There are multiples of the same internal SSD (with "- data" at the end of the name) and it's confusing Time Machine

I just replaced the internal SSD in my MacPro cylinder with a 2TB one. I tried to startup in recovery mode and transfer my latest Time Machine backup to my new SSD, which was this whole big ordeal that I finally gave up on, but anyway, the point is that I had to reformat my new internal SSD, and when I reformatted it, I didn't know which drive to select, because startup drives always appear twice in Disk Utility now. And I don't mean two partitions, I mean it appears once with the drive's normal name, and once with "- Data" at the end of the name, and they both show the full 2 TB of space. So just to be safe, I reformatted both of them before installing Monterey. But unfortunately, my system drive now appears three times in Disk Utility, two of which have that "- Data" at the end. And more to the point, every time Time Machine tries to run, I get this error prompt:

Two of the disks to back up have the same name. Rename one of the disks named “MuddyMudskipper”.

So I have to eject that extra drive named "MuddyMudskipper - Data" to get Time Machine to work, but it just reappears every time I restart my computer. I'm hoping someone can give me a more permanent solution, and also, tell me what I should have done in the first place, so I'll know how to handle that duplicate volume in the future. Thanks!


  • Mac Pro (Late 2013)
  • 3.5 GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5
  • 64 GB 1866 MHz DDR3
  • macOS 12.7.2


Earlier Mac models

Posted on Jan 5, 2024 3:02 PM

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4 replies

Jan 5, 2024 8:22 PM in response to Explodey

It's normal to show two, Apple has split the Installs to one Partition for the system, then one for User data... appended with -Data...


Boot into Restore Mode, CMD+r, Look for Tools or Utilities Menu, In the Disk Utility app  on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices.

In the Disk Utility app  on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices.


Reformat the top left device...


Note: If you’re checking your startup disk or startup volume, restart your computer in macOS Recovery, select Disk Utility in the macOS Utilities window, then click Continue. If you check your startup volume (Macintosh HD), make sure you also check your data volume (Macintosh HD - Data).


In the sidebar, select the top entry for a disk, then choose Erase.


Jan 6, 2024 1:47 AM in response to Explodey

One of the two " MuddyMudskipper - Data " Volumes has a Mount Point of /System/ MuddyMudskipper - Data


The other would have a Mount Point of "Volume/MuddyMudskipper - Data


This can be determined by the suppled method from @BDAqua


" In the Disk Utility app  on your Mac, choose View > Show All Devices. " and show us the Screen Shot of Both of the " MuddyMudskipper - Data " volumes




Jan 5, 2024 10:54 PM in response to BDAqua

Thanks for your reply, but I'm not sure I follow. Are you saying this is what I should have done? That's certainly good to know for the future, but for now, I have my internal drive all set up the way I want it so I don't want to reformat now. I just want to get rid of that extra partition that I keep having to eject. Or are you saying that the only way to get rid of it is to reformat and start over again? I hope not because it took Migration Assistant about 16 hours to move everything to my new drive!

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There are multiples of the same internal SSD (with "- data" at the end of the name) and it's confusing Time Machine

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