If you want to use Backup Plus Desktop exclusively with Mac computers, it is recommended that you use the format native to the Mac operating system, HFS+ (journaled). For further information on hard drive file systems and instructions for formatting hard drives, review the section below. Format Mac Partition Many times, you feel the need of erasing data of the entire partition or volume, so that you can remove all the old unwanted files and organize the partition afresh. Apart from this, at times, the partition gets badly corrupt and becomes completely unused. Home » Format Mac Partition. Click the ‘Start’ button on the tool bar to begin formatting. A message box will pop-up to tell you that you must take back-up of your important data before formatting. Click ‘Continue’ to format. Once the process gets completed, the refreshed partition becomes ready for use.
- Free Disk Formatting Utility
- Software For Formatting Hard Drive
- Disk Formatting Tool For Mac
- Formatting App For Mac
Disk Utility, a free application included with the Mac operating system, is a multipurpose, easy-to-use tool for working with hard drives, SSDs, and disk images. Among other things, Disk Utility can erase, format, repair, and partition hard drives and SSDs, as well as create RAID arrays.
This guide is for the version of Disk Utility found in OS X 10.10 Yosemite and earlier. Disk Utility underwent some changes in the version included with OS X El Capitan and the new macOS version of the operating system. If you need to format a drive using OS X 10.11 (El Capitan) or later, check out Format a Mac's Drive Using Disk Utility (OS X El Capitan or later)
Getting to Know Disk Utility in OS X Yosemite and Earlier
Disk Utility works with disks and volumes. The term 'disk' refers to the drive itself. A volume is a formatted section of a disk. Each disk has a minimum of one volume. You can use Disk Utility to create a single volume or multiple volumes on a disk.
It's important to understand the relationship between a disk and its volumes. You can erase a volume without affecting the rest of the disk, but if you erase the disk, then you erase every volume that it contains.
Disk Utility has three main sections: a toolbar that spans the top of the Disk Utility workspace; a vertical pane on the left that displays disks and volumes; and a work area on the right, where you can perform tasks on a selected disk or volume. Disk Utility is located in Applications > Utilities. Launch it.
If you plan to use Disk Utility for system maintenance purposes as well as for working with hard drives, add it to the Dock. Right-click the Disk Utility icon in the Dock and select Keep in Dock from the pop-up menu.
Erasing a Non-Startup Volume
Erasing a volume is an easy way to free up drive space. Many multimedia applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, need a large amount of contiguous disk space to work. Erasing a volume is a faster way of creating that space than using third-party defragmenting tools. Because this process erases all the data on a volume, many multimedia-savvy individuals create small volumes to hold a project's worth of data and then erase the volume before starting the next project.
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Erasing or Formatting a Mac's Startup Drive Using Disk Utility
Disk Utility can't directly erase or format a startup disk, because Disk Utility and all of the system functions it uses are located on that disk. If Disk Utility tried to erase the startup disk, it would at some point erase itself, which could present a problem.
To get around this, use Disk Utility from a source other than the startup disk. One option is your OS X Install DVD if you have one, which includes Disk Utility. Macs without optical drives use the Recovery volume.
- Insert the OS X Install DVD in your Mac's CD/DVD reader.
- Restart the Mac by selecting the Restart option in the Apple menu. When the display goes blank, press and hold the c key on the keyboard.
- Booting from the DVD can take time. After you see the grey screen with the Apple logo in the middle, release the c key.
- Select Use English for the main language. when this option appears, and then click the arrow button.
- Select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.
- When Disk Utility launches, the drive from the disks and volumes listed at the left side of the Disk Utility window.
- Click the Erase tab. The selected drive's name and current format display in the right side of the Disk Utility workspace.
- Click Erase. Disk Utility unmounts the drive from the desktop, erases it, and then remounts it on the desktop.
For Macs that do not have an optical drive, you can boot from the Recovery HD to run Disk Utility.
You can then use the steps in the Erase a Non-Startup Volume section.
Free Disk Formatting Utility
- Quit Disk Utility by selecting Quit Disk Utility from the Disk Utility menu item. This takes you back to the Install OS X window.
- Quit the OS X Installer by selecting Quit OS X Installer from the Mac OS X Installer menu item.
- Set the startup disk by clicking the Startup Disk button.
- Select the disk you want to be the startup disk and then click the Restart button.
Many times, you feel the need of erasing data of the entire partition or volume, so that you can remove all the old unwanted files and organize the partition afresh. Apart from this, at times, the partition gets badly corrupt and becomes completely unused. In such cases, if the volume/partition is beyond repairing and you got the backup of the data, then, you can format the volume to reuse it again.
In all such situations, Stellar Partition manager utility can help you format a partition smoothly and paves the way for storing data freshly.
Another common situation arises when you buy a new SATA/ ATA (Internal)/ FireWire (External) hard drive for your Mac system. The hard drive usually comes with platform compatibility. This means, your new hard drive can work on both Mac as well as Windows operating system. But, with this cross platform compatibility, there are certain stability or facility issues. The new hard drive could have a file allocation size limit of 2 GB or so, which can be problematic, while storing a bigger file onto the disk. A file with bigger size can only be stored in multiple memory chunks with a maximum size of 2 GB each and hence, will significantly lower the data access speed of the system.
Therefore, many users who don’t use Windows on their hard drive for Mac want to format the drive for Mac only. In order to remove all traces of platform compatibility and make the drive completely Mac only, one can use Stellar Partition Manager software for formatting Mac partitions efficiently.
Software For Formatting Hard Drive
Note: As, formatting will erase all your data from the drive; you must always remember to take appropriate backup of your important data before formatting any partition.
Stellar Partition Manager is a powerful as yet easy-to use utility for formatting Mac hard drive/volume. With highly interactive graphical user interfaces, this Mac formatting software is very useful for all Mac users, who face difficulty in formatting volumes with Disk Utility.
Disk Formatting Tool For Mac
How to format Mac volume using Stellar Partition Manager:
- Run Stellar Partition Manager. The interface lists all the attached drives in the system.
- Choose the drive, in which you want to format a partition. It will graphically show all the partitions/volumes in the middle pane of the interface.
- Select the particular Partition/Volume and click ‘Format’.
- The operation will get added to the ‘Task to do’ list. Click the ‘Start’ button on the tool bar to begin formatting.
- A message box will pop-up to tell you that you must take back-up of your important data before formatting. Click ‘Continue’ to format.
- Once the process gets completed, the refreshed partition becomes ready for use.
Formatting App For Mac
Stellar Partition Manager software has been designed with great innovation and is capable of formatting the selected drive/volume under almost any level of corruption. This helpful Mac partition format utility is quite easy to operate and runs well with all OS X versions 10.6 and later.