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There are various reasons you might want to partition the hard drive on Mac, such as installing and running a different operating system on your Mac, or simply to install the macOS Mojave beta on a separate partition or create a separate partition for Time Machine backups, ....
If you are running macOS High Sierra on a Mac using a USB Flash Drive or macOS Mojave, you don't need to create partitions, just creating a new drive partition will suffice.
This is because the old HFS+ file system has been replaced by the new Apple File System (APFS). The advantage of APFS over HFS+ is that it allows for shared space on the drive's private partition. This free space can be available for any newly created drive partition at any time, instead of allocating free space as on newly created partitions.
In the following article, Mytour will guide you on how to create drive partitions on macOS Mojave and High Sierra, as well as how to partition on older Macs and use Boot Camp to install Windows on Mac.
Before you begin, take note:
1. Back up your entire Mac to avoid potential issues.
2. Delete unnecessary files and applications to free up additional space.
Creating Drive Partitions on macOS Mojave and High Sierra
The steps to partition Mac running macOS High Sierra (if you have a USB drive or SSD) or macOS Mojave are quite simple thanks to APFS. Although you can partition Mac on these newer macOS versions, you only need to create an additional drive partition using Disk Utility.
When creating a partition using Disk Utility on macOS High Sierra or Mojave, a warning will appear on the screen: 'APFS volumes share storage space within a container, occupying a single partition. Adding and deleting APFS volumes is faster and simpler than editing a partition map.'
Follow the steps below to create a drive partition on macOS Mojave and High Sierra:
Step 1: Open Disk Utility.
Step 2: Click the dropdown menu next to the View button on the toolbar, choose Show All Devices to display a list of all drives on your Mac.
Step 3: Then select Home, and double-click to check if it's an APFS-formatted partition.
Step 4: Now, all you need to do is click the + button at the top of the Volume menu to create a new drive partition.
Step 5: Give any name you want to the new drive partition; in this example, the new drive is named Test.
Step 6: Optionally, you can set the free space limit for the drive. Click on Size Option, then enter the limits in the Reserve (minimum) and Quota (maximum) boxes.
Note that your Mac must have enough free space to allocate for these drives and partitions. That's why Mytour advises you to delete unnecessary files and applications on your Mac.
Step 7: Finally, click Add to create a new drive on your Mac.
Additionally, you can allocate the drive for family members or colleagues to avoid clutter and mix-up of files and data. In some cases, you can also use this partition to install a different version of macOS.
Follow the steps below:
To locate the macOS installer you just downloaded, press Command + Space to open Spotlight and enter the name of the macOS operating system you just downloaded into the Search box.
Step 2: Next, click on the installer, ensuring that you have selected the drive you just created as the installation drive.
Step 3: Wait for the Mac to finish installing the new operating system version on the drive you created.
Step 4: Once completed, the newly installed operating system will open from the new drive you created.
Step 5: If you wish to revert to the old operating system version, simply turn off your Mac. During the restart, press and hold the Alt / Option key.
Step 6: Choose the partition containing the macOS version you want to run, and your Mac will boot into that partition.
Mac Hard Drive Partitioning
If your Mac runs older macOS versions, or if it's running macOS High Sierra on a Fusion Drive, or if you can't update to higher macOS versions, or suppose you're running macOS Mojave or High Sierra but don't want to downgrade, in this case, you can create a partition on your Mac.
As mentioned by Mytour earlier, partitioning the Mac hard drive or SSD involves creating multiple drives from a physical storage medium. These drives appear separately in Finder and are handled individually by Mac. You can format each drive and use them for different purposes.
Why Partition Your Mac Hard Drive?
There are several reasons explaining why you should partition your Mac hard drive. Firstly, the primary reason is to avoid storing files and data in a cluttered manner. The second reason is to be able to run multiple operating systems or different versions on your Mac. Simply partition the hard drive, then use Boot Camp to install Windows on a separate partition.
Additionally, as mentioned by Mytour earlier, you can also partition the hard drive to use Time Machine booting into a different partition on the same system. However, to achieve this, the Time Machine partition must be at least twice the size of the drive you want to back up.
Finally, storing backups on the same drive poses more risks, especially in cases where the drive is faulty or damaged. Therefore, backups are often stored on a separate drive.
Using Boot Camp to Partition Mac
If you intend to use Boot Camp to partition your Mac, Mytour recommends running Boot Camp Assistant and following the on-screen instructions to partition the drive and install another operating system.
Please note:
- You will need a minimum of 40GB of free space. Then, follow the on-screen Boot Camp Assistant instructions to install Windows.
- Do not use Disk Utility to delete partitions created by Boot Camp Assistant.
Readers can check the article on How to Install Windows 10 on MacBook and iMac on Mytour for step-by-step instructions.
Using Disk Utility to Partition Mac Hard Drive
To partition a Mac hard drive, you can utilize the free Disk Utility tool, or alternatively, opt for some other paid options that offer advanced features.
Before getting started, it's advisable to back up the drive you intend to partition using tools like Time Machine or Carbon Copy Cloner to avoid any potential mishaps. Storing backups on a USB drive is the quickest method.
After successfully creating the backup, the next step you need to take is to restart your Mac and follow the steps below to create a new partition:
Step 1: Disconnect the USB drive where you stored the backup, then restart your Mac normally.
Step 2: Once your Mac has restarted, press Command + Space to open Spotlight, type Disk Utility into the search box, or find the application inside Utilities in the Applications folder to open Disk Utility.
Step 3: In the Disk Utility window, select the Mac hard drive. You will see two tabs displayed below the toolbar, including First Aid and Partition. Click on Partition.
Step 4: Click on the + icon below the Partition Layout to create an additional partition on the hard drive. The layout will change to display the added partition.
The next step now is to adjust the sizes of the partitions by dragging the slider up or down, depending on the size of the data stored on the startup partition.
Once you have set the partition sizes, click on the newly created partition and give it any name in the 'Name:' box. For the Format option, choose Mac OS X Extended (Journaled).
Step 5: After setting the size and naming the new partition, click Apply to apply the changes. If you want to start over, click Revert.
Step 6: Now, the Mac hard drive will be divided into 2 separate drive partitions, with an additional new empty drive. You can install any macOS/OS X version or use it for data storage.
Additionally, if desired, you can resize the partition anytime by applying the steps to create a new partition above, but instead of clicking the + icon, simply drag the partition slider up or down. The partition size depends on the available free space on the hard drive.
From now on, you can install any operating system on the newly created partition by clicking on the disk image, selecting the new partition as the installation drive, and following the on-screen instructions to complete the process. After the installation is complete, you can choose to boot into any partition.
Some risks when partitioning Mac hard drive
Alongside the benefits, partitioning a Mac hard drive also carries some risks, specifically the risk of losing important data. To mitigate this risk, Mytour advises you to back up and store crucial data before proceeding with the hard drive partitioning.
Adjusting the size of hard drive partitions
If desired, you can also modify the size of a partition, such as increasing or decreasing its size, depending on the available free space on the hard drive, using Disk Utilities.
To resize a partition, simply select the partition in Disk Utilities, then click on the + or - icon to increase or decrease the partition size.
If you intend to delete a partition or reallocate free space on the hard drive, start by selecting the partition you want to delete and choose Erase. However, before erasing a partition, ensure you have backed up essential data from that partition. After erasing all data on the drive, select the partition again and click the - icon to reallocate free space for the hard drive.
If you plan to expand a partition, ensure your hard drive has enough available space. Click the + icon to expand the partition size.
Once the process is complete, you'll see a green checkmark icon on the screen, indicating a successful operation.
Other alternatives to Mac partitioning
If you prefer not to partition the main drive on your Mac, there are alternative solutions to run macOS (or OS X) or the latest macOS beta versions.
The first solution involves installing macOS on an external hard drive or a bootable USB drive. Then, boot the system from the USB drive by selecting it as the Startup Disk in System Preferences or holding down the Option/Alt key during Mac startup and choosing the USB drive when prompted.
If you wish to run Windows without partitioning the Mac hard drive, you can use Parallels Desktop or VMWare Fusion to create a virtual environment.
Download and install Parallels Desktop from the following link: Download Parallels Desktop
Download VMWare Fusion for Mac and install it from this link: Download VMWare Fusion for Mac
In this article, Mytour has just guided you on creating a drive partition on macOS Mojave and High Sierra. If you have any questions or inquiries, feel free to leave your comments below the article. Mytour will respond to your queries as soon as possible.
