Can I delete this extra Macintosh HD - Data partition?

Question

I had Boot Camp set up on my late 2013 MacBook Pro. I was trying to remove Boot Camp and Windows to free up space, but Boot Camp told me I needed to run First Aid.

I ran First Aid but now my partitions look like this and my Boot Camp partition is no where to be seen. I'm guessing my Boot Camp turned into "Macintosh HD - Data" and can safely be deleted from Disk Utility without messing with my main partition?

EDIT

diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI ⁨EFI⁩                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS ⁨Container disk1⁩         290.9 GB   disk0s2
   3:                  Apple_KFS ⁨⁩                        13.1 GB    disk0s3
                    (free space)                         196.1 GB   -
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +290.9 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD - Data⁩     194.6 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume ⁨Preboot⁩                 366.3 MB   disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume ⁨Recovery⁩                1.1 GB     disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume ⁨VM⁩                      1.1 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD⁩            20.5 GB    disk1s5
   6:              APFS Snapshot ⁨com.apple.os.update-...⁩ 20.5 GB    disk1s5s1

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 07 '22 at 02:59

6

The "Macintosh HD - Data" you selected has 194GB of data and contains your user data.

You should not delete this, and Disk Utility probably won't even let you.

answered Jul 07 '22 at 02:59

Ezekiel

9,125

David Anderson · Accepted Answer · 2022-07-07T06:29:31.547

4

You should not attempt to remove "Macintosh HD - Data". This is part of macOS.

Apparently, the partition containing Windows no longer exists. The internal drive does have an Apple_KFS partition which can be removed by enter the command below in a Terminal application window.

diskutil erasevolume free none disk0s3

If there are no significant software errors with the internal drive, then the command below will add the free space back to the APFS container where macOS resides.

diskutil apfs resizecontainer disk0s2 0

You may still have Windows boot code in your hidden EFI partition. You should check with the Mac Startup Manager (by holding down the option key at startup) to see if any Windows related icons appear.

edited Jul 07 '22 at 06:29

answered Jul 07 '22 at 03:16

David Anderson

40,244

Thanks! I added the result of diskutil list to the end of my question as an edit. I just wana make sure that everything looks ok to you. I'm really scared and dont understand anything thats going on – Richard Garfield Jul 07 '22 at 04:17
2

@RichardGarfield Do you have a backup of your data? If not, I recommend setting one up immediately. The quickest & easiest way is to get an external disk (at least 500GB), and use Time Machine to back up to it. The commands David gave should be safe given your current disk configuration, but computers are computers and sometimes things go wrong, so it's always good to have a backup of anything important. – Gordon Davisson Jul 07 '22 at 07:32
Yeah I'll back everything up. The reason I was hesitant is that this thread implies that his command wont work because the drive I want to merge is above not below https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/354777/cant-resize-apfs-container. I'll give it a try anyway I have nothing to lose – Richard Garfield Jul 07 '22 at 17:10
The link you have posted in your previous comment does not apply to your question. – David Anderson Jul 07 '22 at 21:31

Can I delete this extra Macintosh HD - Data partition?

2 Answers2