{"id":"external-drives.why-does-one-drive-show-two-icons","url":"/faq/external-drives/why-does-one-drive-show-two-icons","category":{"id":"external-drives","title":"External drives"},"subcategory":{"id":"formats","title":"Drive formats"},"question":"Why does one external drive show up as two drives on my Mac?","alt_questions":["Two icons for one external drive","External drive shows twice in Finder","Why does my SSD have two volumes?","extra volume appeared on external drive"],"short_answer":"The drive is divided into more than one volume or partition, and each appears as its own drive. Check how it's split in Disk Utility (View → Show All Devices); you can remove an unwanted, empty volume there.","answer_markdown":"The drive has more than one **volume** or **partition**, and each one appears in Finder as its own drive. That's normal if you (or the manufacturer) set it up that way — for example a separate Time Machine volume, or a small partition holding the maker's software.\n\nOpen Disk Utility with **View → Show All Devices** to see how the drive is divided. If a second volume is unwanted and empty, you can delete it there and its space returns to the others (APFS volumes) or can be merged back (partitions). See [adding or removing volumes](/faq/external-drives/how-do-i-add-a-volume-to-an-external-drive).","answer_html":"

The drive has more than one volume or partition, and each one appears in Finder as its own drive. That's normal if you (or the manufacturer) set it up that way — for example a separate Time Machine volume, or a small partition holding the maker's software.

\n

Open Disk Utility with View → Show All Devices to see how the drive is divided. If a second volume is unwanted and empty, you can delete it there and its space returns to the others (APFS volumes) or can be merged back (partitions). See adding or removing volumes.

","answer_text":"The drive has more than one volume or partition, and each one appears in Finder as its own drive. That's normal if you (or the manufacturer) set it up that way — for example a separate Time Machine volume, or a small partition holding the maker's software.\n\nOpen Disk Utility with View → Show All Devices to see how the drive is divided. If a second volume is unwanted and empty, you can delete it there and its space returns to the others (APFS volumes) or can be merged back (partitions). See adding or removing volumes.","tags":["volume","partition","finder"],"related":[{"id":"external-drives.how-do-i-add-a-volume-to-an-external-drive","question":"How do I add a second APFS volume to an external drive?","url":"/faq/external-drives/how-do-i-add-a-volume-to-an-external-drive"},{"id":"external-drives.disk-utility-only-shows-volumes","question":"Why does Disk Utility only show volumes and not the whole drive?","url":"/faq/external-drives/disk-utility-only-shows-volumes"},{"id":"external-drives.what-is-the-efi-partition","question":"What is the hidden EFI partition on my external drive?","url":"/faq/external-drives/what-is-the-efi-partition"}],"applies_to":"all","last_reviewed":"2026-10-01","title":"Why does one external drive show up as two drives on my Mac? — Storage Studio FAQ","description":"The drive is divided into more than one volume or partition, and each appears as its own drive. Check how it's split in Disk Utility (View → Show All Devices); you can remove an unwanted, empty volume there.","crumbs":[{"name":"Home","path":"/"},{"name":"FAQ","path":"/faq/"},{"name":"External drives","path":"/faq/external-drives/"},{"name":"Why does one external drive show up as two drives on my Mac?","path":"/faq/external-drives/why-does-one-drive-show-two-icons"}],"jsonld":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/external-drives/why-does-one-drive-show-two-icons","inLanguage":"en","dateModified":"2026-10-01","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Why does one external drive show up as two drives on my Mac?","alternateName":["Two icons for one external drive","External drive shows twice in Finder","Why does my SSD have two volumes?","extra volume appeared on external drive"],"acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The drive has more than one volume or partition, and each one appears in Finder as its own drive. That's normal if you (or the manufacturer) set it up that way — for example a separate Time Machine volume, or a small partition holding the maker's software.\n\nOpen Disk Utility with View → Show All Devices to see how the drive is divided. If a second volume is unwanted and empty, you can delete it there and its space returns to the others (APFS volumes) or can be merged back (partitions). See adding or removing volumes.","url":"https://storagestudio.us/faq/external-drives/why-does-one-drive-show-two-icons"}}]},"fragment":"
\n
\n\n\n\n\n
\n
\n

External drives · Drive formats

\n

Why does one external drive show up as two drives on my Mac?

\n

Short answer: The drive is divided into more than one volume or partition, and each appears as its own drive. Check how it's split in Disk Utility (View → Show All Devices); you can remove an unwanted, empty volume there.

\n

The drive has more than one volume or partition, and each one appears in Finder as its own drive. That's normal if you (or the manufacturer) set it up that way — for example a separate Time Machine volume, or a small partition holding the maker's software.

\n

Open Disk Utility with View → Show All Devices to see how the drive is divided. If a second volume is unwanted and empty, you can delete it there and its space returns to the others (APFS volumes) or can be merged back (partitions). See adding or removing volumes.

\n\n

Last reviewed

\n\n

Related questions

\n

Also available as Markdown and JSON.

\n
"}