AFP/SMB

[dazzer21-2]

Up until now, I've had a late '15 iMac running Mojave on a fusion drive (2 partitions) and an older iMac running Snow Leopard in my office, networked together. Using AFP, I can connect to each machine directly either way, ie full disk access with all volumes, files and folders available.

My system has now changed in that I also have a MacBook Pro running Catalina with an external SSD connected.

Using SMB as a connection method, I'm able to access all volumes etc in the same way as before. However, using AFP, from the iMac I can only connect to the external SSD on the MacBook and from the MacBook, I can only connect to the partition of the iMac that doesn't contain the OS.

I have read somewhere that SMB is inferior in terms of performance and speed to AFP. Is it by much and will I notice?

 

[mystery hill]

However, using AFP, from the iMac I can only connect to the external SSD on the MacBook and from the MacBook, I can only connect to the partition of the iMac that doesn't contain the OS.

APFS volumes cannot be shared for network access via AFP.

I have read somewhere that SMB is inferior in terms of performance and speed to AFP. Is it by much and will I notice?

SMB should be fine. See the link below for a comparison of the performance between AFP and SMB. SMB was the fastest in the tests conducted.

AFP vs NFS vs SMB Performance on macOS Mojave