Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
In Terminal after entering “diskutil info disk0” the info compiled states that the disk has no file system. Can someone help explain to me how something can be partitioned and have file systems out onto it without it having a file system itself? Is this (see the attached photo) what most people see when they enter the same command?
Below is from a functioning Monterey 12.2.1 on Apple Silicon M1 Mac Mini but still do not understand the importance versus diskutil list as previous suggested .
Mac-Mini-M1 ~ % diskutil info disk0
Device Identifier: disk0
Device Node: /dev/disk0
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk0
Device / Media Name: APPLE SSD AP0256Q
Volume Name: Not applicable (no file system)
Mounted: Not applicable (no file system)
File System: None
Content (IOContent): GUID_partition_scheme
OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: Apple Fabric
SMART Status: Verified
Disk Size: 251.0 GB (251000193024 Bytes) (exactly 490234752 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 4096 Bytes
Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)
Device Location: Internal
Removable Media: Fixed
Solid State: Yes
Hardware AES Support: Yes
Below is from a functioning Monterey 12.2.1 on Apple Silicon M1 Mac Mini but still do not understand the importance versus diskutil list as previous suggested .
Mac-Mini-M1 ~ % diskutil info disk0
Device Identifier: disk0
Device Node: /dev/disk0
Whole: Yes
Part of Whole: disk0
Device / Media Name: APPLE SSD AP0256Q
Volume Name: Not applicable (no file system)
Mounted: Not applicable (no file system)
File System: None
Content (IOContent): GUID_partition_scheme
OS Can Be Installed: No
Media Type: Generic
Protocol: Apple Fabric
SMART Status: Verified
Disk Size: 251.0 GB (251000193024 Bytes) (exactly 490234752 512-Byte-Units)
Device Block Size: 4096 Bytes
Media OS Use Only: No
Media Read-Only: No
Volume Read-Only: Not applicable (no file system)
Device Location: Internal
Removable Media: Fixed
Solid State: Yes
Hardware AES Support: Yes
If you wish to read up on how APFS is laid out in depth, I would recommend this three part post on The Eclectic Light Company blog, by the most venerable, Howard Oakley.
https://eclecticlight.co/2020/10/06/inside-the-file-system-1-disks-and-partitions/
https://eclecticlight.co/2020/10/07/inside-the-file-system-2-hfs-volumes/
https://eclecticlight.co/2020/10/08/inside-the-file-system-3-apfs-containers-and-volumes/
Thanks for the tip. I was wondering if this is what others see when they type in the same command though. If you wouldn’t mind typing the same command into your machine’s Terminal and then provide me with the results that would be more helpful.
P. Phillips wrote:
do not understand the importance versus diskutil list as previous suggested .
You've got a good point there. The basic "diskutil list" is useless. It is "diskutil list -plist" that has more meaningful information, including all of the containers. I try to present the information as accurately as I can in EtreCheck. But even then, on a Fusion drive, it is really difficult to make any sense out of it. And then when Apple added the snapshots in Monterey, it's just insane.
Apple’s modern file systems are extremely complicated, consisting of disks, containers, multiple volumes, and snapshots.
I recommend the command “diskutil list” for an overview.
Thank you! This is a big help.
Terminal Listed Disk Info
