Apple File System (APFS) Reclaims Storage in iOS 10.3

[giradman]

This afternoon, I've been reading about the new APFS (Apple File System) which I installed on my 64 GB iPad Air 2 a few nights ago - noticed that my capacity jumped to 60.6 GB and available storage to 16.5 GB, which was about a 2-3 GB increase from the previous iOS version on my device; so what is the explanation which has been mentioned in a number of other recent threads and posts.

Apple has been using the same 'file system' since 1985 (i.e. 30+ years!) w/ an update to HFS+ in 1998 (see first quote below - Source), so about time for a new one that is adapted to modern storage technologies, such as Flash & SSD drives. APFS manages 'solid state storage' more efficiently and can regain GBs on your devices (see second quote - Source) - also, pic below from same second link where nearly 8 GB of available storage was gained on a 256 GB iPhone 7+ (divide that by 4 pretty much equals my gain a few nights ago).

So bottom like, the new Apple FS indeed reorganizes your 'storage' and increases your available capacity - if more interested, then check the links above and/or take a look at this 30 min video from last year's WWDC - http://devstreaming.apple.com/videos/wwdc/2016/701q0pnn0ietcautcrv/701/hls_vod_mvp.m3u8 - Dave

As mentioned, APFS replaces the current HFS and HFS+ file systems, used by Apple since 1985 and 1998 respectively. That’s a lot of intervening years. Back when HFS and HFS+ were introduced, Solid-State Drives (SSD) and Flash Drives were in just starting up in research and development. And at that time, no one imagined what they could or would become (the backbone of portable media devices and smartphones like the groundbreaking iPod and iPhone.)

It appears that the conversion to the new Apple File System (APFS) included in iOS 10.3 is more efficient in how it formats volume storage. APFS was designed specifically to take advantage of modern "solid state" storage technology (as opposed to the spinning magnetic disk hard drives of the era when Apple's previous HFS+ file system was developed). It also allows for much larger storage devices in the future, via its support for 64-bit file system structures.

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[twerppoet]

Happy to be proven wrong.

 

[giradman]

Happy to be proven wrong.

Hi TP - just was curious where that extra 2-3 GB of storage appeared after updating to 10.3 w/ the new APFS - was impressed by the links given previously (and watching most of that video URL) - but after reading a number of articles, issues still exist in adapting this new 'file system' to macOS - below just some important issues that still need to be addressed (Source) - assume that the release for Mac computers will be in the fall - will definitely have some redundant backups on my 3 Mac computers. Dave
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[jwt873]

Out of interest, I have a 16 Gig iPad Air that was pretty full. I checked right before updating and saw that it was down to 620 Megabytes. Immediately after updating to 10.3 it went up to 2.4 Gig... That's an extra ~1.8 Gigs for 'free'. Amazing.

I did my Pro 9.7 and iPhone 7Plus as well. but never checked the memory before and after so I can't comment on how much more was freed up on those devices.

 

[giradman]

Out of interest, I have a 16 Gig iPad Air that was pretty full. I checked right before updating and saw that it was down to 620 Megabytes. Immediately after updating to 10.3 it went up to 2.4 Gig... That's an extra ~1.8 Gigs for 'free'. Amazing.

I did my Pro 9.7 and iPhone 7Plus as well. but never checked the memory before and after so I can't comment on how much more was freed up on those devices.

Great! - the new APFS seems to be quite efficient - curious, you must have updated your iPad Air cabled and using iTunes, i.e. for an OTA update, several GBs of 'free storage' would likely be needed (some discussion HERE) - likely will be of interest to others about to move to 10.3. Dave