journaled. The advantages of APFS include:
- Faster performance – Optimized for SSD/flash storage
- Enhanced reliability – Copy-on-write, snapshots, crash protection
- New features – Space sharing, encryption, attributes
- Better scalability – Handles more files and large drives
The only reason to stick with HFS+ journaled is for backward compatibility with very old macOS versions or Boot Camp.
APFS improves on HFS+ journaled in almost every way. Unless compatibility with pre-macOS 10.13 devices is required, there is no good reason not to use APFS as the primary file system on modern Macs. The speed boost, extra data protection, and useful new features make APFS the clear winner over the dated HFS+ file system.