As Wikipedia Says: Disk Utility is a system utility for performing disk and disk volume-related tasks on the OS X operating system by Apple Inc.
Day to day functions supported by Disk Utility are:
- Creation, conversion, backup, compression and encryption of logical volume images from a wide range of formats read by Disk Utility to .dmg or, for CD/DVD images, .cdr
- Mounting, unmounting and ejecting external disk volumes
- Enabling or disabling journaling
- Verifying a disk’s integrity, and repairing it if the disk is damaged
- Erasing, formatting, partitioning and cloning disks
- Secure deletion of free space or disk using a “zero out” data, a 7-pass DOD 5220-22 M standard, or a 35-pass Gutmann algorithm
- Adding or changing partition table between Apple Partition Table, GUID Partition Table and master boot record (MBR)
- Restoring volumes from Apple Software Restore (ASR) images
- Checking the S.M.A.R.T. status of a hard disk
- Disk Utility functions may also be accessed from the OS X command line with the diskutil and hdiutil commands.
Now will learn how to partition disk,
Important Note:
- Partitioning a disk erases all the data previously stored on it
- By using partition feature of disk utility it divides disk into sections called ‘partitions’ which appear on the desktop as separate disks.
Precaution: Before moving forward backup all your computer data using Time Machine on different hard drive other than that you are currently partitioning.
Here is how to Partition a disk
Step 01: Connect External Disk to your Mac using USB / FireWire cable for purpose partitioning it
Step 02: Locate ‘Disk Utility App in Applications > Utilities
Step 03: Select the disk that you want to partition and click on Erase
Step 04: When erase disk popup will appear under ‘Name’ section give disk a name, Under Format section choose ‘OSX Extended (Journaled), Under ‘Scheme’ section choose ‘GUID Partition Map’ in dropdown.
Click on Done once Disk Utility finish erasing disk
Step 05: While disk that you want to partition is selected click on Partition.
Step 06: Tweak the number of partitions from the Volume Scheme pop-up menu. You can add remove & manage number of partition by using ‘+’ & ‘-’ sign
Step 07: Click each partition and type a name for it, choose a format such as OS X Extended (Journaled) and then type a size. You can also drag the divider between the partitions to change their sizes. If a partition’s name has an asterisk beside it, it’s shown larger than its actual size in order to display its name clearly.
Step 08: As shown in below image you can choose various format such as ‘OS X Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)’ just to password protect your external disk. While partitioning disk using encrypted volume Disk Utility will ask to enter & set password for new external disk.
I hope this information helps you to successfully partition your new external disk drive,
Thanks & Regards
Mandar Apte
