How to partition your Mac using Disk Utility. For other uses, Disk Utility is free and will do the job. There are also some paid-for alternatives with advanced features, see Best disk partition. Disk Utility underwent a change when Apple released OS X El Capitan.The new version of Disk Utility is much more colorful and — some say — easier to use. Others say it lost many of the basic capabilities that old Mac hands took for granted.
How To Repartition Mac
The macOS has a built-in tool that lets you create a new partition of the drive. Perhaps, you are looking for a new partition of the disk on your Mac, either for internal or external or for both drives. Splitting the disk into two partitions or more will give you the power to take control of the data and put them into respective drives accordingly.
Maybe you want to create a backup drive and keep the files in a separate partition or you just want to keep important files in one partition and create another partition for keeping the media files such as photos, music, and videos into another one. Disk partitioning can be useful in various ways, here's how you can create one easily on your Mac.
How To Create A New Partition On Your Mac
First of all, make sure you have connected the drive you want to partition. Either you are partitioning the built-in mac drive or any external drive connected via the USB port, then follow these steps which shows you how to create a new partition.
Note: Before you create a partition, it is advised to create a back up of the drive or data stored on the drive since you are modifying disk partitions.
- Launch the Disk Utility app on your Mac. To launch instantly, open Spotlight search, type Disk Utility, and hit Enter. You can also launch the Disk Utility tool from the Launchpad -> Other as well as Applications -> Utilities folder.
- Once you enter the Disk Utility, you can see both internal and external volumes. Click on the volume you want to partition.
- Click thePartition icon at the top as shown. You will be taken to the partition manager of the macOS.
- Now click the (+) button below the big circle. This will allow you to adjust the partition of the available space on the drive. If it's disabled, then the volume you have selected can't be partitioned because of no free space or likely to be protected from partitioning. You may unlock the protected drive using the password or the security it's been locked with.
- Once you are able to select the partition, click and drag the pointer around the circle to change the size or type the desired size in the Size box
- Enter the desired name for your new partition or keep the default one if don't know at the moment. You can choose the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled), ExFAT, MS-DOS (FAT), or Microsoft NTFS.
- Once everything seems fine, click Apply and wait for the process to complete. Your new partition is now ready to use.
Once your partition is successfully created, a new volume will appear on your Desktop as well as in Finder.
This is how you can create new partitions on your Mac. More tutorials, guides, tips, and tricks related to Windows and Mac are available for you, check them out. To get updates on the latest smartphones and tech, follow us on our social media profiles.
- Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | Telegram
It is easy to delete a hard drive partition on Mac running macOS Catalina or Mojave, just like creating one. In the past, you may have made a partition to install a beta version of macOS or run Windows on it. Now, if you are looking to get this storage back, you can effortlessly use Disk Utility to remove the hard drive partition.
Before you proceed, you should know that;
- You can remove the partition of internal as well as an external hard drive or SSD using Disk Utility
- Just to be on the safe side, I would recommend that you take a backup of your Mac
- Important: If you want to remove partition created by Boot Camp, then do not use Disk Utility. Use Boot Camp to delete the Windows partition and get back the space
- When you delete a partition, all the data on it is erased permanently
So, that was some basics, now let's jump on to the process;
How to Delete Partition on Mac Using Disk Utility
- Open Finder → Applications folder → Utilities.
- Now, double click on Disk Utility to open it.
- From the left sidebar, click on the partition you want to delete
- Click on the Partition button from top.
- From the slide down options, click on Partition.
- From the pie chart, click on the partition you wish to remove. The solid color of the partition is the empty space, and shaded is the size of files in it.
- Click on the minus button.
- Click on Apply.
- Now, click on Partition in Pop-up window.
- After a partition is successfully deleted, click on Done.
You will see that the partition is not visible in the left sidebar of Disk Utility. Also, the space taken by this partition is added back to your primary volume.
How to Erase a Partition on Mac
If you don't want to delete the partition itself, but only remove all the contents inside it, then erasing the partition is what you must choose. To do so, follow the easy steps below.
- Open Finder → Applications folder → go to Utilities.
- Now, Open Disk Utility by clicking on it.
- From the left sidebar, select the partition you want to delete.
- Click on the Erase button.
- Now, click on Erase to confirm the action.
- After the process ends, click on Done.
The hard disk partition has been successfully erased.
You may also like to take a peek at…
What Is Partition In Disk Utility Mac Os
What are your thoughts on this tutorial and friendliness of macOS in general? Please share your opinion with us in the comments section.
The founder of iGeeksBlog, Dhvanesh, is an Apple aficionado, who cannot stand even a slight innuendo about Apple products. He dons the cap of editor-in-chief to make sure that articles match the quality standard before they are published.
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
- https://www.igeeksblog.com/author/dhvanesh/
