"Other Volumes in Container" using half of my hard drive though unknown as to why? Help?

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Level 1

8 points

"Other Volumes in Container" using half of my hard drive though unknown as to why? Help?

Software: macOS Catalina, Version 10.15.7

Hardware: MacBook Pro 2020

The Problem: there is just under half a terabyte of memory for my MacBook Pro (2020), but half of the data shows up as greyed out in “About This Mac > Storage”. Not sure as to why as I don't have that many files. Checked what is making up the green/documents, and it all checks out.

Info so far: With some light searches, saw that there is a second container disk that was unmounted that was holding additional data, though the source and purpose of this is unknown to me.

Not even sure how they all ‘three” Macintosh HD drives/container disks are used for and if they are all needed.

The aggregate view:

The ‘first’

The ‘second’

The ‘third’

When you mount the third, it actually creates a second “Macintosh HD” icon on the desktop

Another potential factor is that I use the Box drive app, which appears to show it takes up more space in "Finder > Info" that the actual files in use. But not entirely sure if these are related.

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 22, 2020 7:03 AM

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Answer 1

John Galt

Level 10

146,630 points

Oct 22, 2020 7:20 AM in response to riofromnull

The problems lies in the fact there are two "data" volumes. You certainly don't need both of them.

The clue is what you referred to as the "third" volume. It is the only one you can erase. Since a volume cannot be erased if it's actually being used, that's the one to delete.

Refer to Delete an APFS volume in Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support.

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Answer 2

riofromnull Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 22, 2020 7:44 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Ah yes. That makes sense. I had to reformat in August. In addition to deleting the incorrect volume, would you suggest reinstalling again? In any case, here are the screenshots

The 'first'

The 'second'

the 'third'

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Answer 3

Oct 22, 2020 7:14 AM in response to riofromnull

You have two “Macintosh HD -Data” volumes, which usually means that you reinstalled the OS in a not totally correct way. Fortunately this is easy to fix - but CAUTION, you don’t want to delete the wrong volume!

We first need to establish which of the two volumes is to keep.

Post screenshots like the first one you posted of “Macintosh HD, but for each of the “Data” volumes - we need to see the bottom part where it says “Mount Point:” (which was cut off in your last screenshot)

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Answer 4

Oct 22, 2020 8:04 AM in response to riofromnull

There is no need to reformat or reinstall.

Just select the LAST volume - the one that is mounted in /Volumes/Macintosh HD - Data

control-click and choose Delete APFS Volume.

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Answer 5

riofromnull Author

Level 1

8 points

Oct 22, 2020 9:05 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thank you so much for your help this morning! Very much appreciated!

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"Other Volumes in Container" using half of my hard drive though unknown as to why? Help?

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