PERockwell

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PERockwell
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  • Time Machine backups causing issues for some Apple Silicon Mac users

    PERockwellPERockwell
    libertymatters said:
    So Time Machine in Big Sur and later does use snapshots with APFS.  It is not using hard links(nor their equivalent) like HFS+ as APFS doesn't even support hard links.  CheeseFreeze is mistaken that Time Machine is archaic and inefficient.  It was updated in Big Sur to be more modern using block based snapshots.  

    Actually Time Machine uses APFS in several ways:
    • On an APFS-formatted system disk (pretty much the norm with SSD based Macs), local snapshots are taken at the beginning of the backup. This provides a point-in-time frozen image that's used to identify and copy changed files to the backup target. Nice touch to eliminate files changing while the backup is occurring.
    • Hourly local snapshots are kept on the source disk for up to 24 hours if they don't need to be purged for space reclamation. The idea is that you don't have to go to the backup disk to restore a file if it's available in the snapshot. You don't get this with HFS+ disks.
    • Each backup on an APFS-format destination disk is a snapshot of data on that disk. Take a snapshot of the destination, add changed data, and voila - new backup. That's how it avoids having to use the HFS+ hack of hard-linked directories.
    Also note that starting in Big Sur, the sealed/readonly system volume (boot volume) is not backed up (less data on your backup disk). This does change how you recover from media corruption or failure.


    prairiewalkerwatto_cobra

  • Qualcomm, Microsoft deal could explain lack of Windows on Apple Silicon

    PERockwellPERockwell
    Pouring through Microsoft’s maze of licensing agreements, it seems that one of the requirements of the Windows license is that you are running on a supported processor. The exclusivity explains why only Qualcomm chips are listed as supported CPUs for Windows on ARM. 
    In my mind Apple Silicon would have to be added to that CPU list before Microsoft will sell you a license.
    watto_cobra

  • Feds probing Apple & big tech companies about digital payment systems [u]

    PERockwellPERockwell
    Why does the idea of lumping Apple in with the likes of Google and Facebook  seem like a game of “which of these is not like the others”?
    watto_cobra

  • VMware ditches plans to support EXSi on 2019 Mac Pro

    PERockwellPERockwell
    VMware Fusion does not run on Apple Silicon today, but VMware has stated they are working on it. A blog post by their product manager says they have internal versions of it running. They also say they are planning a public beta. I’m keeping an eye on VMworld to see if they are going to release more details. 
    But set your expectations. When released on Apple Silicon, Fusion will run ARM operating systems, not x86. Same as Parallels. Which means existing VMs of x86/x86_64 won’t run. Both Parallels and Fusion are, after all,  virtualization products for a given chipset architecture and not cross-architecture instruction set emulation. Also consider that Microsoft doesn’t currently sell an ARM version of Windows to anyone other than hardware OEMs and doesn’t support it on Apple Silicon chipsets. 
    Rosetta 2 doesn’t solve the problems that would allow Fusion to run under Apple Silicon. It was designed for a simpler problem : user mode Intel applications. It does not have the full Intel architecture instruction set and architecture emulation that would allow an x86 operating system to run in emulation. The tricks used by Rosetta to get acceptable performance likely would not be applicable to emulating an x86 operating system due to the highly dynamic nature of code execution. 
    watto_cobraikir

  • South Korean legislation could force external payment options onto App Store

    PERockwellPERockwell
    Does anyone really think that Epic et al will reduce their prices if alternative payment options are mandated?
    watto_cobra