User profile for user: coleachie
coleachie Author
User level: Level 1
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How to clear out Other Volumes in Container after factory reset?

I bought a big chunk of new plugins to use on Logic Pro but since my computer was fairly old and fairly full most of them could not be downloaded. I transferred all my files I needed to an external hard drive and performed a factory reset on the laptop thinking this would clear up a ton of space and I could just start with a fresh computer to add all these new plugins. Upon rebooting after the reset I tried downloading the plugins to find out even less could be downloaded than before. I looked at my storage and 93.06 Gigs out of my 121 gigs on my computer were full of Other Volumes in Container. I've contacted apple support and they walked me through an SMC Reset and an NV Ram reset and rebooting in safe mode and none of these worked. Since all the apples stores around me are closed due to cover-19 any help would be greatly appreciated.


macOS Catalina Version 10.15.4

MacBook Air

Processor 1.4 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

Memory 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3



MacBook Air 13", macOS 10.15

Posted on May 19, 2020 9:46 AM

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User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
123,032 points

Posted on May 19, 2020 11:58 AM

You don't delete the "Other Volumes" in the Container (if they are the standard ones). They are the Recovery volume, the Preboot volume, and the Virtual Memory volume.

However, there are two possibilities:


  1. You may be looking at the Macintosh HD Volume which shows your - Data volume in the list of "Other Volumes." That's your data. Catalina splits the drive into two primary volumes, the system and your data (and third-party software).
  2. Or, you chose the wrong volume to install the OS onto when you did a "factory reset." That would leave the original system volume intact and install onto your - Data volume, and a new - Data - Data volume would be created. You likely have all of your stuff that was in - Data duplicated in - Data - Data.


Open Disk utility and look at the Volumes on the Internal Drive. Do you have a Macintosh HD, Macintosh HD - Data, and a Macintosh HD - Data - Data? Or, just Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data?



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User profile for user: Barney-15E
Barney-15E
User level: Level 10
123,032 points

May 19, 2020 11:58 AM in response to coleachie

You don't delete the "Other Volumes" in the Container (if they are the standard ones). They are the Recovery volume, the Preboot volume, and the Virtual Memory volume.

However, there are two possibilities:


  1. You may be looking at the Macintosh HD Volume which shows your - Data volume in the list of "Other Volumes." That's your data. Catalina splits the drive into two primary volumes, the system and your data (and third-party software).
  2. Or, you chose the wrong volume to install the OS onto when you did a "factory reset." That would leave the original system volume intact and install onto your - Data volume, and a new - Data - Data volume would be created. You likely have all of your stuff that was in - Data duplicated in - Data - Data.


Open Disk utility and look at the Volumes on the Internal Drive. Do you have a Macintosh HD, Macintosh HD - Data, and a Macintosh HD - Data - Data? Or, just Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD - Data?



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User profile for user: Kappy
Kappy
User level: Level 10
362,023 points

May 19, 2020 11:05 AM in response to coleachie

Get Correct Storage Information


Do not use the information from the Storage section of the About This Mac dialog. Ignore the Storage information as it is typically wrong. To find out the correct information for any disk: Select a Desktop disk icon. Press Command-I to open the Get Info window and look at the topmost panel displayed. You will find the disk information displayed for Capacity, Available, and Used. If you have more than one disk/partition then repeat for each one on your Desktop.


The categories found in the Storage section of About This Mac is simply an arbitrary way of displaying files on your drive. There are no such categories actually on the drive.


What is 'Other' and 'Purgeable' in About This Mac?


How to Free Up Space on The Hard Drive


  1. You can remove data from your Home folder except for the /Home/Library/ folder.
  2. Visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on freeing up space on your hard drive.
  3. Also, see Freeing space on your Mac OS X startup disk.
  4. What is 'Other' and 'Purgeable' in About This Mac?
  5. Files That Make Up the 'Other' Storage Category, and How to Remove Them
  6. Free up storage space on your Mac.
  7. See Where did my Disk Space go?.
  8. Be sure to Empty the Trash to recover the space.
  9. Replace the drive with a larger one. Check out OWC for drives, tutorials, and toolkits.
  10. Use OmniDiskSweeper or GrandPerspective to search your drive for large files and where they are located.


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How to clear out Other Volumes in Container after factory reset?

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