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Internal SSD Disk Utility Concern

I swear this Internal tree did not look like this when I first bought this mac 🤔 (with "Show All Devices" of course)

it seems like theres been more things added. i have never tried to erase the internal drive.


though i have had some issues with external hard drives this week and have been dwelling with them in disk utility/recovery mode.

  • i downloaded drivedx and smartreporter to scan the external drives health.
  • used diskdrill, dmde, testdisk, easeus, and recoverit, to try and recover files
  • obviously running first aid scans on those drives, erasing/reformatting them
  • the only thing i've done with this internal drive is run a first aid on it while i was in recovery mode trying to heal the other external drives.
  • never had any issues with the internal at all.


if this internal ssd structure is perfectly normal, then fantastic.

if not, what should i do, how can i do it


MacBook Pro 14″

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 5:10 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 8:54 AM

That is perfectly normal as Apple changed the drive layout beginning with macOS 10.15 Catalina.

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support


Signed system volume security in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS - Apple Support


Edit: I should also add that there are even more changes with the M1/M2 Apple Silicon Macs internal drive layouts which contain hidden partitions & volumes which should never be touched or you will need to "Restore" the firmware to recreate them which destroys all data on the internal SSD.

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4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 9, 2023 8:54 AM in response to -149

That is perfectly normal as Apple changed the drive layout beginning with macOS 10.15 Catalina.

About the read-only system volume in macOS Catalina or later - Apple Support


Signed system volume security in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS - Apple Support


Edit: I should also add that there are even more changes with the M1/M2 Apple Silicon Macs internal drive layouts which contain hidden partitions & volumes which should never be touched or you will need to "Restore" the firmware to recreate them which destroys all data on the internal SSD.

Mar 9, 2023 5:30 AM in response to -149

Does it work? If it ain't broken why are you trying to fix it?


Why are you downloading and playing with low level tools which in most cases are probably not necessary? Without checking the way these downloads work I can't be sure but it is quite possible they have left their droppings on your drives. One thing is absolutely certain - good cybersecurity says I will not be downloading unknown third party utilities on my MacBook.


Internal SSD Disk Utility Concern

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