While clearing files on my hard drive to free up space, I noticed a grayed-out ‘Macintosh HD’ that indicated it wasn’t mounted. When I checked with a co-worker, I found that they only have a ‘Data’ drive on their computer, without the ‘Macintosh HD’ shown in the image below.
MacBook Pro (M3 Max, 2023)
"Macintosh HD" is in fact a required volume on the Mac computer.
The current APFS drive format – since macOS Mojave – uses two distinct drive volumes. By default these are named "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data".
"Macintosh HD" is a secured, read only volume where the macOS stores the operating system files.
"Macintosh HD - Data" is where User files are stored. It is the volume you will normally access via the Finder and on the Desktop. (However, Finder only shows the name as "Macintosh HD" without the "- Data" ending.)
You absolutely DO NOT want to delete it, and the macOS won't let you.
"Macintosh HD" is in fact a required volume on the Mac computer.
The current APFS drive format – since macOS Mojave – uses two distinct drive volumes. By default these are named "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data".
"Macintosh HD" is a secured, read only volume where the macOS stores the operating system files.
"Macintosh HD - Data" is where User files are stored. It is the volume you will normally access via the Finder and on the Desktop. (However, Finder only shows the name as "Macintosh HD" without the "- Data" ending.)
You absolutely DO NOT want to delete it, and the macOS won't let you.
The "Macintosh HD" volume is tied to the "Macintosh HD" snapshot as well. macOS stages updates in a snapshot, then swaps them during the reboot to "install" the system update. This is why you have the sub-item listed as "snapshot". Sometimes the "Macintosh HD" snapshot won't be named "Macintosh HD", but will instead be with a name containing "update" (the format has changed over the years so I cannot provide the exact example of the name).
The rule is......if you created an item, then you can delete that item. Don't delete anything which you did not create or store yourself.
Can I delete? Why Is ‘Macintosh HD’ Grayed Out and Not Mounted on My Mac?
