Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data?

As I stated, start your own post. This thread is pretty much dead as it is just a bunch of me too useless drivel.

Your drive is either corrupt or failing.

Go to the top of the page and choose Discussion from the Post popup menu.

Both Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD should NOT be showing up in the Finder, or even in About this Mac. They should be combined as only “Macintosh HD”. As said, only in Disk Utility should both volumes be seen.

Just make sure, when erasing the disk, to select View > Show All Devices, and erase the main HDD/SSD, as APFS, as opposed to just removing the volumes.

Also, instead of “Restoring Time Machine Backup” from recovery, it’s best, once re-formatted to “Reinstall Mac OS”, then, if need be, migrate the data during set up assistant, or set up as new, and move over the user data to the fresh user.

Ive seen some weird anomalies with Catalina since the read only/read/write volume split, it’s an awesome security concept, but can see if data is restored, or even the disk, reformatted the old way, how issues can arise, and can be kind of confusing.

Likewise, if you do happen to see two Macintosh HD Data volumes in Disk Utility, and you didn’t intentionally try to create a separate partition:

Open Disk Utility while logged into your user account, hit View > Show All Devices,

By “Volumes” you’ll see a plus and a minus symbol.

Click on each Macintosh HD Data volume, when the “-“ becomes clickable, that’s the volume you can delete, as you are not booted up from that volume, can safely remove it here.

Of course it’s always a good idea to backup before trying any steps like that, cheers.

I erased my MacBook Pro 2019 and reinstalled OS Catalina resulting in 2 partitions.

1) Macintosh HD which contains My user folder. It is NOT read only. It CAN be written to. I have already copied items to it.

2) Macintosh HD-Data which sits there unused.

I am confused. Please help. Anyone?

If you were to actually read some of the other posts, the answers have already been posted. Catalina has 2 partitions, one protected that you can read only and the Data volume which contains your User folder, apps, etc. which you can read/write to.

The Macintosh HD volume itself should NOT contain your user folder. It should be in the Data volume. Go into recovery, erase your entire drive and reinstall from scratch. You should than have one Mac HD folder (read only) and one Mac HD - Data folder which, while invisible, will contain all your data, user folder, apps, etc.

I do not appreciate your condescending tone. I have had to pay to have someone help reformat my computer because of issues with Catalina. My User fielder is now in the HD folder and not the HD-Data folder. I have never had a reason to post in this forum but the rude responses I have received will deter me from ever posting again.

Please don't let one bad apple.... I too am seeking a solution. I have followed ALL instructions. I am also an experienced Mac user of many years. I understand how things work. Despite following the instructions, reformatting, reinstalling etc. I have 2 filters or partitions. Users are in the HD folder, which is NOT read only. the HD-Data folder sits there useless.

If you find a solution, please reply. It's frustrating.

The only real issue I have found is with TimeMachine. There seems to be a ghost HD-Data drive that I have to unmount (I’m not a seasoned Mac user so I hope that’s the correct term) for Time Machine to work. The more I’ve read the more issues I see Catalina has.

Hello Old Toad. My MacBook 2019 is running 10.15.6. From Jan-Aug I had one HD visible in the finder. Mac Support was unable to help with my problem (trash would not empty despite all recommended solutions.) and advised me to

erase the HD.

I did so twice, using Disk Utility. I then installed Catalina. Both times the result was 2 visible partitions in my finder.

1) Macintosh HD contains Applications, Library, System and User folders. This Macintosh HD is NOT read only. Every folder in the user folders can and has been written to. (bad grammar lol)

2) the second partition is named Macintosh HD - Data. It contains nothing and seems to be useless.

Any remedy is appreciated. The syncing after each reinstall is killing me. Thanks

I was not referring to a folder, but a volume. As mentioned, Catalina has two volumes. If you reinstall Catalina without erasing the Data volume, the reinstall may create a problem because it will create a duplicate.

I am sorry you had to pay someone. If that was an authorized service provider, do go back and ask them to erase before reinstalling. You need to have a backup of your files first.

We try to answer questions. I was not condescending, simply trying to convey facts. If you post screenshots of your Disk Utility windows showing all the volumes we can possibly help you further. It is difficult to help long distance without being able to see your screen.

I'm having this issue as well and it wouldn't be a big deal but Time Machine stopped backing up since upgrading to Catalina 2 weeks ago. TM never produced an error and had I had a disk issue I would have lost 2 weeks of data. I unmounted the 2nd HD - Data drive in disk utility and TM appears to be working. This is a bug that needs to be dealt with. I'm also a long-time Apple/ Mac user. I've given other Mac users the advice to stick with Mojave and will continue to do so.

This thread discusses the problem, what causes it, and the solution—>Two Volumes Named "Macintosh HD - Dat… - Apple Community

Here is a new Apple article with instructions on erasing a disk:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

Yes, as long as you follow Apple's instructions, you won't have a problem:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496

You will need to erase your drive completely, following these instructions

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208496