ARCHIVED: In Mac OS X, how do I partition my hard drive?
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Warning: In versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.5, or when changing the partition scheme in Mac OS X 10.5 and later, partitioning your hard drive with Disk Utility erases all the information on the drive. Regardless of your operating system, UITS recommends backing up all of your important files before partitioning your drive.
Mac OS X 10.5 and later with no changes to the partition scheme
- In the
Applications
folder, open , and then double-click . - In the left column, click the drive you would like to initialize or partition.
- To the right, click the tab.
- The box beneath "Partition Layout" or "Volume Scheme:" (which should be set to ) represents your hard disk, where occupied space is shaded. With the handle at the bottom-right of each partition, you can resize the partition by dragging the handle up or down. To add or remove partitions, click the (plus sign) or (minus sign) beneath the box. You can assign each partition its own name and file system type.
- When you're finished making changes, click .
Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier, or 10.5 and later with changes to the partition scheme
Open Disk Utility via one of the following methods:
- In Mac OS X 10.7, to partition your startup disk, restart
your computer while holding down
Command-r
. When you see the gray Apple logo, release the keys. If you see a screen asking you to select your main language, choose it and then click the arrow. Click and then click . - In Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier, to partition your startup disk,
insert a Mac OS X install disc in your computer, and then restart the
computer while holding down the
c
key. When you see the gray Apple logo, release thec
key. Follow the instructions until you see a menu bar at the top of the screen, and then from the menu, select . - To partition disks other than your startup disk, from the
Finder, click , and select .
In the
Utilities
folder, double-click .
Once Disk Utility is open:
- In the left column, click the drive you would like to initialize or partition.
- To the right, click the tab.
- In the drop-down menu under "Partition Layout" or "Volume Scheme:", choose the number of partitions you want to create during the initializing process. For a basic installation of Mac OS X, you need at least one partition.
- Adjust partition sizes by dragging the handles that represent the partition borders.
- Click each partition to adjust its properties. Under "Partition Information" or "Volume Information", choose the format you would like to use. You will normally want to use . If you need to access the partition from Windows computers, however, choose .
- Click to change the partition scheme. You may need to change this if the disk is meant to be used with Windows computers, or as a startup disk for a Mac with a different architecture. Intel Macs require the for their startup disks, while PowerPC Macs use . If you need to use the disk with Windows, particularly as a startup disk, choose . After selecting a scheme, click .
- When you're finished making changes, click or .
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Last modified on 2018-01-18 13:10:37.