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How To Partition A Hard Drive Mac



Before you can access a new or formatted drive in your operating system, you need to initialize it first and then create a partition on the drive. A partition defines an area of the drive to use for storing data. The partition uses a file system (for example, HFS+, ex-FAT, NTFS, and so on).

  1. Partition External Drive Mac
  2. How To Partition A Hard Drive Macbook Air
  3. Mac Os X Partition Utility
  4. Partition External Hard Drive Mac
  5. How To Partition A Hard Drive Mac

If you have a hard drive with Windows on it, you need a partition management software that supports NTFS resizing partition Mac. Stellar Partition Manager is the most recommended application to people who ask how to partition a hard drive Mac with the NTFS file system. Besides NTFS, it also supports HFS, FAT, and exFAT files systems.

  • To do so, select your hard drive from the left panel and then click the Partition button at the top of Disk Utility. On the pie graph on the left, click the wedge that represents the partition you.
  • Partitioning a hard drive means splitting the drive into separate, usable standalone systems. For example, you may choose to create two partitions on an external hard disk – one for backing up your Mac and the other for your normal data storage. Similarly, you may choose to use two partitions for installing two different operating systems.

Initialize a drive

Mac OSX detects a drive that needs to be initialized and automatically prompts you to initialize the drive. If you are prompted to initialize the drive, click Initialize. If you are not prompted to initialize the drive and you cannot find the drive in Finder, you will need to create a partition on the drive.

Create a partition on a drive

Note: The following steps create an HFS+ (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) partition that uses the entire drive space.

To create a partition on a new drive, complete the following:

  1. Open Finder.

  2. Navigate to Applications and click Utilities.

  3. Open Disk Utility.

  4. Select the new drive and click the Partition tab.

  5. Click Options and verify that it is set to GUID Partition Table.

  6. Enter a name for the partition.

  7. Click Partition.

The drive should now be accessible in Finder.

When there are several partitions on your hard drive, and you need one bigger than the other on a particular drive to handle more data in it, you need to know methods to use to resize partitions on Mac. In this article, we'll talk about rules of resizing partition for Mac and how to backup data before resizing partition. Most importantly, you'll learn how to resize partition on Mac with Disk Utility. The best free autotune software.

    • 1. Backup Important Data Before Resizing Partition on Mac

    • 2. Resize Partition on Mac with Disk Utility

1Rules of Resizing Partition for Mac

If you want to resize a partition for your Mac without erasing data, there are some rules you need to follow. Ensure you pay attention to these rules for maximum results.

  • The last partition on a drive cannot be increased. However, it can be deleted.

  • When a particular partition is deleted, the space from it is added to the previous partition.

  • Fusion drives can be quickly resized with the version of Mac Utility Disk used for its creation but not with an older one.

  • Before you resize a Mac volume, remember to back up the drive because resizing may need you to delete partitions

  • Trying to use pie charts to resize a volume is quite difficult to achieve. How to delete spyware from mac. It is better to use optional sizes rather than using pie chart dividers.

  • If you want to increase a particular volume, then the volume next to the affected volume must be deleted to free up more space.

2How to Resize Mac Partition without Losing Data?

To keep your data safe and intact, make sure that you've backed up your data before resizing partition. Here we recommend a backup and recovery service - AnyRecover Data Recovery for Mac, which is a unique software developed by iMyFone team to help Mac users recover data from their disk. With AnyRecover unique algorithm, you can backup your data from a partition on Mac easily.

Key Features
  • Powerful Partition Recovery: Back up files from partition on Mac and recover all your lost files no matter how they were lost, such as format, resize, accidentally delete, etc.

  • Recover All Kind of Files: AnyRecover is a great software you can use to recover any file type. Whether it is documents, photos or videos, AnyRecover is the right tool for the job

  • Safe and Reliable: AnyRecover can recover your files safely without overwriting your existing files.

  • Supports All Mac OS: AnyRecover supports all Mac OS including macOS Mojave, macOS Catalina, macOS high sierra, and more.

Backup Important Data Before Resizing Partition on Mac

Firstly, download and install the software for Mac, then launch the software on your Mac.

Step One - Select the Path of the File Location

Partition External Drive Mac

Set the path of data location where you want to get your lost files. Click the 'Start' button to begin the process.

Step Two - Scan the Selected Path

The program will start an All-Round scan on your selected location, once the process is done, all your lost files will be listed out in respective file types.

Step Three - Preview and Recover Lost Files

Mac

Before you recover the files, you'll have to preview them to be sure that you've selected the right files. Then click the 'Recover' button.

Now you're ready, without need for worrying about data loss, continue reading to know how to resize partition on Mac by using the Disk Utility.

Resize Partition on Mac with Disk Utility

Mac Disk Utility is a powerful built-in application in Mac OS that has undergone a series of changes with every major OS update.

How To Partition A Hard Drive Macbook Air

Many Mac users have complained that using Mac Disk Utility to resize a Mac Volume is no longer easy. However, being an experienced Mac expert, we feel its interface is user-friendly and easy to use. Apple has come up with a well-arranged Mac Disk Utility interface that will make enlarging/resizing of a Mac Volume to be easy.

Steps to Resize Mac Partition

Step 1. Navigate through your menu and open Mac Disk Utility.

Step 2. When Mac Disk Utility opens, select the drive you want to resize.

Mac Os X Partition Utility

Step 3. Then select Partition on the toolbar to resize the Volume of your choice using the Utility tool. A pie chart will open showing free space and space occupied by each Volume.

Step 4. Sister location free mac. For a volume to be enlarged, another one has to be deleted. So, choose the Volume you want to delete on the pie chart.

Step 5. Delete the Volume of your choice and tap the minus icon below the pie chart. The pie chart will give you a warning message about what you've done.

Step 6. If you're satisfied, tap Apply or tap Cancel to delete another Volume.

Partition External Hard Drive Mac

Step 7. Automatically, Mac Disk Utility will add up the freed space to the Volume instead of the deleted one. However, if you want to customize the Volume sizes, you can select the Volume, specify its size then hit Revert/Return. You can create a new Volume in the leftover space.

How To Partition A Hard Drive Mac

Step 8. Drag the Pie Chart to adjust the size of each volume. When the Volume is adjusted to the size you desire, click Apply, and that's it.

However, there are times when disk utility can't resize partition. Don't worry, there are also solutions available. Refer to this page and you'll get it fixed.

Conclusion: Who would have thought that backing up important files from partition or enlarging Mac partition can be done effortlessly? Well, with AnyRecover for Mac, you can also recover all your lost files which are formatted with a 98% recovery success rate. So, when next you're having problems recovering a deleted file, simply go for AnyRecover.





How To Partition A Hard Drive Mac
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