How do I delete Partition?

Hi hope someone can help me, I recently got a new Mac and updated to Big Sur. A programme I use was not compatible with Big Sur so I followed a YouTube video on how to downgrade back to Catalina. In doing so I have managed to create a partition which I can not delete. Also had an issue reinstalling Catalina and now 'Macintosh HD - Data' is duplicated. Anyone know how I can remove these?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 24, 2020 7:33 AM

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4 replies

Nov 24, 2020 10:16 AM in response to Khal901

Partitions are physically separate areas on the disk, whereas Volumes can exist in the same space. When you install Big Sur, start with a Container and one volume. You can't delete the partition you are in at the time.


Make a backup of your data volume on an external SSD. Direct copying to another computer may be the only way left to you.


The Installer makes a second volume, as you have now seen for yourself. Use Disk Utility to format APFS (unencrypted at this stage). You can delete extra volumes using the +/- icons. But don't do this until you have got the backup copy of your data from it.


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How do I delete Partition?

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