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amd1 Author

Level 1

41 points

Help understanding disk first aid

Hello everyone. I'm hoping someone has a minute to explain when and how to correctly perform disk first aid on my MacBook Pro.

Firstly, is this only necessary if there is a problem, or should it be done on certain occasions or after software installations etc?

Secondly, the screenshot below shows my SSD, container disk 1 and two Macintosh HD's (I think one of those is data only?) My understanding is that the SSD is the physical disk on which the container resides and contains (in my case) two volumes (Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD Data). Is that correct?

Lastly, do I perform first aid on all of these, or just the container, or just the Macintosh HD's?

Thanks in advance.

Posted on Jul 19, 2021 12:59 AM

Top-ranking reply

Roger Wilmut1

Level 10

131,332 points

Posted on Jul 19, 2021 1:29 AM

You can perform firste aid on any of these, but in normal use there is no need to. Your Mac has its own checking methods in the background. If you think there is a problem you can try a repair.

As to the volumes, there are two within the SSD, one being the System and the other your data (all the Users, the root Library, the Applications, etc). These two appear to you as if they are one, but the System volume is locked to prevent you (or a malicious application) from writing to it.

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Help understanding disk first aid

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