Want to erase "MacintoshHD," but "MacintoshHD" is not shown...

I have an old desktop Mac running the Big Sur OS that I want to decommission. I've backed up all the files and have disconnected all external devices. When I log in to Recovery mode and select Disk Utility to erase "MacintoshHD," said volume does not show. The attached image is what does appear.


The instructions on erasure provided by Apple give zero guidance as to how to proceed from here. They do imply that absent the "MacintoshHD" volume, I'm hosed.


Here's a shot of what volumes appear when I open a Finder window:



Can anyone help me figure out what's going on here?

iMac 27″

Posted on Nov 29, 2024 4:27 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 2, 2024 9:03 PM

FYI, since your system uses a Fusion Drive, you may want to perform a secure erase on the internal hard drive so that all your data is overwritten so it cannot be recovered. Unlike an SSD, the hard drive will still retain the data when performing a simple erase using Disk Utility....the data can still be recovered by using a simple data recovery app. You can securely erase the hard drive with Disk Utility by erasing the whole physical hard drive & the "secure erase" option to write a single pass of zeroes to the entire hard drive. The SSD portion of the Fusion Drive does not require this secure erase due to how SSDs work. The "secure erase" option in Disk Utility may be a button "secure erase", or perhaps "Options", or "Advanced", etc. ....it has changed over the years & with later versions of macOS the "secure erase" option will only appear when a hard drive is selected.


Another option would be to create & use a bootable ShredOS USB stick which can write zeroes to the physical hard drive. The easiest way of creating the bootable ShredOS USB stick using the downloaded ShredOS .img or .iso file as a source for Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux).


FYI, here is an Apple article on all the steps that should be taken when selling or recycling a Mac.....Unfortunately for erasing the system, the article assumes the internal drive is either encrypted with Filevault or is an SSD. The secure erase option & ShredOS options I mentioned cover the other cases when a hard drive is involved such as in a system with a Fusion Drive such as yours.

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support


8 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 2, 2024 9:03 PM in response to number_53

FYI, since your system uses a Fusion Drive, you may want to perform a secure erase on the internal hard drive so that all your data is overwritten so it cannot be recovered. Unlike an SSD, the hard drive will still retain the data when performing a simple erase using Disk Utility....the data can still be recovered by using a simple data recovery app. You can securely erase the hard drive with Disk Utility by erasing the whole physical hard drive & the "secure erase" option to write a single pass of zeroes to the entire hard drive. The SSD portion of the Fusion Drive does not require this secure erase due to how SSDs work. The "secure erase" option in Disk Utility may be a button "secure erase", or perhaps "Options", or "Advanced", etc. ....it has changed over the years & with later versions of macOS the "secure erase" option will only appear when a hard drive is selected.


Another option would be to create & use a bootable ShredOS USB stick which can write zeroes to the physical hard drive. The easiest way of creating the bootable ShredOS USB stick using the downloaded ShredOS .img or .iso file as a source for Etcher (Mac/Windows/Linux).


FYI, here is an Apple article on all the steps that should be taken when selling or recycling a Mac.....Unfortunately for erasing the system, the article assumes the internal drive is either encrypted with Filevault or is an SSD. The secure erase option & ShredOS options I mentioned cover the other cases when a hard drive is involved such as in a system with a Fusion Drive such as yours.

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support


Dec 2, 2024 3:04 PM in response to HWTech

Thank you for asking. I had zero idea of how the drive was renamed to "\," but the same notation appeared in the desktop icon (where one would expect to see "Macintosh HD"). Regardless, I logged in to the system in Recovery Mode, opened Disk Utility, selected it and erased it (along with all subdirectories). The erasure was successful; subsequent attempts to boot the machine yielded a sad little flashing question mark.


I boxed it up and will take it into the Apple store for disposal. I might even get a bit of a rebate out of it.


Thank you for your help with this.

Dec 3, 2024 11:58 AM in response to HWTech

Your reply proved hugely helpful. I unboxed the machine and booted it in Recovery Mode. When I opened Disk Utility, I found this:



As you noted, when I selected the various drives, only one (the "HDD") presented a "security" option. I selected it and opted for the most secure erasure:



As I type this, it's grinding away. The projected duration of the process is 9 hours. Again, thanks for your assistance.

Nov 29, 2024 7:18 PM in response to number_53

Your "Macintosh HD" volume was renamed to "/" which is a terrible name because it is a path separator character. I'm actually surprised your system is still working.


Use Disk Utility to rename the volume so you replace the "/" character with "Macintosh HD" assuming it even lets you. If the volume below shown as "/ - Data" does not automatically change its name, then replace "/" with "Macintosh HD" as well so that line becomes "Macintosh HD - Data". You must keep the " - Data" portion.


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Want to erase "MacintoshHD," but "MacintoshHD" is not shown...

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