My new Mac Studio has a "Data" volume within "Macintosh HD"

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My new Mac Studio has a "Data" volume within "Macintosh HD"

To be clear, it's not a "Macintosh HD - Data" volume as on my previous mac. This is a new Mac Studio, I used Migration assistant to move over accounts and files (button apps) from the old iMac Pro. I have an external drive named Data. When I tried to start a Time Machine backup, I got the error:

Time Machine couldn't complete the backup to "TimeMachineDrive" Two of the disks to back up have the same name. Rename one of the disks named "Data".

This was a sunrise to me, but when I went hunting in Disk Utility I saw the Macintosh HD Data volume was called just "Data" instead of "Macintosh HD - Data" as I was used to. Is this normal in a new mac running Sequoia?

Mac Studio M4 Max with MacOS 15.7.1.

Mac Studio (M4 Max, 2025)

Posted on Oct 28, 2025 6:07 PM

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Answer 1

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Markarian421 Author

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Oct 28, 2025 7:58 PM in response to Markarian421

I talked to Apple Support, first via chat and then got a callback from a senior advisor. Both assured me that sometimes it's named just "Data" as is the case with this Mac Studio. It came from Apple this way, I don't think anything I did could have changed it. The Senior Advisor said I could change the name (as D.I. Johnson mentions) but I decided to change the external drive name instead just to avoid this kind of conflict on any other Mac I might plug this drive (or a copy of it) into someday. This drive (not physically, but the data) go back a couple decades now, through at least two Mac Pros, an iMac Pro, and now this Mac Studio, this is the first time the name "Data" has been an issue!

My wife also just got a new Mac, I'll be curious to see wha that volume is named on hers.

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Answer 2

Oct 28, 2025 6:54 PM in response to Markarian421

“Data” is NOT the default name of that volume under macOS Sequoia.

The correct name is “Macintosh HD - Data”

You may change the volume name in Disk Utility by selecting that volume from the sidebar on the left, then clicking the name in the field next to the volume icon at the top of the window.

In my example below the drive volume is named “Macintosh SSD - Data” because I could.

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Answer 3

Nov 7, 2025 2:25 AM in response to den.thed

den.thed wrote:

I see the same thing as Servant of Cats on two different Mac mini's running Sequoia.

The earlier Mac mini that went from Monterey directly to Sequoia shows Macintosh HD - Data.

The later Mac mini that came with Sonoma now on Sequoia only shows Data.

Neither of those Mac mini's has ever been wiped for a do over.

Yes, it appears that "Data" is the new standard name going forward, but existing volumes where older OS versions had been installed are NOT renamed.

Case in point:

MacBook Pro M4 Pro, came with Sequoia pre-installed, now running Tahoe - "Data"

Mac Studio M1 Max, came with older OS (Ventura? I can't remember), now running Tahoe - "Macintosh HD - Data"

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Answer 4

steve626

Level 6

13,491 points

Oct 28, 2025 6:20 PM in response to Markarian421

On my MacBook Pro running Sequoia 15.7.1 I see Macintosh HD - Data on the primary drive, where yours shows simply Data. So something might be amiss, but I won't suggest changing something on your primary drive, especially if it is working well. Perhaps a more skilled reader here will suggest something. But I would want to have a good, verified backup first, which of course you are trying to get.

Can you change the name of the volume "Data" on the external drive? That might eliminate the Time Machine error.

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Answer 5

den.thed

Level 10

90,058 points

Nov 6, 2025 5:29 PM in response to Markarian421

I see the same thing as Servant of Cats on two different Mac mini's running Sequoia.

The earlier Mac mini that went from Monterey directly to Sequoia shows Macintosh HD - Data.

The later Mac mini that came with Sonoma now on Sequoia only shows Data.

Neither of those Mac mini's has ever been wiped for a do over.

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Answer 6

Markarian421 Author

Level 2

200 points

Oct 28, 2025 6:36 PM in response to steve626

If it turns out "Data" is the new default for that volume on the main Macintosh HD drive, I'll change the name of the external drive. Unfortunately I've got a lot of apps (Photos, Music, Lightroom, Dropbox, etc.) that will be looking for data on that external drive and I'll have to fix the paths for all of those. Either way I don't want to change anything until I understand if this is the new standard or if something went awry with the setup.

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