In Mac OS X, what is Disk Utility, and how do I use it?

In Mac OS X, Disk Utility is a multipurpose program for working with hard disks, disk images, CDs, and DVDs. Depending on your version of Mac OS X, you can use Disk Utility to perform the following functions:

• Erase, format, and partition hard disks and rewritable CDs and DVDs
  
  
• Run First Aid, a program that repairs file systems and, in Mac OS X 10.2 and later, file permissions
  
  
• Stripe or mirror disks in a RAID in Mac OS X 10.1 and later
  
  
• Mount, create, and modify disk images as well as write or burn them to disks, CDs, and DVDs in Mac OS X 10.3 and later
  
  
• Manually eject Zip disks and other removable media when other methods fail

By default, Disk Utility is in your Utilities folder inside your main Applications folder. It is also available on Mac OS X software installation CDs and DVDs. For more information about using Disk Utility, see Mac OS X's internal help. To find it, from the Disk Utility's Help menu, select Disk Utility Help.

Also see:

• In Mac OS X, what is First Aid, and when and how should I use it?
• For Mac OS and Mac OS X, what is Disk Copy?
• Using Mac OS X, how do I repair permissions, and what does that do?