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Just an FYI. Catalina splits the startup volume into two distinct APFS volumes. (Example: "mydisk" and "mydisk - Data" .) Think of these as OS-base and OS-data volumes. When running, the base volume is mounted as write-protected and the data volume is write-enabled. Any content the user can change (applications, preferences, etc.) are on the data volume. The base volume contains the kernel and any other pieces Apple does not want modified. Using what Apple calls "firm links", the two volumes appear as one virtual volume (In Unix terms, a union filesystem.) This is an added security measure. However, when you startup from a different volume, you can mount both the base volume and data volume, write-enabled and make changes.