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Relocated Items in macOS Catalina Explained

displaced said:
That’s right. /usr/local was untouched for me - all stuff installed via homebrew was still fine.

Looks like this change is still respecting the usual macOS and POSIX conventions for where user and system data lives.
Click to expand...
Here are two articles (1, 2) describing how Apple went about in splitting the boot volume (by inventing a new type of link, a firmlink that works bidirectional) and a graphical overview of the layout of the two new volumes (it takes some time to understand how to read those two schematics). For example, the /usr folder with most of its subfolders sits on the read-only system volume but the /usr/local folder is firmlinked (which by some measure means it sits on both volumes) and its contents and subfolders sit on the data volume.
 
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Organizationally, this looks like a good update, further sequestering system files and consolidating our paper and specific files. I would add that a look under the hood at Catalina absolutely reveals Apple’s innovation, just not to those who define innovation by the thickness of bezels, and such.

Nonetheless, I will stand by my golden rule of upgrades: never install an x.0 version of any operating system on any device ever.
 
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yadmonkey said:
All this because Apple decided to implement a non-solution to a non-problem.
Click to expand...

Actually, this is a great solution to a problem that's been hanging around since the roots of Unix, namely, how do you separate user and system data. It's probably the first interesting change to unix in a really long time. It simplifies a ton of stuff from the backup and security points of view, while being mostly transparent.
 
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Manzzle said:
How do you get the little red number bubble on the settings icon to go away?

I don’t want to upgrade to this horrible os and there is no option to hit a skip button.

So down in my dock the settings app just stays with the number 1 in the red bubble.
Click to expand...
Copy this in terminal and press enter:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0
killall Dock
 
Apple sure did a bunch of nasty things to make the two volumes appear as one. I can go to
/mydrive/System/Volumes/mydrive/Users
and find the same Users folder as /mydrive/Users
But
/mydrive/System/Volumes/mydrive/System
Is not the same System as /mydrive/System
And so it goes. Lots of Apple only hard links between file systems I presume.
 
MacRumorUser78 said:
Thanks for the article. I rarely look at the Desktop and hadn't seen this.

I have several items, most look like related to old programs; but two are inaccessible folders (marked with red dot with a minus through it).
/Users/Shared/Relocated Items/Configuration/private/var/db/dslocal/nodes/Default/
/Users/Shared/Relocated Items/Security/System/Library/DirectoryServices/DefaultLocalDB/Default/

Both claim to be zero bytes, so probably nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

Be careful what you say, "(marked with red dot with a minus through it).", this means you do not have permissions to acces this folder, that includes what size it is, it says empty but Finder always reports folders like that with 0 bytes, remember, no permission!
 
Manzzle said:
How do you get the little red number bubble on the settings icon to go away?

I don’t want to upgrade to this horrible os and there is no option to hit a skip button.

So down in my dock the settings app just stays with the number 1 in the red bubble.
Click to expand...
Copy in terminal and press enter:

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences AttentionPrefBundleIDs 0
killall Dock
 
kemal said:
Apple sure did a bunch of nasty things to make the two volumes appear as one. I can go to
/mydrive/System/Volumes/mydrive/Users
and find the same Users folder as /mydrive/Users
But
/mydrive/System/Volumes/mydrive/System
Is not the same System as /mydrive/System
And so it goes. Lots of Apple only hard links between file systems I presume.
Click to expand...
Actually it is more than hard links. Hard links (and symlinks and similar) are one-directional. Apple created something new with bi-directional links it calls firmlinks. If you want to know more, look at the linked articles in the post of mine just on top.
 
oh happy days.

"The idea behind this setup is that it helps prevent the accidental overwriting of critical operating system files, since the user can no longer alter data or store files on the read-only system volume. "

I prefer my translation:

"The idea behind this setup is that it makes things more complicated"
 
My problem with all of this is that I have been cloning my hard drive using Disk Utility ever since I bought my Mac Pro in 2008. That has been replaced with the Mac mini (2018) since much of the software was stuck in OS 10.11.6. Now I find that I am unable to boot from one of the cloned drives since it has to be connected to my Mac mini using USB. Previously I have been able to boot from a different drive and use Restore to clone. This doesn't work anymore. I may have to stop upgrading. Certainly I cannot afford to buy a new Mac Pro - whenever it finally is on the market.
 
When I took a look with Disk Utility, I found the two volumes mentioned here (Macintosh HD and Macintosh HD-Data) but they were both inside of a volume labeled "Container disk1" which I don't see mentioned anywhere. Any problem with that arrangement? And then, of course, yet another volume labeled Bootcamp.

All on an Apple SSD.
 
Tech198 said:
oh happy days.

"The idea behind this setup is that it helps prevent the accidental overwriting of critical operating system files, since the user can no longer alter data or store files on the read-only system volume. "

I prefer my translation:

"The idea behind this setup is that it makes things more complicated"
Click to expand...
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Please excuse my stupidity, but where did my files go and how do I move them to an accessible location? I have always preferred getting immediate access to my files, rather than having them buried multiple levels deep in the Documents folder, but now everything I ever used on a daily basis was removed to an even more deeply buried location. (Note that I am the only User on my machine).

I know it takes a long memory to go back to the fundamentally undocumented transition from OS 9 to OS-X, but I somehow managed to keep my files on the root directory for more than a decade with no problems whatsoever. I apparently had the misunderstanding that the Documents folder was just a "convenience." Now all my personal have been moved disappeared and been relabelled with the wrong icon (document rather than folder).

How do I undo this?

Is it possible to"downgrade"?
 
So here is the deal. Been using Mac for over 20 years. I'm old school. I kept all my stuff on my hard drive which was mounted on my desktop. Now, All of my folders I ever made are on this relocated Items Folder. This is horrifying to me. Question is this. Everytime I try to move those folders, it is copying them. Not moving them. Where do I move them to??? this is the worst.
 
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