Ventura file structure

[nelix]

I just updated from Monterey to Ventura and I'm puzzled by what I see in ~/Library/Containers.

Every single folder in "Containers" contains the same "Data" sub-folder, and that Data sub-folder contains the same following sub-folders: Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Library, Movies, Music, Pictures, System Data, tmp.

Also in "Containers" there are several instances of the same folders, like 2 Books folders, 6 Mail folders, 6 Messages folders, etc. (see attached).

What's going on?

 

[MacInWin]

More important than what is in ~/Library, what does Disk Utility show? That tells you the drive structure and for the internal drive. Turn on the "Show all Devices" view and it should look like this:

The "Media" is the hardware level. In your case it will be the hardware of the drive itself.
The "Container" line is similar to what used to be a partition, but with significant enhancements.
The "Macintosh HD volumes" is a merger of the next indent level items and is what you see on the Desktop as "Macintosh HD."
The greyed out "Macintosh HD" is the Secure System Volume that is signed by Apple and then encrypted.
The "Macintosh HD snapshot" is the image from which you are booted and is a clone of the SSV. By not booting directly from the SSV, Apple can keep malware from making any change to the boot system. At boot time, the hash of the SSV is compared to the hash of the snapshot, and if they don't agree, the system rebuilds the snapshot from the protected SSV.
The "Macintosh HD - Data" is where all user data is kept for all users you have added to the system. That is also the area you are allowed to write to as a user.

Here is more detail for you:

Ventura volume layout

Updated charts of containers and volumes on boot volume groups for Ventura, with details of cryptexes and what they do.

eclecticlight.co

No code has to be inserted here.

 

[nelix]

Thank you for the info, but I shouldn't have said "file structure." My concern was with the Finder's structure.

 

[MacInWin]

Thank you for the info, but I shouldn't have said "file structure." My concern was with the Finder's structure.

What do you mean? Finder hasn't changed. IF you mean all of the items in that folder in ~/Library, my advice is to stay out of there. No real need for a user to go poking about in the Library.

 

[nelix]

I'm not exactly new to the mac and I've learned long ago that accessing the Library is almost always a necessary step in troubleshooting.
It's just that I don't remember having so many seemingly identical folders in there, or the need to Get Info to identify them.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, given you haven't provided the Disk Utility information, I'll leave it to you to sort out. You hadn't mentioned anything with Get Info before, so maybe you ought to describe what that means so someone can help.

I have found almost no reason to access the ~/Library at all over my years with Mac.

Good luck with it.

 

[nelix]

The Disk Utility information you provided is not really what I needed, but it's very informative and I'll definitely keep it.

In this particular case, I was trying to locate the database file for an app that I was reinstalling. That app is Wallet (from Acrylic Software), it saves up not just passwords but serial numbers, bank info, etc., so it was essential that I replace the blank file created by the newly reinstalled app with a backup containing all that data, and for that I needed to locate it (and as is too often the case when Apple upgrades its OS, it was no longer where I used to find it). And it's while I was trying to do that I found out that in order to know the actual name of a folder in the User Library you need to activate Get Info.

As for accessing the Library, it's needed to retrieve backed-up Safari bookmarks when resetting Safari, or Mail's mailboxes (also when resetting the app). Also, sometimes a troubleshooting process requires that some files in the Library be deleted.