OS Catalina. 2 MAC HD data drives

After installing Catalina a second time, it put a second Mac HD data partition. Then when trying to use Time Machine, it failed. Because there are two drives with the same name HD data. How do I rename the drive or delete the Drive. How do I know which one Catalina is using?

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Oct 11, 2019 4:26 PM

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47 replies

craig150 Author

Level 1

26 points

Oct 12, 2019 6:23 PM in response to craig150

After talking to apple, they confirmed that the 2nd copy of HD Data is from downloading Catalina a second time. I think we pinpointed which drive that Catalina is using but are unsure of how to delete the other HD partition. Hopefully this will not affect Catalina.

Dec 20, 2019 5:01 AM in response to Rayamc

I just had this happen to me after I had problems with an update in Catalina which caused it not to boot up, so I had to erase all my data and do full reinstall of Cataline then a full data restore from Time Machine.

Apple Support guided me through the process.

Back up the system on Time Machine (Full back up or do a new incremental before starting)
Remove/unplug any devices (including Time Machine connections) and any other external drives.
Reboot Machine and ensure only Finder is running.
Open Disk Utility
One of the Macintosh HD - Data will have the Home icon, one will not, it will also be the one with the lowest usage used about 1mb/2mb.
Select that and use the - (minus) key at the top, this will remove the Partition/Disk Image (Note: Erase will not do the job as this will just remove the data on the drive), you will be prompted to remove it. Confirm it.
Reboot again.
Check to ensure the new HD Data, now correctly shows the Free Space and Used Spaced which when added together match the max capacity of the volume (unless you have other partitiions defined).
Plug in again all external devices - Time Machine drive etc.
Do another backup / incremental after.

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OS Catalina. 2 MAC HD data drives