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

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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 function that repairs file systems and file permissions
Stripe or mirror disks in a RAID
Mount, create, and modify disk images, as well as write or burn them to disks, CDs, and DVDs
Manually eject removable media when other methods fail

Disk Utility is in the Utilities folder inside the main Applications folder. It is also available on Mac OS X software installation CDs and DVDs, and, in Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) or later, on your Recovery HD volume. For more about using Disk Utility, from Disk Utility's Help menu, select Disk Utility Help.