Explainer: Inodes and Inode Numbers
2 days ago
- #file systems
- #inodes
- #APFS
- File systems use inodes or similar structures to uniquely identify files and directories.
- HFS+ uses Catalogue Node IDs (CNIDs) instead of inodes, which serve a similar purpose.
- APFS uses 64-bit inode numbers and supports standard Posix features.
- Inode numbers help distinguish files with identical data and manage file linking methods.
- APFS clone files share data but have distinct inode numbers.
- Symbolic links don't use inode numbers, while Finder aliases and bookmarks do.
- Hard links in APFS share the same inode number and maintain a link count.
- Inode numbers can be accessed via Terminal commands like 'ls -i'.