Partition Tool Free For Mac

 

  1. Partition Tool Free For Mac Computer
  2. Best Free Partition Software
  3. Partition Tool Free For Mac Download
  4. Disk Partition Tool Windows 10

Aug 25, 2021 Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac – Best overall. Disk Drill Partition Software – Best for data recovery. Disk Utility – Best for free. GParted (GNOME Partition Editor) – Best open source. Stellar Partition Manager – Best Boot Camp support. IPartition for Mac – Best for older Macs. Partition Manager for Mac is a top-notch and professional tool for Mac users to easily manage partition on Macbook Pro/Air. With it, you can resize, format, delete, and create partitions on Mac as. This free disk management tool for Mac lets you copy, resize, and move partitions without losing data. To get the best out of this free partition manager, use the GParted Live bootable image. This software is meant for advanced usage, so it is better to use it after reading the manual thoroughly.

Creating a separate partition or volume on your Mac can be useful for different tasks as this allows you to designate a part of your hard-drive where you can install new software without allowing it to affect the rest of your system. In most cases, creating disk partitions and volumes is used by early adopters and beta testers of new macOS versions who want to install the beta version of the OS without removing the current stable version.

This is the recommended way of trying out beta macOS versions as it will keep them separate from the rest of your system and if there are any problems with them, this won’t affect the partition/volume where the current stable version of the OS is installed. This way of testing macOS beta versions also makes it easier to uninstall them afterward, once you decide you have tested enough.

Difference between a partition and a volume

Partition

Partitions and volumes are very similar and can be used for the same thing but there are some key differences that one must consider before deciding which of the two they are going to make.

What is a partition?

Creating a new disk partition on your Mac practically splits your hard-drive into two separate parts (partitions) that could have different macOS versions or even different OS types (for example macOS and Windows) installed on them. The amount of storage available on these partitions is predetermined by the user when they are partitioning the hard-drive and cannot be changed unless a new partitioning is performed.

Once you partition your hard disk, the overall storage space on your Mac will be separated between the new partitions according to how much storage you have assigned to each partition. If you are intending to create a separate partition for the purposes of installing a macOS beta version or the Windows OS on it, make sure that you assign to it enough free storage space. It is recommended that you assign at least 50 GB of storage to the new partition.

If your Mac has an HFS+ file system (Macs manufactured before macOS Catalina), it is advisable to create a new partition if you want to test macOS beta versions.

What is a volume?

A volume is also a designated data container within your hard-drive, but it is stored within the same partition instead of being a new one. You can still install a different macOS version on it and this will not affect/replace the current stable macOS version that you are using. The advantage here is that you won’t have to worry about assigning enough HDD space to the volume like it is when you’re creating a new partition because the volume would expand the storage space that it uses from the current partition if need be, making it a more flexible option.

For example, if you install macOS Big Sur beta on one of your volumes, that volume would expand to accommodate the new macOS version, leading to a redistribution of the storage space within the partition. Of course, you still need to have the needed free storage space on your Mac as a whole to contain the new macOS version.

For Macs with APFS file system, Apple recommends creating a new volume within your current partition when attempting to install a separate macOS version in addition to your current one.

Always back up!

Every time you are about to make any significant changes in your system, it is best if you back up the data on your Mac to make sure that nothing gets lost in the process. Even though creating a new partition/volume is a safe process, mistakes can always happen, so it’s best to be prepared. There are different ways you could create a backup of your Mac and one of the easiest one is to use Time Machine. You can learn how to back up your Mac using Time Machine on this page (LINK).

How to create a partition on Mac

  1. Go to Finder from the Menu Bar at the top and select Applications on the right.
  2. Open the Utilities folder and start the Disk Utility app.
  3. Select your current hard-drive from the Disk Utility (it should be the first one from the list and would usually be named Macintosh HD or Fusion).
  4. Select the Partition tab and click on the Partition button.
  5. Select the Plus button to add a new partition.
  6. Use the slider to change the size of the partitions so that the one where you want to install another OS or macOS version has enough space for the installation.
  7. Give a name to the new partition and choose a system format type. If your current macOS version is 10.13 or higher, it is recommended that you go with APFS. If your current macOS version is 10.12 or older, it is recommended to pick Mac OS Extended.
  8. Select the Apple button and wait patiently for the process to complete without interrupting it.

How to create an APFS volume on Mac

  1. Go to Finder > Applications > Utilities and open the Disk Utility app.
  2. Select your current APFS drive from the sidebar (it should be named Macintosh HD by default if it hasn’t been changed).
  3. Type a name for the volume and pick an APFS format. It is recommended that you go with APFS.
  4. If you want, you can set size limits for the new volume so that it can’t go below or above certain size parameters. This can be useful if you want to make sure that the volume will never exceed a certain amount of storage space that it can use. To set size limits, click on Size Options.
  5. Next, enter a Reserve Size value – this will be the minimum storage space that will be available for this volume at all times.
  6. Enter a Quota Size value to set the maximum amount of disk space that can be used by this volume at any time. Make sure that this value is at least 40-50 GB to ensure that you can install the beta macOS version that you want to test (if this is the reason you are creating the volume).
  7. Finally, click on OK and then on Add to create the new volume with the parameters you’ve chosen.

How to switch between partitions/volumes

After you create a new partition/volume and install a different version of the macOS on it or an entirely different OS, you can switch between the different partitions/volumes on your Mac and use the different operating systems or macOS versions that are on your Mac.

  1. Go to the Apple menu (top-left side of the screen) and select the System preferences option.
  2. Open Startup Disk and then select the Padlock icon in the bottom-left part of the window.
  3. You will be asked to provide your admin password so do that and select OK.
  4. Select the OS you want to use after the restart and click on the Restart button.

After the restart, your Mac will boot with the OS/macOS version you have chosen from the Startup Disk window. If you want to test a macOS beta version, this is the one you must pick for the restart.

Installing macOS beta version

If you are interested in trying out a macOS version that is still in its beta state, you could do that so long as you have a developer Apple ID account. If you wish to learn more about how you can test beta macOS versions, visit this page and read the instructions provided there.

Many users are looking for tools like 'HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool for Mac', 'Sandisk USB Format Tool Mac', 'Kingston USB Format Tool Mac', 'Lexar usb format tool mac', 'sd card format tool mac' or 'usb disk storage format tool mac' hoping that there are this kind of tools that could be used on Mac for formatting their hard drive or usb flash drive on MAC OS X, or sometimes you are searching for a bootable format tool on mac just as what HP Format Tool could perform the trick.

Some users may also want to erase the privacy files on their device by getting it formatted, is formatting true erasing on MAC? Could formatted files be retrieved? We will explain all this in this content.

Note: before any formatting or erasing the disk/pen drive, we would recommend you backup your data on your media that you want to format onto another device to avoid unintentionally data loss. We would not expect this happen that you accidentally reformatted your disk/usb stick and then later found out you had just lost some important files.

Also read: 5 best free backup software, or how to repair damaged usb drive on MAC

Table of Content

  1. HOT FAQs

8 MAC Formatters for USB/SD/HDD

Here is a list of disk or usb formatting tools for mac or ways of formatting disk/usb flash on MAC to get it done.

Tool 1 - Disk Utility provided by Mac OS, the best free tool to format device

Disk Utility - the best free mac format and erase tool that is provided by Apple Inc. for users to manage digital devices not only the internal media but also external drives like hard disk, usb flash and more.

Note: Erasing and formatting with Disk Utility would delete files on devices, the deleted files could be no longer accessible without some professional data recovery tools, which usually cost around $60-100.

How to format/erase usb disk or memory card on MAC using Disk Utility

Here are the steps that you may follow to get your device formatted/erased.

  • Get your device connected to MAC, and backup your data to somewhere else at first as the preparetion.
  • Open Disk Utility, which can be found in Applications -> Utility
  • View -> Show all devices
  • Select the one you want to erase/format, and then click the Erase button. (The same function that is to perform the function of 'Format')
    Open Disk Utility
  • Select a file system for it (if you want to format it fat32, select FAT. Exfat would be recommended since it is more powerful that fat32, later the difference would be explained)
    Choose a file system to format
  • Confirm Erase
    Confirm erase to get it formatted/erased

See the video guide here.

Pros: - More than just a format tool on MAC

  1. It is able to format a disk or usb flash to be hfs+, fat, EXFAT and more. (FAT VS FAT32 VS NTFS will be explained in the following parts)
  2. It provides repairing functions to repair your storage device if it became damaged - that stars itself among the rest tools.
  3. It is free of charge
Partition tool free for mac download

Cons

  1. It does not provide NTFS file system while formatting.
  2. It is not truely data erasing since formatted/erased files could still be restored by other paid mac data recovery tools

Partition Tool Free For Mac Computer

File System Difference HFS+ VS FAT VS VS FAT32 VS EXFAT VS NTFS (Which one to use?)

File SystemCompatible with macOS?Compatible with Windows?Max. file sizeMax. partition size
HFS+YesNoNo limitNo limit
FAT32YesYes4GB8GB
exFATYesYesNo limitNo limit
NTFSPartially(Not provided by Disk Utility in Mac when formatting)YesNo limit
td>No limit

Note: NTFS file system is not provided in Mac erasing/formatting inside of Disk Utility. If you want your device to be NTFS, you need to try other format tools or a Windows PC to get it formatted. Only by formatting could its file system be changed.

Which file system would you suggest for my device while formatting/erasing?->> EXFAT, which both works on MAC and Windows 10 compatible with no limit in file size and file storage size, volume size and you don't have to download other tools to get it formatted but just with the power of Disk Utility.

What if I want to use NTFS as my device file system, which tool shall I use to get it changed? Try some other mac format tools instead of Disk Utility. (We would tell you later in another article.)

How to tell which file system does my digital device apply?

Mac machines: right click your device in Mac -> Get Info -> General -> Format, and see what it shows, if it says 'MS-DOS FAT32', it means your drive is in fat32 file system, which is compatible with both Mac and Windows.

Windows PCs: You may get your device connected to Windows, and then right click it -> Property ->General, and you will see a photo that shows the information on file system.

File system is FAT32

Note: if your device is damaged and shows RAW FILESYSTEM, you may follow this guide to get it repaired: How to repair drive raw file system

Damaged media raw file system

You may also want to read: how to change raw file system to ntfs; how to convert raw file system to fat32

Tool 2 - WD Drive Utilities, formerly WD Quick Formatter by Western Digital Corporation (Freeware)

WD Quick Formatter is able to reformat any hard drive (not limited to WD Hard drives) to hfs+ or exfat file system and data on the drive would also be erased while changing its file system. No chance for a recovery unless with some special data recovery utility.

WD Drive Utilities formerly WD Quick Formatter

WD Drive Utilities software allows you to configure, manage, and diagnose your WD drive. With WD Drive Utilities, you can

  • Run drive diagnostics
  • Manage RAID configuration (For RAID supported models)
  • Erase and format drive
  • Set drive sleep timer (on supported drives)
  • Register drive

(Information provided by WD)

You may download it here https://downloads.wdc.com/wdapp/WD_Utilities_Standalone_Installer_Mac_2_1_1_119.zip

If the above link expired, go to this page and get a download. https://support.wdc.com/downloads.aspx?lang=en

Tool 3 - Freecome Hard Drive Formatter or also called FHD Formatter for MAC by Freecome Technologies (Freeware)

This freeware is able to format digital device to be hfs+, fat32 as options while choosing a file system to format/erase.

It is called Freecom Mobile Drive CLS FHD Formatter Utility 1.15 or FHDFormatter for Mac.

Download sites: we checked the websites and only found the download is available on softpedia and softinformer. See the download link here

Bottomline: we would recommend you stay with the first two freeware Disk Utility or WD Disk Utility.

Tool 4 - SD Memory Card Formatter for Mac - free

SD Memory Card Formatter for Mac is introduced by SDCard.org as a external device storage formatter that is able to format usb flash, memory card on MAC for free. See details and download url at this page

Bluestacks 5 on mac m1. Download url: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/eula_mac/index.html

May 25, 2020 It’s not supported on Mac OS. Only on Windows 10. And, don’t bother. There are ways to install a Windows 10 onto Macs, BUT your basically having to add another OS into your Mac, installing drivers, and then install Oculus app (which is 23GB ), suggests to give 80GB for all of this and for updates later on. Aug 06, 2021 Oculus On Mac; Download Oculus App For Mac; Mac demarco salad days mp3 download. As hardware, you will need a MAC or a Windows PC with a USB-C port – because currently is not possible to install custom app directly on the headset – and of course your Oculus Quest or Oculus Go. Step 1: Enable Developer Mode. Download and install VR software to a wide range of desktops and laptops. Plug your headset into your PC to configure external sensors and roomscale. Access and browse our top VR titles from your desktop, Oculus mobile app, or while you're in virtual reality. 1 Setup requires an iPhone (iOS 10 or higher) or Android™ (6.0 Marshmallow or higher. Oculus app mac download. Download Oculus and enjoy it on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. ‎Manage your Oculus VR device, explore over 1,000 apps in the Oculus Store, discover live VR events and so much more. With the Oculus app you can: -Browse and buy VR games and experiences from the Oculus Store -Remotely install VR apps to your Oculus Rift or Rift S -Reserve.

Tool 5 - BitRaser, formerly named Stellar Disk Wipe by Stellar Information Technology(30 days free trial, Paid utility)

This one is useful that could erase confidential information on your devices. It has both Mac edition and Windows edition. And admin console, network erasure is still available as enterprise solution offered by Stellar. Highly recommended paid tool.

BitRaser

File eraser and Drive Eraser for different users need. Mobile eraser available too.

Tool 6 - AweEraser by Magoshare (Paid utility)

Tool 7 - Super Eraser by DoYourData (Paid utility)

Tool for erasing data on digital device on MAC. The erased/formatted files could not be restored. It needs a pay.

Free alternative of DOYOURDATA Super Eraser Mac - Mac Disk Utility

Tool 8 - MacClean360 by DoYourData (Paid utility)

It is a Mac cleaning tool that could clean files on Mac for digital devices. You may use the first Tool 1 Mac Disk Utility or WD Disk Utility as free alternative instead of this paid tool.

Verdict

Mac Disk Utility and WD Disk Utility is highly recommended for no matter formatting a device or erasing a device, or repairing device errors.

If you want to erase files or erase drive permanently without any chance of recovery, try the Tool 3 - BitRaser provided by Stellar Information on Mac, if you don't mind erasing the device on Windows, freeware IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free could erase files/drive permanently.

Also read: 4 free tools to delete files or erase drive permanently on Windows

How to format usb flash or disk fat32 on Mac

Since Mac Disk Utility provides the formatting file system fat, exfat, you may want to know what's the difference between fat and fat32, or exfat?

See this is a photo that shows what's available when formatting the media in Disk Utility.

Best Free Partition Software

Choose a file system to format

More mac fat32 format tools? See how to format sd/usb fat32 on mac

  1. Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  2. Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted)
  3. Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)
  4. Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled, Encrypted)
  5. MS-DOS(FAT) ----This is fat32, what you need
  6. ExFat - recommended since it both works on Mac and Windows OS and it has no limit in file size and partition size.

Mac Disk Utility already provides an option when choosing a file system - MS-DOS(fat), WHICH IS FAT32 WHAT YOU WANT.

Note: Mac OS (FAT) is compatible with both Windows PC and Mac platforms, however, there's a limit to trasnferring files over 4GB.

The Answer - choose MS-DOS(FAT) ----This is fat32, what you need. However we would suggest you use EXFAT.

Formatting VS Erasing (Is formatting or erasing permanent data deleting?)

Formatting, is to make a media a new place for data storage that you may change its file system while you format it. Formatted drive data would be marked as available for new data to take its space.

There are three levels of formatting

Partition Tool Free For Mac Download

  1. quick format (no disk error checking and repairing)
  2. full format (includes repairing bad blocks)
  3. low-level format (it could only be performed by professional low level format tool, which is usually shorten the life of device)

Erasing, is to remove information on your device, which is more simplier than formatting, however it is not true wiping out all the information since erased files could be restored with help of free data recovery software.

Well, the truth is data could also be destoryed if you continue using your device after the formatting or the erasing and saved a huge number of files. If no data was saved to formatted/erased media, data could still be restored with professional tools.

How to erase data permanently on mac with freeware

Since erased files or erased media could still be recovered in Mac Disk Utilities and WD Disk Utlities, you may want to query how to erase data permanently on Mac? Is there any freeware that could do the permanent deleting?

The answer: BitRaser is a 30 days free program for erasing files permanently on Mac, we failed to find other free tools for the permanent erasing at this time.

Option: Erase data permanently with freeware on Windows OS using freeware IM-Magic Partition Resizer Free that provides 'Wipe Partition' to get everything truely deleted and removed without a chance of recovery.

Also read: 4 free tools to delete files or erase drive permanently on Windows

HP USB DISK Storage Format Tool for Mac Download

Is there HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Mac available? Can I use HP USB Format Tool on Mac?

So far as we know that the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool, also called HP USB Format Uility by users is only for Windows OS for example Windows 10/8.1/7/Vista/XP and there was no news coming from the developer that a MAC edition would be released.

Disk Partition Tool Windows 10

HP USB Disk Format Tool is provided by HP for disk formatting and making a bootable usb, however this program only provides Windows editions which is compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, and XP.

The Answer: There is no mac edition of HP USB Format Tool, however here are some free solutions if you want to use it on MAC.

Formatting in HP USB Disk Format Tool, could be replaced by Disk Utility in Mac that you may save downloading HP USB Format Tool for Mac.

Creating bootable usb in HP USB Disk Format Tool, could be replaced by a bootable MacOS high sierra usb install drive, see the following video

Another option: see how to create a bootable installer for MacOS on https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

Also read: HP USB Format Tool Review and Error Fixing

Last updated on Aug 30, 2021

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