Mac OS X has a built-in tool called Disk Utility that allows you to manage your hard drives, partitions, and volumes.
This is handy if you want to re-format an external drive or you want to create a new partition. Normally, you would need to pay for a partition manager to manage your disk.
However, Apple Mac has this disk management functionality included which means you can easily access it and manage disks yourself with Disk Utility.
This article shows you how to access Disk Utility from the command line or Terminal window.
What Can You Do With Mac’s Disk Utility?
Disk Utility is the default application to check and repair disks, partition tables, and volume labels. The program also lets you create new volumes, mount them, and format them.
How To Open Disk Utility On Mac
There are several ways to open Disk Utility. We’ll show you how to access the program and how you can use it.
If you don’t have any other applications running, you should be able to see the icon for Disk Utility in the Dock. If not, close all other programs before launching Disk Utility.
Then access the app via the methods below.
Step
Command
Press Command+Spacebar to launch Spotlight search. Type “disk” into the search box and press Enter.
Launch Finder by pressing Command+Tab until the Finder appears. Open Disk Utility by clicking the Disk Utility icon in the sidebar.
Step
Reboot Mode
You can also open Disk Utility through the reboot functionality, so when your Mac is booting, press the keys Command+R.
The device will then open in Recovery Mode, and you can click on Disk Utility.
Step
Open Disk Utility From The Menu Bar
To open Disk Utility from the Finder menu bar, just type `diskutil` into Spotlight Search (Command+Spacebar).
Alternatively, you can go directly to Disk Utility by opening the Applications folder and searching for “Disk Utility”.
Step
Launch Disk Utility Through The Terminal Window
Another way to open Disk Utility is to simply type `diskutil` at the Terminal prompt. This opens up the program immediately.
How To Secure Or Erase A Partition Or Drive With Disk Utility
Once you’ve opened Disk Utility, you can erase a partition or drive. Just select the desired partition or drive and click on the Erase button.
Please note that erasing a partition will delete everything inside the partition. It won’t touch anything outside of the partition.
Erasing a drive will remove all data stored on the drive. Make sure you back up any important files first!
However, you can also opt to just erase the drive’s free space.
Erasing a drive or partition is a handy feature when you want to wipe a hard drive. For example, when you’re ready to sell your old computer, you can simply erase the drive and get rid of the device.
How To Create A New Volume In Disk Utility
You can also create a new volume using Disk Utility.
Step
Select Drive
Select the desired drive and click on the + symbol.
Step
Create New Volume
A dialog box will appear where you can specify the size of the new volume. Click OK to create the new volume.
How To Format A Hard Drive Using Disk Utility
After creating a new volume, you can format it as well.
Step
Format
Simply choose the desired file system and click on the Format button.
You can also change the name of the volume if you’d like.
First Aid File Repair With Disk Utility
Step
Run First Aid
If you find yourself having problems with your Mac, you may need to run First Aid. You can do this by going to the utility section of the main menu and selecting First Aid.
This will open up a window showing information about what went wrong. You’ll be able to fix most issues without needing to reinstall macOS.
Step
Repair Disk
You can also use the First Aid functionality in Disk Utility for repairing your disk. When you press the First Aid button, the system runs several checks and repairs the disk.
This can take quite a while and it’s best to leave your device untouched during the check.
Conclusion
Disk Utility is not a program most of us use, and it’s best only to access it if you know exactly what you are doing.
