macOS: This is how you manage your hard drive on the Mac


HOW DO I FORMAT AND DEFRAGMENT MY HARD DRIVE?

We show how you manage the hard drive on your Mac. We explain step by step how to format, partition and erase the hard drive under macOS.

  1. Format and securely erase hard drives or partitions
  2. Partition hard drives on Mac
  3. Create a new partition on a Mac hard drive afterwards

  4. File systems and partition tables

  5. At Netzwelt you can find out everything you need to know about Mac management

Managing a Mac hard drive can be quite a challenge if you’ve only ever dealt with Windows devices. Depending on the situation, you can use a system-internal program to format, partition and securely delete the hard drive.

Such management of your hard drive is not only important for the optimal use of your storage space, you can also use it to safely remove all private data from the device before you sell it on. Formatting can also help with technical problems.

Backup: Your ultimate backup guide

With a backup or a data backup you can protect your pictures, documents and other important files with a backup copy. Netzwelt reveals in the ultimate backup guide how to create a data backup for Windows, OS X, Android and iOS.

The administration is essentially divided into three areas. With the so-called hard disk utility you can format your built-in hard disks or connected storage media.

You can also define sub-areas of the hard drive and isolate it from the system hard drive via a partition, for example. In addition, the tool offers the possibility of securely deleting hard disks without being able to recover data from third parties afterwards.

Important NOTE

Before you partition or format your hard drives, you should create a data backup with Time Machine to be on the safe side. If, contrary to expectations, something goes wrong, you can restore your data.

Format and securely erase hard drives or partitions

  1. You can reformat existing hard drives or individual partitions of a hard drive at any time and delete all stored data with this process. Proceed as follows:

  2. Hard drives or partitions can be formatted and deleted on the Mac. Hard drives or partitions can be formatted and deleted on the Mac.
    1

    To erase and format a hard drive, open your Mac’s Disk Utility and select the relevant hard drive (1) on the left. In the right part you click on the tab “Delete” (2). You then select the desired format and enter a new name for the hard drive (3). Finally, you start the process by clicking on “Delete …”.

  3. On the Mac you can securely erase your data without additional software. On the Mac you can securely erase your data without additional software.
    2

    If you want to securely delete your data so that it cannot be restored even by specialized programs with reasonable effort, click on “Security Options…”. At this point you can use a slider to determine how securely your data should be deleted.

  4. At setting 1 your data will be erased and overwritten once, at setting 2 your data will be overwritten three times and at the most secure setting your data will be overwritten seven times. Note that multiple overwrites can take a long time.

In the next part you will learn how to partition your hard drive on the Mac. Again, we will guide you step-by-step through the process.

If you would like to create a partition on your hard drive later, that is also possible. To do this, proceed as follows:

Create a new partition on a Mac hard drive afterwards

  1. You can also use your Mac to subsequently partition existing internal hard drives or externally connected USB media. This means that you divide the hard disk with existing data into further partitions.

  2. First you start Disk Utility. To do this, open the Spotlight search with the key combination [cmd] + [Leertaste] and enter disk utility. First you start Disk Utility. To do this, open the Spotlight search with the key combination [cmd] + [Leertaste] and enter disk utility.
    1

    First you start Disk Utility. To do this, open the Spotlight search with the key combination + and enter disk utility.

  3. In the left part of the window, select the hard drive that you want to divide into further partitions. For example, click on the internal hard drive (1). To the right, click on "partition" (2). In the left part of the window, select the hard drive that you want to divide into further partitions. For example, click on the internal hard drive (1). To the right, click on "partition" (2).
    2

    In the left part of the window, select the hard drive that you want to divide into further partitions. For example, click on the internal hard drive (1). Right next to it you click on “Partition” (2).

  4. Clicks an already existing partition on the hard drive below "partition layout" out. Then click on the plus sign. The area marked in blue shows the data already saved, which will not be subdivided further. Clicks an already existing partition on the hard drive below "partition layout" out. Then click on the plus sign. The area marked in blue shows the data already saved, which will not be subdivided further.
    3

    Click on an existing partition on the hard drive below “Partition Layout”. Then click on the plus sign. The area marked in blue shows the data already saved, which cannot be subdivided further.

  5. 4

    The selected partition will be split. Click on the new partition (1). Under partition information you enter the name (2) for the new partition. You also determine the size of the new partition by either moving the dividing line between the partitions (3) or by entering the size in the field of the same name. Finally, click “Apply” to create the partition.

  6. 5

    You can only create new partitions on an existing hard disk with data if there is still enough free space available. By dividing existing partitions, a partition with the data already stored and a new partition without data are created.

File systems and partition tables

In the following table we have summarized all important information about file systems and partition tables for you. Click on the respective entry to read the associated explanation.

At Netzwelt you can find out everything you need to know about Mac management

In other macOS guides, we show you, among other things, how to recover a forgotten Mac password under macOS or reset your Mac to factory settings for sale.

Delete data securely and completely

All data should be thoroughly erased from data carriers before sale or disposal. Simply formatting the hard drive or deleting individual files is not enough here. If you really want to be on the safe side, you can use special tools for consistent data destruction.

However, you may also want to completely remove certain programs from your Mac without having to erase the entire hard drive. In the linked article, we show you how to remove your apps from the system in a targeted manner and completely.

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Source: Apple on the web



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