Similarly to this question I'd like to restore factory APFS partition container structure after reinstalling macOS Big Sur from bootable USB flash drive, exactly: make Macintosh HD
volume disk1s1
(currently disk1s5
) and Macintosh HD - Data
volume disk1s2
(currently disk1s1
).
This is what factory setup looks like:
diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 15.3 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data 2.7 GB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Preboot 284.2 MB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume Recovery 626.3 MB disk1s4
5: APFS Volume VM 20.5 KB disk1s5
This is what it looks like right now:
diskutil list
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0
1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data 2.5 GB disk1s1
2: APFS Volume Preboot 284.2 MB disk1s2
3: APFS Volume Recovery 626.3 MB disk1s3
4: APFS Volume VM 20.5 KB disk1s4
5: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 15.3 GB disk1s5
6: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-... 15.3 GB disk1s5s1
diskutil apfs list
APFS Container (1 found)
|
+-- Container disk1 10FCC4F5-6143-41E5-9F74-AD9A76AC42EF
====================================================
APFS Container Reference: disk1
Size (Capacity Ceiling): 1000240963584 B (1.0 TB)
Capacity In Use By Volumes: 18980200448 B (19.0 GB) (1.9% used)
Capacity Not Allocated: 981260763136 B (981.3 GB) (98.1% free)
|
+-< Physical Store disk0s2 54848ECD-A4D2-4BDF-A539-6CAB47645CCF
| -----------------------------------------------------------
| APFS Physical Store Disk: disk0s2
| Size: 1000240963584 B (1.0 TB)
|
+-> Volume disk1s1 07781674-7D00-4803-8FB9-2109E944DDDD
| ---------------------------------------------------
| APFS Volume Disk (Role): disk1s1 (Data)
| Name: Macintosh HD - Data (Case-insensitive)
| Mount Point: /System/Volumes/Data
| Capacity Consumed: 2529787904 B (2.5 GB)
| Sealed: No
| FileVault: No (Encrypted at rest)
|
+-> Volume disk1s2 AB82B314-D19E-4E84-837B-EB188E4B5B3F
| ---------------------------------------------------
| APFS Volume Disk (Role): disk1s2 (Preboot)
| Name: Preboot (Case-insensitive)
| Mount Point: /System/Volumes/Preboot
| Capacity Consumed: 284155904 B (284.2 MB)
| Sealed: No
| FileVault: No
|
+-> Volume disk1s3 F7584C45-59AD-4B37-8897-C21D40B0C7A9
| ---------------------------------------------------
| APFS Volume Disk (Role): disk1s3 (Recovery)
| Name: Recovery (Case-insensitive)
| Mount Point: Not Mounted
| Capacity Consumed: 626294784 B (626.3 MB)
| Sealed: No
| FileVault: No
|
+-> Volume disk1s4 6DDAC30E-71D5-4C75-8F04-9F0B6F4296C5
| ---------------------------------------------------
| APFS Volume Disk (Role): disk1s4 (VM)
| Name: VM (Case-insensitive)
| Mount Point: /System/Volumes/VM
| Capacity Consumed: 20480 B (20.5 KB)
| Sealed: No
| FileVault: No
|
+-> Volume disk1s5 C9027495-7A11-4921-A0D2-0668E7ABE28C
---------------------------------------------------
APFS Volume Disk (Role): disk1s5 (System)
Name: Macintosh HD (Case-insensitive)
Mount Point: Not Mounted
Capacity Consumed: 15331536896 B (15.3 GB)
Sealed: Broken
FileVault: No (Encrypted at rest)
|
Snapshot: 3E13A161-7421-48DE-8CA1-47FB0C581DC5
Snapshot Disk: disk1s5s1
Snapshot Mount Point: /
Snapshot Sealed: Yes
sudo gpt -r show /dev/disk0
start size index contents
0 1 PMBR
1 1 Pri GPT header
2 4 Pri GPT table
6 76800 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
76806 244199454 2 GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
244276260 4 Sec GPT table
244276264 1 Sec GPT header
I have prepared a bootable macOS Big Sur running from external drive. However I'm not sure how do I achieve what I need. I've examined diskutil man on apfs
and an article about creating APFS Fusion Drive by hand but could't come up with the idea how to do what I need. I'm not afraid to edit internal drive, there's no user data on it currently, just a fresh copy of macOS (if something goes wrong I can reinstall from USB flash drive again).
Please help!
Best Answer
Apple probably did not install macOS Big Sur the same way you did. Most likely Apple did a restore from an archive file. You do not necessarily need an archive file. You could use an existing install instead.
I tested the steps below and was able to achieved the results you are looking for.
Steps for Installing macOS Big Sur
Boot from a macOS Big Sur installer on bootable USB flash drive.
Use the Disk Utility and/or Terminal to create two APFS container partitions on the internal drive.
Install Big Sur in the second APFS container on the internal drive. The table below shows the APFS volumes and mounted APFS snapshots in this container when booted to Big Sur. Here, this container has the identifier
diskX
, whereX
is a positive integer.diskXs1
diskXs2
diskXs3
diskXs4
diskXs5
diskXs5s1
Boot from a macOS Big Sur installer on bootable USB flash drive.
Clone macOS. In other words, open the Disk Utility and restore to the first APFS container from the second APFS container.
Remove the second APFS container and extend the first APFS container to include the free space.
Boot from macOS Big Sur on the internal drive. The table below shows the APFS volumes and mounted APFS snapshots in this container when booted to Big Sur. Here, this container has the identifier
diskX
, whereX
is a positive integer.diskXs1
diskXs1s1
diskXs2
diskXs3
diskXs4
diskXs5