Catalina: Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD Data

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Catalina: Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD Data

Hi everybody,

While reseting my Mac, I noticed that there are two volumes : Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data. Thanks to this article, I understood that the first one is reserved for the operating system. I decided to encrypt the two volumes and at each boot, I'm asked to enter the password to unlock "Macintosh HD Data". I tried to disable Filevault but the system keeps asking me the password. Why? What does it mean if only the "Macintosh HD" volume is encrypted?

Thanks,

Posted on Jun 8, 2020 12:03 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,992 points

Jun 8, 2020 6:11 AM in response to TheWhiteWolfy

Should I have installed the OS without encryption and then enable FileVaut through "System preferences"?

I don't know, but I would have created a single volume and then installed on that.

What does it show in Disk Utility for your Volumes. My guess is you have two separate - Data volumes. The one you created and the one the installer created.

After each reboot of the laptop, a pop up asking me to enter the password to unlock "Macintosh HD Data" shows up.

If the above isn't the issue, since you encrypted each volume separately, it may be that turning off FileVault only removed the encryption on the Macintosh HD volume.

Or, is it still decrypting? Check the FileVault tab in Security & Privacy.

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Answer 2

Jun 8, 2020 5:58 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hello,

Thanks for your reply.

How did you encrypt each volume? You should have just enabled FileVault.

I encrypted the volumes while I was reseting my Mac: I erased both volumes and chose "APFS (Case-sensitive, Encrypted)" for the filesystem type. The procedure I followed is pretty much the same as this one: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208496 (#How to erase a volume on your disk).

Should I have installed the OS without encryption and then enable FileVaut through "System preferences"?

Can you explain further the extent of "keeps asking me the password?"

After each reboot of the laptop, a pop up asking me to enter the password to unlock "Macintosh HD Data" shows up.

Thanks,

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

112,992 points

Jun 8, 2020 5:45 AM in response to TheWhiteWolfy

What does it mean if only the "Macintosh HD" volume is encrypted?

Mostly nothing as it doesn't store any sensitive information.

How did you encrypt each volume? You should have just enabled FileVault.

Can you explain further the extent of "keeps asking me the password?"

Until it finishes decrypting, it will need the password to decrypt it.

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Answer 4

Jun 9, 2020 12:03 AM in response to Barney-15E

Hello,

You were right: in disk utility, I had two separate Data volumes. I drop the one I've created and I don't have the pop up asking me for a password to unlock the data disk anymore. I re-enabled Filevault and both volumes are encrypted.

Thanks for your help and time,

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Catalina: Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD Data

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