How to erase just the Data volume, the whole Boot Volume Group, all volume’s in the Mac’s visible container, or the entire internal SSD.
Disk Utility
Fundamentally simple: a preserved copy of a volume at a moment in time. How its size can only increase with time, how they’re managed, what they’re used for, and the tools for using them.
It was notorious for its crashes and reporting discrepancies, but now it’s incorporated in System Settings it’s more reliable and helpful. But there’s still the problem of System Data.
First Aid in Disk Utility, or running fsck_apfs in Terminal, return warnings or errors on one of your Mac’s volumes. Here’s what to do next.
Why upgrading to Tahoe shouldn’t consume the last free space on your Mac’s SSD, and once it has settled should use little more than currently. How to clear out old snapshots and reduce System Data.
What do you do when you discover your Mac’s Data volume has run out of free space? A guide to working with snapshots, iCloud Drive, and other tricks to salvage your Mac. And how to prevent this from happening again.
Should you run First Aid on your Data volume before updating macOS, or as routine housekeeping? And how should you run it?
ASIF disk images are new in Tahoe, and promise to be space efficient, as they’re sparse files, and almost as fast as the disk they’re stored on. Ideal for VMs and general use.
If you’ve got large files like Virtual Machines or media libraries on the Data volume on your Mac’s internal SSD, use this method to keep the size of its snapshots smaller.
From their use to replicate floppy disks in manufacture, to their key roles in macOS, for distribution of software, and on network servers to contain backups. Unglamorous but essential.
The Eclectic Light Company 