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nelly22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 29, 2009
366
5
I have weird folders in my /Volumes/ folder in root:

Preboot
Preboot 1
Preboot 2
...

MyBackup
MyBackup 1
MyBackup 2
...

Preboot has:

long alphanumeric string/System/Library/Caches/com.apple.corestorage/EFILoginLocalizations

and there is 11 files

long alphanumeric string/var/db/AdminUserRecoveryInfo.plist and secureaccesstoken.plist

MyBackup has:

.Trashes/0 (or 501 and these folders are empty)

Why these show up and how i can trash these?

Now Disk Utility and other apps and scripts show that for instance "MyBackup" mount point is actually "/Volumes/MyBackup 5" and that causes problems with scripts etc. So i would like to trash these extra folders.
 

treekram

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2015
1,849
411
Honolulu HI
There are people who likely have an idea of what's going on but who don't respond because something unusual has happened and instead of having a simple way to fix the problem, a solution (which may not work) takes time to explain in a forum like this vs. a tech support person who, if given remote access to the computer, can probably fix it pretty quickly.

I'll give it a shot.

So - I'm presuming you have APFS not HFS+. The "Preboot" volume is one installed during installation. It's there, it takes up space but you don't want to erase it. It's presence will usually disappear before the system completes booting. That it is still there may just be a one-time occurrence (hopefully).

I'm presuming MyBackup is some sort of external disk that you use for backup.

The extra number at the end usually appears because the system is given a command to mount a filesystem at, say /Volumes/MyBackup but that folder location is already taken by either another filesystem or maybe a local directory has been created with that name.

So what you want to do is erase the Preboot ... and MyBackup ... directories but not delete the filesystem associated with it if it is the mount point for a filesystem.

Run the Terminal app and from the menu at the top of the screen, select Shell -> New Command. A small window will pop up. Type in "df -g" (without the parenthesis) and press the "Run" button. The small window will disappear and a new window with the results will appear. Stretch this window out so the lines of text don't wrap and you can see the last column on the right that says "Mounted on" clearly.

If any of the /Volumes/Preboot, /Volumes/Preboot 1, etc. appear in the "Mounted on" column on the right, you do not want to erase these. For the other folders you listed in your OP, check in the Finder to make sure there is nothing in the folder. If it doesn't appear in the "Mounted on" column and there's nothing in it, you can delete that folder. It might ask for the system password to do this.

Disconnect MyBackup if it is an external disk. You can quit the Terminal app. Restart the system and the folders you listed should no longer be in /Volumes. If it is or there's some other problem or if you have clarification on some assumptions I've made - just post.

You mention scripts with relation to MyBackup. If the additional MyBackup folders appear again, it's possible one the scripts you have is causing the problem. It might be that the script works most of the time but under certain circumstances it doesn't. That the Preboot folders appear could also be an issue with a script that's not properly written - it also may be a system glitch - hard to say without looking at your scripts.
 

nelly22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 29, 2009
366
5
Thanks for super good answer!

I have also "Mac OS X Install ESD" folder with red/white stop icon in it and i updated OS in same day than folders modification date. Should i delete this? Not sure if it's empty because i don't have permissions to see in.
 

treekram

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2015
1,849
411
Honolulu HI
Thanks for super good answer!

I have also "Mac OS X Install ESD" folder with red/white stop icon in it and i updated OS in same day than folders modification date. Should i delete this? Not sure if it's empty because i don't have permissions to see in.

See if you can find the file "InstallESD.dmg" using Spotlight. If you can find the file, the "Mac OS X Install ESD" should disappear when you restart or it should be in your Devices list in the Finder and should be able to be ejected. Otherwise, it's been copied to your disk (should not be the case). It looks like something unusual happened when you installed - which also may explain the multiple "Preboot" directories. If you have the InstallESD.dmg file and "Mac OS X Install ESD" does disappear on restart (or you can eject it), you can delete the InstallESD.dmg. The exception to this is if it's still inside Install app - if you don't know if it is or isn't, don't delete it - I know that's confusing but it's strange if you completed the installation and the file is open like that. If this doesn't disappear when you restart, post that information.
 
Last edited:

nelly22

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 29, 2009
366
5
Spotlight/Finder cannot find "InstallESD.dmg" and "Mac OS X Install ESD" folder is 2 weeks old. Thanks
[doublepost=1528797749][/doublepost]>sudo ls '/Volumes/Mac OS X Install ESD'

>.Trashes
 

treekram

macrumors 68000
Nov 9, 2015
1,849
411
Honolulu HI
In looking at some of the install files I have, the InstallESD.dmg, which is likely the .dmg that got mounted in the volumes folder would have shown up as "OS X Install ESD" for Sierra 10.12.5 and "InstallESD" for High Sierra 10.13.4. It's possible that Apple changes the name with the same OS version within the update versions or that Apple overrides the default mount point, but when I searched for the specific term "Mac OS X Install ESD" last night and again this morning, I kept seeing references to Lion or Mountain Lion, so I'm guessing that the "Mac OS X Install ESD" comes from OS's of that time period.

So that prompts the question - do you have an older (Lion, perhaps) installer someplace on your computer or did you upgrade recently from an OS older than Sierra?

If the /Volumes/Mac OS X Install ESD does not show up in that listing from df -g, then it's a directory that exists on your disk and can be deleted - you may need to change the permissions or it may ask for your admin password if you want to move it to Trash.
 
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