big sur "update" volume

Hi Mark Terry,

The Update volume is now an expected volume in your startup container as of macOS Big Sur. However, it shouldn't be showing on your desktop.

Please complete these steps to describe the volumes in your startup container. This helps me determine whether the Update volume is legitimate or not.

1. Open Terminal, located in Applications -> Utilities.
2. Type "diskutil apfs list" without the quotes and hit Enter (Return).
3. Paste the output here.

Hi Mark Terry,

The Update volume appears to be legitimate. macOS is acting as expected and is hiding the Update volume from the output. I'm not sure why it is appearing on your desktop though.

Does the Update volume always appear on your desktop? Or does it only appear at certain times?

Hi,

Following thread could help your question.

Big Sur has an "OS Update" snapshot volum… - Apple Community