STRANGE PARTITIONS

[dgian]

Hello fellows !

Just did a clean re install of the Monterey OS and found out that an extra partition appears under Macintosh HD - having the same name and then a 3rd one Macintosh HD - Data. (please have a look at the attached photos)

I am sure when i was deleting the OS i clicked on the 1st line Macintosh HD and selected ERASE VOLUME GROUP.

I am also positive that prior to reinstalling Monterey OS there were only 2 lines:
Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data.
The device is a Macbook Air 2020 M1 - 16gb ram - 256gb hd.

How can i fix this ? (i dont mind having to reinstall Monterey OS through restore - had no important data anyways).
Thanks

 

[Apple_Robert]

You need to boot into recovery > Disk Utility > click on view all devices > and delete the drive that has APPL and numbers in the name. It should be the top one listed. Once you have done that, reinstall the OS.

 

[dgian]

You need to boot into recovery > Disk Utility > click on view all devices > and delete the drive that has APPL and numbers in the name. It should be the top one listed. Once you have done that, reinstall the OS.

@Apple_Robert i have no appl there, here is a screenshot. all of them are apfs

 

[Apple_Robert]

@Apple_Robert i have no appl there, here is a screenshot. all of them are apfs

The top drive listed in your screen shot is the one you want to delete while in Recovery Mode.

 

[DeltaMac]

Even your screenshot shows the line with "APPL (actually APPLE!) and numbers in the name"
Move up one line -- That's the line that you want to select, then erase.

 

[dgian]

@DeltaMac & @Apple_Robert you guys are reffering to APPLE SSD AP0256Q Media ?
If so, i will select this one and hit ERASE. Correct ?
What name should i give it coz its asking me for one ? Should i go with the same or Untitled ?

 

[Apple_Robert]

@DeltaMac & @Apple_Robert you guys are reffering to APPLE SSD AP0256Q Media ?
If so, i will select this one and hit ERASE. Correct ?
What name should i give it coz its asking me for one ? Should i go with the same or Untitled ?

Yes, delete that drive and rename it Macintosh HD

 

[dgian]

@Apple_Robert ERROR - (i did hit erase on every partition below that as well and then retried it but got the same error). Prior to that i also hit the ERASE THIS MAC as well

 

[Apple_Robert]

@Apple_Robert ERROR - (i did hit erase on every partition below that as well and then retried it but got the same error). Prior to that i also hit the ERASE THIS MAC as well

You have to boot into Recovery Mode before you can erase the disk.

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon.

support.apple.com

 

[allan.nyholm]

It's fine - don't do anything

Meaning the structure of the volumes and partitions are fine.. in my example My boot is a disk volume that's formatted with the name "Macintosh SSD" - APFS and macOS Monterey then proceeds to create system and data partitions. In macOS Monterey you'll normally only see "Macintosh SSD" with all your files.. when in fact your boot drive is quietly operating from different APFS volumes that keeps the system and personal files separate.

that's macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey for you..

If you want to reformat the whole drive then follow instructions given to you above. You'll then be sad to learn that you formatted your disk for nothing.

In your screenshots there's some blue bars.. you can add those up - like it is in the first of the three screenshots and see that the the other two volumes add up to the total of the first. Hence .. don't worry about it

 

[OnawaAfrica]

Hello fellows !

Just did a clean re install of the Monterey OS and found out that an extra partition appears under Macintosh HD - having the same name and then a 3rd one Macintosh HD - Data. (please have a look at the attached photos)

I am sure when i was deleting the OS i clicked on the 1st line Macintosh HD and selected ERASE VOLUME GROUP.

I am also positive that prior to reinstalling Monterey OS there were only 2 lines:
Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data.
The device is a Macbook Air 2020 M1 - 16gb ram - 256gb hd.

How can i fix this ? (i dont mind having to reinstall Monterey OS through restore - had no important data anyways).
Thanks

DO NOT DELETE ANY PARTITION.The first one is not a partition, it is the APFS Container. and the 2 Below it which are in dented are the Partitions. Go in Diskutility to the Menu VIEW and click on SHOW ONLY VOLUMES. Then it will only show the 2 Partitions without the APFS Container

 

[dgian]

You have to boot into Recovery Mode before you can erase the disk.

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon.

support.apple.com

@Apple_Robert i reinstalled Monterey so that i could erase the way you suggested.
i am going through it as we speak.
The OS is being reinstalled after i clicked on the APPLE SSD AP0256Q Media and selected ERASE. i will come back with the results

 

[dgian]

It's fine - don't do anything

Meaning the structure of the volumes and partitions are fine.. in my example My boot is a disk volume that's formatted with the name "Macintosh SSD" - APFS and macOS Monterey then proceeds to create system and data partitions. In macOS Monterey you'll normally only see "Macintosh SSD" with all your files.. when in fact your boot drive is quietly operating from different APFS volumes that keeps the system and personal files separate.

that's macOS Big Sur and macOS Monterey for you..

If you want to reformat the whole drive then follow instructions given to you above. You'll then be sad to learn that you formatted your disk for nothing.

In your screenshots there's some blue bars.. you can add those up - like it is in the first of the three screenshots and see that the the other two volumes add up to the total of the first. Hence .. don't worry about it

View attachment 1986717

yours are shown as mine in the external SSD drives. But the internal partitions of yours are different than mine.

 

[chabig]

Your disk was normal in the first post. There is nothing wrong. If you reinstall the OS you're just wasting your time. You'll see the same structure because that's a normal macOS installation.

 

[dgian]

Your disk was normal in the first post. There is nothing wrong. If you reinstall the OS you're just wasting your time. You'll see the same structure because that's a normal macOS installation.

@chabig i am a windows I.T. admin and this is my 1st mac going through this process. i just noticed the issue and hence i was worried.
If you are a kind enough i will post a screenshot once the installation is completed (4th time within the day ) so can you please verify that all the partions are shown as they normally should once i upload the screenshot ?
i am just terrified that the tiny 256gb ssd will become smaller hence i am going through this hassle.

 

[chabig]

Since you're more familiar with Windows, some of the things Macs do may look weird for sure. Apple File System (APFS) is an interesting beast, new and modern. It has some really neat features like variable size volumes and space sharing. Your first post showed a normal disk, formatted as APFS. On an APFS disk, the next logical structure down is a container. A container holds volumes. Volumes keep data logically separated. The beauty of APFS is that one container can hold multiple volumes, and they all share the space. In other file systems, you'd use partitions to accomplish this, and you'd have to decide in advance how much space to allocate to each partition. That's not necessary in APFS with all volumes sharing the space inside a single container.

Modern macOS takes advantage of this volume sharing feature of APFS to logically separate the operating system files form the user's data files. The OS volume is read-only so it cannot become corrupted. It's also signed and sealed. The Mac will not boot if the operating system volume is modified in any way. If your machine boots, you're guaranteed to have a pristine system volume.

By default, the volumes in a macOS installation are named "Macintosh HD" and "Macintosh HD - Data". The first is the operating system. The second is your use data. Finder hides this split structure from users. To a user, it looks like everything resides on a single volume.

Much good APFS information exists on this website, if you're really interested:

Mac problem-solving

A list of articles to help you solve problems on Macs running Monterey and later. For older articles about previous versions of OS X, see this article, and this article for more recent ones includi…

eclecticlight.co

 

[Weaselboy]

Just to add to what others mentioned, OP what you are seeing is a totally normal and standard Monterey install. Nothing is wrong.

Here is mine.

 

[clevins]

The people who told you to delete the top partition don't know what they're talking about. Your disk is/was fine. If you're interested, google APFS and mac and read up on the details of how they partition drives.

Why are you reinstalling the OS anyway? What problem is there?

 

[kevcube]

@dgian you're talking about partitions, but showing us a list of volumes. They are not the same thing. Don't be afraid of what you don't understand, instead do your research on Disk Utility, APFS, and more.

 

[allan.nyholm]

yours are shown as mine in the external SSD drives. But the internal partitions of yours are different than mine.

I am booting off an external drive - that's why My internal drive is just a 7200rpm disk and that's not desirable for me

 

[MauiPa]

Its funny reading some of the "experts" tell you how to crash your system. When apple came out with the locked down system disk (don't remember when) the install would format your drive into a system which is locked down and a DATA which is where all the non-system is stored. Makes sense right?

The only thing weird I see on your screen shots is you seem to have created a disk image (why?).

so if you are looking at Show all devices in disk utility you will see:
Physical SSD or Media
Container disk (AFPS contaner)
AFPS Volume Group
The system Volume
A snapshot volume
and a DATA volume

If you show only volumes, you will not see the first two items

 

[clevins]

Its funny reading some of the "experts" tell you how to crash your system. When apple came out with the locked down system disk (don't remember when) the install would format your drive into a system which is locked down and a DATA which is where all the non-system is stored. Makes sense right?

The only thing weird I see on your screen shots is you seem to have created a disk image (why?).

so if you are looking at Show all devices in disk utility you will see:
Physical SSD or Media
Container disk (AFPS contaner)
AFPS Volume Group
The system Volume
A snapshot volume
and a DATA volume

If you show only volumes, you will not see the first two items

As an example of this, here's my drive with Show Volumes:

and here it is with Show All Devices:

Anyone telling you to delete the top line is dangerously ignorant or deliberately malicious.

 

[dgian]

guys i went through all your comments and here is what i was doing (while you guys were replying... ?)
1. i went at APPLE SSD AP0256Q Media and hit ERASE
2. reinstalled Monterey OS and here is what the drive looks like:

So guys whats your verdict on this ?
*just remember that all this started because prior to deleting Monterey OS (1st time) i was only seeing :
Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data.

 

[chabig]

So guys whats your verdict on this ?

You're done. Everything is correct. It's the same now as it was in your original post.

 

[BigBlur]

So guys whats your verdict on this ?
*just remember that all this started because prior to deleting Monterey OS (1st time) i was only seeing :
Macintosh HD & Macintosh HD - Data.

Yes, that's exactly how it should look. There was/is nothing wrong.

Have a look at Apple's own site. Their support article even shows the exact same layout as yours.