Why 2 HD icons on desktop?

[Miqs]

I have just bought a new iMac (OS Catalina) and installed all my previous files etc from a clone on an external drive which was from another older iMac also OS Catalina. All is working fine except I now find I have two Macintosh HD icons on my desktop. In Disk Utility I then see I have two HD's and one HD - Data - Data. Why is that, and how do I establish the correct one on my desktop and remove it?

 

[pldelisle]

See https://www.macworld.com/article/3451363/why-you-might-see-a-new-data-disk-in-catalina.html

Just take the “Data” and discard the other one.

 

[Miqs]

That's the point - which one do I remove? I understand the difference now between HD and HD - Data drives, but ignoring the data drive why do I have two almost identical HD drives? I repeat I have 2 HD drives and one HD -Data - Data drive showing in Disk Utility.

 

[pldelisle]

Can you post a screenshot of Disk Utility.app?

Make sure to select View -> Show all devices prior screenshotting

 

[NewUsername]

This is normal in Catalina, Macintosh HD has macOS and is read-only, Macintosh HD - Data has everything else.

 

[Miqs]

I hope this shows all three drives.

 

[pldelisle]

Wow. First time I see this. Has the OS been upgraded from an anterior version ?

 

[Miqs]

No. I assume you mean inferior version?

 

[chabig]

You should be able to safely delete the Macintosh HD partition that only contains 954kB.

 

[Gmouse]

Since you bought it, and it came like this--maybe call Apple Support, first, just to see if there is some bigger issue?

 

[halofan56]

You should be able to safely delete the Macintosh HD partition that only contains 954kB. You go to Disk Utility, highlight the top one, go to edit and if the "delete APFS volume" is available, you should be able to delete it safely.
If you are successful in deleting the top one that is only 954KB, You can rename the "Macintosh-Data-Data" to "Macintosh-Data."

 

[NewUsername]

Very strange. You could probably delete the 954KB and rename the drives the way they should. But to be sure, I would make a backup first.

If you're a geek like me you would now probably do a clean install just to be sure, but most likely there is nothing to worry about.

 

[pldelisle]

I’d backup the data to an external drive, use terminal to format the internal drive and reinstall from web Catalina. Or just wait for Big Sur to do it.

 

[halofan56]

Since you bought it, and it came like this--maybe call Apple Support, first, just to see if there is some bigger issue?

Might be best to do that, let them help you on this, if you are under AppleCare, let them do this. they'll fix this.

 

[bplein]

I unmounted the smaller of the two, and the remaining one (Macintosh HD - Data) appears on the desktop without the "- Data" suffix.

 

[halofan56]

I unmounted the smaller of the two, and the remaining one (Macintosh HD - Data) appears on the desktop without the "- Data" suffix.

If possible, I would reinstall the osMAC Catalina. If you restart it, you may get a error, and may not start. When you restart, hold down COMMAND and R at the apple logo appearance, the scroll down and REINSTALL osMAC Catalina. Re-installing should correct the problem by overlaying the os. If you try and restart now, The "Macintosh-Data" may come back. It's your call.

 

[pldelisle]

osMAC

It's macOS... lol

 

[bplein]

If possible, I would reinstall the osMAC Catalina. If you restart it, you may get a error, and may not start. When you restart, hold down COMMAND and R at the apple logo appearance, the scroll down and REINSTALL osMAC Catalina. Re-installing should correct the problem by overlaying the os. If you try and restart now, The "Macintosh-Data" may come back. It's your call.

I don't need to change anything. The data is all there and it works.

 

[Lankyman]

I think this is related to the fact you have used a clone from another Mac and installed it onto your new Mac which has a Fusion drive. If you had used TIme Machine or migration assistant I don’t think you would have run into this problem.

 

[halofan56]

I don't need to change anything. The data is all there and it works.

So your drives look like this (see attached pics)

 

[bplein]

I think this is related to the fact you have used a clone from another Mac and installed it onto your new Mac which has a Fusion drive. If you had used TIme Machine or migration assistant I don’t think you would have run into this problem.

Are you replying to me or the OP?

So your drives look like this (see attached pics)

Well, a bit different as I am running Big Sur. I just re-mounted disk1s5. But it doesn't have to be mounted for the system to work.

 

[bplein]

I realized I confused some people. I don't have the 3-slices problem. I was just commenting that you can unmount the non-Data drive.

 

[halofan56]

Are you replying to me or the OP?



Well, a bit different as I am running Big Sur. I just re-mounted disk1s5. But it doesn't have to be mounted for the system to work.

Are you replying to me or the OP?

[automerge]1599000151[/automerge]
Sorry, to the op....to the person with the original problem.

 

[halofan56]

I realized I confused some people. I don't have the 3-slices problem. I was just commenting that you can unmount the non-Data drive.

So you solved the problem?

 

[halofan56]

I don't need to change anything. The data is all there and it works.

Ok, Sounds like you dodged a bullet. So you have Macintosh and Macintosh-Data appearing? All I care about is you are OK?