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How to Repartition a Mac

Partitioning your Mac's hard drive can be a useful way to ensure that you have free space or that certain data is always protected. It can also serve to install other versions of Mac OS X or a different OS such as Windows or Linux. Essentially, repartitioning your Mac's hard drive creates two separate disks--or volumes--on the same hard drive.

Things You'll Need

  • External Hard Drive for Backup
  • Mac OS X Install DVD
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Instructions

  1. Repartitioning Your Mac

    • 1

      Back up any data you wish to save, including files, media and applications (or, if your external hard drive is big enough, burn a disk image of your hard drive using the Disk Utility application). Since repartitioning your Mac requires you to delete everything on your hard drive, you will not be able to recover any data that is lost. Make sure you back up any important files.

    • 2

      Insert the Mac OS X Install DVD into your Mac's optical drive. Restart your computer and hold down the "C" key on your keyboard to start up from the Install DVD. (You can't repartition the disk while it is in use, which is why you need to start up from the DVD).

    • 3

      Select your language and proceed to agree to the license terms. When the menu bar is visible, open Disk Utility from the "Utilities" menu.

    • 4

      Select the drive you want to partition (likely named Macintosh HD). Choose your partition options such as size, type of file system, name, and any other particulars. When ready, click the "Partition" button.

    • 5

      Install Mac OS X one of the partitions, or, if you burned a disk image, install that image on one of the partitions.

    • 6

      Before restarting your computer, open the System Preferences application and click on "Startup Disk." Select the partition you want to use as your startup disk (either the one you installed Mac OSX on, or the one you installed your old disk image on).

Tips & Warnings

  • If you're installing Windows, consider using the Boot Camp Setup Assistant, which allows you to repartition your drive without erasing everything on it. Burning a disk image takes a lot of time, but is well worth the effort, as it saves all of your computer settings exactly as you had them.

  • Make sure you back up data before repartitioning your disk. You will not be able to recover it afterward unless you have backups.

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