Confused by the options for importing files - an answer of sorts

EagleFiler
1

Hi,

I started out asking a question then found the answer and think it may be of use to others as the new clone feature was a surprise to me.
I am trying to understand how I might or should use EagleFiler to manage an ever growing number of data files such as PDFs, Text, movie etc. Before committing time and effort I would like to understand how EagleFiler manages files that it imports. I have both read portions of the manual and have set up a couple of small Libraries but still do not understand what is happening when I import a file into a library then delete the original given that the copy in the library takes up no disk space. I should say that I am using MacOS 11 on a 2013 MacBookPro fitted with a solid state drive and with a number of external drives connected by USB 2 or 3.

My confusion arose from the fact that what I thought were copies of files are in fact “clones” and clones behave like aliases on steroids. The main difference is that if the target of an alias is deleted then the alias will no longer work whereas if the source or original file is deleted then its clone continues to work. There is far more to clones which appear to have come of age with OS Catalina and this web page provides a good description.

best wishes
S

2

You can chose to import existing files by moving or by copying. On an APFS volume, EagleFiler uses cloning so that copies don’t use any additional disk space. They will still use the regular amount of disk space if you later delete the original file.