Macintosh HD - Data showing in Big Sur Finder sidebar

[jennyp]

I just clean-installed Big Sur from a flash boot drive onto a (non-T2) 2015 MacBook Pro, and everything seemed to go OK, except I see "Macintosh HD - Data" in the Finder sidebar under "Locations", and in Disk Utility I see two listings of "Macintosh HD - Data" on the left.

That doesn't seem right. Is it? Have I done something wrong with the clean install? If so, what? I did select the top-level "Macintosh HD" to install Big Sur on when I did the clean install. If I've done something wrong, I'd like to know what and do a proper clean install now.

Any help gratefully appreciated!

 

[haralds]

No. You have done nothing wrong. Big Sur and Catalina have two volumes in a volume group (actually there are more hidden volumes.) One is read-only with the system and system apps, the other has your data and installations.
You can delete the entry from the Finder sidebar.
Don't do anything in Disk Utility.

 

[jennyp]

OK - so it's normal in the Big Sur installation to see two instances of "Macintosh HD - Data" in Disk Utility?

In my Catalina Mac I only see one instance of "Macintosh HD - Data", even when View > Show All Devices is selected.

 

[IowaLynn]

I just clean-installed Big Sur from a flash boot drive onto a (non-T2) 2015 MacBook Pro, and everything seemed to go OK, except I see "Macintosh HD - Data" in the Finder sidebar under "Locations", and in Disk Utility I see two listings of "Macintosh HD - Data" on the left.

That doesn't seem right. Is it? Have I done something wrong with the clean install? If so, what? I did select the top-level "Macintosh HD" to install Big Sur on when I did the clean install. If I've done something wrong, I'd like to know what and do a proper clean install now.

Any help gratefully appreciated!

What did you erase prior to installing? Or add a 2nd APFS volume?

 

[jennyp]

I erased what I presumed to be the startup disk - the topmost instance "Macintosh HD".

Oddly, Disk Utility lists (with the disclosure triangle set to show everything):
Macintosh HD
... and underneath that:
com.apple.os.update-[then a very long string starting "779...]
and then, as I say:
Macintosh HD - Data
Macintosh HD - Data
(i.e., "Macintosh HD - Data" twice)

It just doesn't look right to me at all.

 

[jennyp]

OK well I made a mistake when I erased the disk - I erased the volume and not the disk. Should have read Apple's advice a little more carefully.

Maybe a cautionary tale for anyone else who does this.