Having 2 Application folders in macOS Catalina
I just installed Macos Catalina. After the update I did a check on what's new and I found something new which is a double / redundant "Applications
" folder. Usually the old Application folder is located in Disk / Users / Applications, but now there is also an Application folder in Disk / System / Volumes / Data / Applications.
My question is: can I deleted the old Application folder? Because it's consuming my hard disk. And if I delete the old application folder, can it disrupt the app's performance?
Solution 1:
Can I delete the old Application folder?
No, you should not.
I looks like one (/Application) is virtual folder for another (/System/Volumes/Data/Applications).
To fix duplication in Alfred, just type reload in it.
More context:
- https://superuser.com/questions/1454743
- https://www.alfredforum.com/topic/13121-duplicate-apps-in-results-1015-and-v4
- https://www.alfredforum.com/topic/13760-after-upgraded-to-catalina-applications-show-from-systemvolumesdataapplications-instead-of-applications
Solution 2:
The /Applications folder is an illusion and not an actual APFS storage location. Due to firm links and special coding, it combines files from two distinct /Application type folders.
I linked to an excellent article as well as some Apple documentations in this similar but not identical question:
- Is there a difference between launching an app from /Applications vs /System/Volumes/Data/Applications?
Don’t delete it, instead adjust / patch your programs that aren’t aware of this new development or break due to this change in macOS Catalina 10.15