Easy Guide to Remove Other Volumes In a Container

Mac User Struggles: How to Remove Other Volumes In a Container
Get CleanMyMac X here (a 7-day free trial is available):
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Have you seen the message ‘other volumes in a container’? If yes, here’s what it means…
But first, let’s start with the container.
What is a container?
Before macOS High Sierra, Mac disks were formatted using a system called HFS+. In High Sierra, Apple replaced HFS+ with a system called APFS. One of the main differences between HFS+ and APFS is containers and partitions.
In HFS+, if you wanted to have more than one volume on a disk, you had to partition it and put each volume separately. APFS, on the other hand, doesn’t have partitions. It has containers. Each container can store multiple volumes; you don’t need to erase the disk to create a new container. It can even grow in size as long as you have enough disk space.
What does ‘other volumes in a container’ mean?
The container that stores the boot volume for macOS has multiple volumes ( including the Recovery & preboot partitions and a volume for virtual memory.) So the ‘other volumes in a container’ message usually refer to those volumes.
If they’re taking up too much space than they should, here’s a quick fix:
1. Download CleanMyMac X.
2. Launch it and choose the Maintenance module.
3. Then check the box next to Purgeable Space and click Run.
If that didn’t work, try creating a new user account. Here’s how:
1. Apple menu - System Settings - Users & Groups - Add Account.
2. Type in your administrator password and click Unlock.
3. Choose Administrator from the dropdown menu.
4. Enter account details: Full name, account name, and password. Click 5. Create User.
6. Restart your Mac and log in with the new administrator account.
7. Relaunch System Settings, choose General, then Storage, and see if other volumes in a container have gone.
Manage volumes using Terminal. Here’s how:
1. Applications - Utilities - Terminal. Type: diskutil list
2. You will see a list of volumes (if your boot disk is called MAcintosh HD, these volumes should include: Macintosh HD, Macintosh HD - Data, Preboot, Recover, and VM.)
3. Launch Disk Utility from your Utilities folder, select the volume you want to delete in the sidebar, and press the ‘-‘ in the toolbar. If the volume is greyed out, it’s in use by macOS, and you can’t delete it.
4. If you need to reboot in recovery mode, you can do it on an Intel Mac by holding down Command and R when you restart. Hold down the power button on an Apple Silicon Mac as it restarts and release it when the Startup Options appear.
Free up space on your Mac by disabling iCloud content caching:
System Settings - General - Sharing.
Set the Content Caching to switch off. If you want to leave content caching on, click the ‘i’ next to it and choose which content to cache or set a limit.
Free up space on your Mac by getting rid of suspicious apps:
1. Utilities - Activity Monitor.
2. Click the top of the Memory column. You’ll see apps and processes listed by the amount of memory they’re using. See anything suspicious? 3. Click the ‘x’ in the toolbar to quit it.
Bonus tip: It’s a good idea to uninstall the app. Use CleanMyMac X’s Uninstaller to do that in under 5min.
Stay tuned for more Mac tips & tricks!
Read more about other volumes in a container and how to remove them:
bit.ly/43jXdWW
The app mentioned in this video - CleanMyMac X by MacPaw:
bit.ly/43yUyYY
Contents:
00:00 - Intro
00:25 - What is a container
01:34 - What are “other volumes” in a container
02:00 - Free up purgeable space
02:44 - Create new user account
03:27 - Manage volumes in Terminal
03:57 - Delete unnecessary volumes
04:47 - Disable iCloud content caching
05:24 - Remove suspicious apps
06:07 - Outro

[@sicamejia1367]

thank you so much, it was the only helpful video I found

[@aydemirilker4128]

I bought an older 128GB 2013 MacBook Air for my job from eBay and when I got it even though it was factory reset, it only had 2GB of available space with an 88GB space taken up by "Other Volumes In A Container". I used the third step using disk utility and it worked like a charm. Great video thank you so much!!!!!!!!!!

[@CleanMyMac]

Happy to take care of your new Mac and make it run like new 💜

[@medova123]

Helpful, however my CleanMyMac X does not have a Maintenance module... so does not have the tools you describe

[@CleanMyMac]

Hi there! Please email us at [e-mail] and we'll assist you ASAP.

[@videoraulstudio]

Same here. No maintenance module.

[@quemades]

Why can’t one find out what is actually on “other volumes”? What happens if I delete it (39GB) do I recover that space, does it add add that to “available” automatically? So they make it deliberately obscure? Shouldn’t there he a simple way to see what is on it? Drives me nuts these apple mysteries.