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File System and Storage Flashcards

6 cards from real ACSP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. A user is concerned about the security of their data if their MacBook is lost or stolen. Which macOS feature should a support professional recommend to encrypt the entire startup disk?

    Answer: FileVault

    FileVault is the full-disk encryption feature built into macOS. When enabled, it encrypts the entire contents of the startup volume using XTS-AES-128 encryption with a 256-bit key to prevent unauthorized access. Time Machine is for backups, APFS Snapshots are for point-in-time recovery, and iCloud Drive is for cloud storage and syncing; none of these provide full-disk encryption.

  2. What is the primary advantage of having multiple APFS volumes within a single container, as opposed to traditional partitioning?

    Answer: All volumes within the container share the free space of that container.

    A key feature of Apple File System (APFS) is space sharing. Multiple volumes within a single APFS container share the total available space in that container, allocating it on demand. This is more flexible than traditional partitions, where each partition has a fixed size. While volumes can be encrypted, they all reside in the same container, and you cannot mix file system formats like APFS and HFS+ within the same APFS container.

  3. A user accidentally deleted a critical project folder. They use Time Machine for regular backups. macOS also automatically creates APFS snapshots. Which of the following is true about these snapshots?

    Answer: Snapshots are read-only and capture the state of an entire volume at a specific point in time.

    APFS snapshots are read-only copies of the file system's state for a whole volume at the moment the snapshot was created. While macOS creates snapshots before updates, Time Machine also creates them hourly for local recovery. Because snapshots retain references to data blocks, deleting a file doesn't free up space until the snapshot holding that data is also deleted. Snapshots themselves are not directly browsable or modifiable in Finder; you restore from them.

  4. A technician is using Disk Utility to troubleshoot a storage issue. They need to check for and repair errors in the file system structure of a volume. Which Disk Utility feature should they use?

    Answer: First Aid

    First Aid is the feature in Disk Utility designed to check a disk for errors and make repairs if necessary. It verifies and repairs the file system structure and permissions. Erase is for formatting a volume, Partition is for creating or modifying partitions, and Restore is for copying a volume from a source to a destination.

  5. In modern versions of macOS, the startup disk is configured as an APFS volume group. This group consists of which two primary volumes?

    Answer: A read-only System volume and a read-write Data volume.

    Starting with macOS Catalina, the OS is installed on a dedicated, cryptographically sealed, read-only System volume. User data, apps, and settings are stored on a separate, read-write Data volume. These two volumes are linked together and presented to the user as a single, unified volume.

  6. Which of the following is a core feature of the Apple File System (APFS) that allows for nearly instantaneous copying of files and directories without initially consuming additional storage space?

    Answer: Copy-on-Write

    APFS uses a copy-on-write metadata strategy. When a file is duplicated or 'cloned', APFS creates a second reference to the same data on disk rather than duplicating the data itself. The actual data is only duplicated when one of the copies is modified, making the initial copy operation extremely fast and space-efficient.