Guid Partitions on Brand New Device

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Guid Partitions on Brand New Device

Hi,

I recently received a new M2 and I'm not feeling comfortable with its lack of proper labelling and the fact that it has partitions already set up straight out of the box. I purchased the machine through the Apple Store (outside of the US), and it was supposed to arrive next week but came earlier than expected. I have some concerns about the interaction with the Apple staff during the pickup process and the machine's unexpectedly speedy arrival, which makes me feel uneasy. Is this all normal? I'd like to actually enjoy the machine. I've attached some pictures for reference.

MacBook Pro (M2 Pro, 2023)

Posted on Mar 9, 2023 5:38 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,626 points

Mar 9, 2023 5:54 AM in response to yodasaurus900

Apple shipments can and do arrive early. Mine have consistently done so.

Apple drives have had GUID partition schemes for over two decades now, and your internal Apple SSD is formatted as APFS — so your Disk Utility view is normal for the M2, or any Mac running an APFS formatted volume.

Just proceed with the setup of your new M2.

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Answer 2

HWTech

Level 9

69,602 points

Mar 10, 2023 9:03 AM in response to yodasaurus900

By default Disk Utility hides the physical drives and hidden Containers. Within Disk Utility if you click "View" and select "Show All Devices", then you will see that the physical drive and the hidden Container and other hidden volumes appear on the left pane of Disk Utility. The layout in your first picture of Disk Utility is 100% normal.

Here is some information about the new drive layouts utilized by macOS 10.15+, but Apple does not mention all the hidden items:

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

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

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Answer 3

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,626 points

Mar 9, 2023 6:22 AM in response to yodasaurus900

I am uncertain what you mean in your last post. The APFS format is required by Ventura and consists of several internal volumes essential to that drive format. Changing that would trash the operating system that shipped on the M2.

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Answer 4

Mar 9, 2023 6:12 AM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you. I decided to reset to factor settings again and all the partitions are now gone.

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Guid Partitions on Brand New Device

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