Partitions on an external hard drive?

Just wondering if anyone recamends using "Partitions" on an external hard drive?
I have a Apple Power Book G4 w/Mac OS 10.2.8., 768MB of ram, 40GB internal HD and in the middle of installing my new Seagate 300GB firewire external HD. I'm going to be using Digidesign Pro Tools for audio recording/editing, iPhoto, iTunes and iMovie.
The directions for the external HD says I have to format the drive first because I'm using a Mac. I'm just wondering if anyone thinks I should divide it up into partitions and if so, what size for each one? I've heard it's easier to organize/find files by partitioning the drive since it's so big? Is there any pros/cons to partitioning?
The external hard drive also came w/"BounceBack Express" backup software for one button back up. Should I install this software or does my Powerbook already come w/backup software?
please help
any thoughts would be very appreciated, thank in advance!!

I've experimented with partitioning before and never really seen a perceptible performance benefit. That being said, I have partitioned my 150GB drive because I use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up my Powerbook. By creating a separate partition the same size as my Powerbook drive, I don't have to worry about Carbon Copy Cloner erasing files I put on the drive that are not on the Powerbook's drive.
I only use the second partition to store files that I do not want on the Powerbook drive and the first partition is a mirror copy of my Powerbook. Since you now have plenty of drive space, you might want to consider using a piece of it as a back-up and having one extra partition the exact size of your Powerbooks drive makes sense for this purpose.
Carbon Copy Cloner is a free download too.

Similar Messages

Can i make (for example) 3 partitions on my external Hard Drive, and make different formatations for each, so i can share files of one of them in a pc and mac?

Hello ...
My name is Rui, i'm from Portugal ... (so please be patiente with my english, it can get a bit confusing)
so... first of all ... i have to say ... i'm still a pc user ... i don't have a Mac ... yet ... they are sold out right now in the shops near me ... i am waitting for them to arrive so i can pick up mine ... (i wish in a couple of days i will be entering the Mac world ....) ... i'll be picking the "entery" iMac model, the 21,5'', i5 with 500gb hard disk ... well .. i know it's the cheapest one (i hope it is a good machine tho) ... but it's my entering Mac world too (my only apple products till know were the ipod ...) ... one of my concerns are being the 500gb hard drive ... that for my pc experience is a little bit short ... that makes me a little scared (but paying 300e for the next model to have a 1tb disk, it's not a good option for me right now) ...
so..
I've been reading a lot about iMac's ans OS X so i can get familiar with this all new world ...
and i couldn't get any answer for some of my doubts... so i decided to ask you Mac Users ..
My idea is to have an external HD to store files (and not to fill the 500gb of the iMac) ... and i am wondering if it would be possible to make this ...
- make three partitions on the external Hard Drive and
- the first be formatted in Mac OS extended (journaled) mode
- the second on fat 32 - so i can store and share files with a mac or pc
- third be reserved for Time Machine
i wonder would that be possible... or would make sort of incompabilities ... would it work all well ?
hummm ...
I hope someone can help me with this ...
... if it is a silly question ... sorry ... but please remember, i've never had a Mac computer (i'm waiting for my 1st iMac to be available on store) ... so a lot of things are "flying" in my head right now ...
... and of course .. sorry for my english ... i hope you all understood me ...
thanks (obrigado) a lot for your patience...
Rui from Portugal

Hi! Dwagner, once again ...
I've just got my Mac last friday ... i'm still getting amazed with this new world to me ... eehe .. quite different ... but
... "i can do it, i can do it" eheeh
i'm in that period that a new question appears at almost every mouse click ... lol
so ... can you help me (once again) ..
you said you had your hard drive with this settings...
"You can partition for OSX (extended Journal) - read/write by only OSX or read only by Windows via BootCamp
You can partition for Windows (NTFS) - readable by only Windows
OR - you can format with ex-FAT and this is read/write capable for both operating systems."
how did you formated the partition in NTFS ? ... on the mac? using the "disk utility" ? or did you use another program to do so ...?
i hope i'm not "bugging" you ... this might be a silly question for most of people ... but right now ... it's a major question for me ... ehehe
once again Obrigado (Thank You)
Rui from Portugal

Can't mount one of the five partitions on an external hard drive

I have a G5 running 10.5.8 with two external hard drive. One of them (carrying the brand IOGear and identified on my System Profiler as being manufactured by Prolific Technology Inc) has been operating just fine for almost as long as I’ve had the computer (early 2005). It is partitioned into 5 volumes that have been serving faithfully as storage for my many files. About a month ago, I realized I did not see the desktop icon for the volume for one of the partitions along with the others showing on my desktop. I checked it out in my Time Machine files and it’s there along with everything else and getting backed up regularly along with the rest. At the time, I restored that information into a folder on my desktop. I can now access information from it, but I cannot save to it. When I try (from Word), I get a message saying that Word can’t save or create the file… the disk may be full or write-protected… and to try one or more of (a) freeing more memory, (b) making sure the disk is not full (that volume, like the others on the partitioned disk, is far less than 1/4 full), write-protected, or damaged. I have run DiskUtility a couple of times on it and it says that volume and the others on the drive are all just fine. However, it identifies that partition as not being mounted (the other four are mounted and working fine), and when I try to mount it through Disk Utility, it says it can’t and that I should try repairing it… As I said, when I check it to see if it needs repairing, it says it’s okay so it doesn’t repair. Also, I am unable to do a “Get info” on it from the Finder because I have nothing to click on to then get the “Info” on… hope that line makes sense. Finally, my question (probably obviously) is “How do I get this partition mounted so I can use it again????” Any help will be very, very, very appreciated. (P.S. I’ve tried all the ‘stuff’ like turning the drive off, letting it rest, turning it back on, etc.)

>There is also a blue info icon in Disk Utility if you highlight that Partition.
Thanks for that info... I had overlooked it (forever, I guess... and that's many years)
I've now done the info on that Volume and on one of the others on the disk for comparison.
This is the one that's having the problem:
Name : xxx (the problem one)
          Type :           Volume
          Disk Identifier :           disk1s5
          Mount Point :           Not mounted
          File System :           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
          Connection Bus :           USB
          Writable :           Yes
          Universal Unique Identifier :           B...xxxxx...F
          Capacity :           40.7 GB (43,650,494,464 Bytes)
          Owners Enabled :           No
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           No
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           5
The one that's working fine:
Name : xxx (the okay one)
          Type :           Volume
          Disk Identifier :           disk1s3
          Mount Point :           /Volumes/Beading:Needlework
          File System :           Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
          Connection Bus :           USB
          Writable :           Yes
          Universal Unique Identifier :           1...xxx...7
          Capacity :           74.2 GB (79,651,254,272 Bytes)
          Free Space :           64.3 GB (69,019,447,296 Bytes)
          Used :           9.9 GB (10,631,806,976 Bytes)
          Number of Files :           17,211
          Number of Folders :           2,578
          Owners Enabled :           Yes
          Can Turn Owners Off :           Yes
          Can Repair Permissions :           No
          Can Be Verified :           Yes
          Can Be Repaired :           Yes
          Can Be Formatted :           Yes
          Bootable :           Yes
          Supports Journaling :           Yes
          Journaled :           Yes
          Disk Number :           1
          Partition Number :           3
As you can see, there's a lot more info on the working one. Also, my guess (within my not huge knowledge of this stuff) is that the difference in the "Owners Enabled" line might be very significant. I also have no idea why the differences in the Journaled part, unless it's just that the problem one isn't mounted.
I really appreciate the attention you and Texas Mac Man are giving me here. Thank you very, very much!

I create a new partition in an external hard drive with disk utility. Now it says mounting disk and it's taking forever. Is that normal? Please help!

I have an external hard drive from seagate. Tonight I decided to give it a try and add a new partition to it so I could have a bootable version of mountain lion in it it just in case of emergency and no internet. After creating the partition, disk utility says "mountain disk", and its been doing it for at least 20 minutes and not moving... Any ideas? btw, now the external drive is not even showing on the left-side bar...
Thanks!

I would try reformatting the drive and creating the partition again. Make certain that you erase the drive and format it as "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and the partition the drive.
What you describe is not normal... try again.
Clinton

How do you resize existing partitions on an external hard-drive without deleting their contents?

Hi, I've got an external hard drive (1 GB Western digital) Which I bought with a view to both storage and time-machine functions.
Initially, I partitioned the hard drive such that I had 750 GB for the time-machine segment, and 250 GB for the storage segment.
Now that my storage is approaching the 250 GB limit, and my time machine is only taking up 80 of the alloted 750 GB, I want to transfer some of that space across so that I'll have more room for storage.
When attempting this on disk utility, I can reduce the size of the time machine partition, but I am unable to increase the size of the storage partition.
Can someone please advise what I should do to sort this out without deleting the contents of each partition.
Regards,
Josh

Well, this is not easily answered. You can shrink existing partitions in order to add additional ones. But in order to add space from one partition to another that can only be done by first removing the lower partition first. If that partition has data, then it will be lost. Unfortunately, Disk Utility cannot manipulate partitions in place. You need a third-party utility for that, iPartition 3.4.1.
Now with that said I'll pass on a bit of advice. Do not us your Time Machine backup drive for extra storage. External storage and backups should be kept on separate drives. I suggest you get a separate drive for your storage or Time Machine backups.
If you use Disk Utility you can shrink your Time Machine partition, but the only way to put that space in another partition is to first delete the storage partition, then recreate it with a larger capacity.

How to lock a partition on an external hard drive?

I have an external hard drive, formatted GUID, Mac OS X Extended (journaled); Can I lock the drive to require a password to open it?
If I Get Info, I seem to have the ability to give Staff and Everyone Read & write, Read only or Drop Box access.
I don't see a way to rquire a password.

I know this issue is 14 months old, but perhaps someone else will read it in the future. I ran into this problem of needing to resize an external drive and discovered that Mac's Disk Utility program, built into the Mac OS, allows you to do this without losing data or needing to buy additional software.
Here's how:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the root diretory of the external disk you want to resize. (If the disk is partitioned, it will have a subdirectory for each partition.)
2. At the top of the dialog box, select Partition.
> You should see five buttons across the top of the dialog box: First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, and Restor
> If you select a subdirectory, rather than the root directory, the Partition option is not displayed, because you can't partition a subdirectory.
3. On the screen you should see the disk split into the different partitions. Select the partition you wish to resize.
4. That partition will be highlighed and the lower right part of the box should have a little triangle-like series of lines. Click and hold this triangle, then drag it down to make the partition larger, or drag it up to make the partition smaller.
5. When you get to the size you want, hit apply.
6. Disk Utility should do its thing and your disk will be resized.
Viola. You are finished.
Take a look at http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilitysize_3.htm for pictures of this process.

How to enlarge a partition on an external hard drive

I backup with Time Machine to an external hard drive. It is currently configured into two partitions, one being used to backup and the second used for other purposes. I have maxed out the backup partition and wish to expand its size by eliminating the second partition. Disk Utility allows the elimination of the second partition, but when I attempt to enlarge the backup partition to include the now unused space on the disk I get the following message:
Partition Failed
Partition failed with the error:
Filesystem resize support required, such as HFS+
with journaling enabled.
What does this message mean and how can I accomplish my goal?
Thanks.

I know this issue is 14 months old, but perhaps someone else will read it in the future. I ran into this problem of needing to resize an external drive and discovered that Mac's Disk Utility program, built into the Mac OS, allows you to do this without losing data or needing to buy additional software.
Here's how:
1. Open Disk Utility and select the root diretory of the external disk you want to resize. (If the disk is partitioned, it will have a subdirectory for each partition.)
2. At the top of the dialog box, select Partition.
> You should see five buttons across the top of the dialog box: First Aid, Erase, Partition, RAID, and Restor
> If you select a subdirectory, rather than the root directory, the Partition option is not displayed, because you can't partition a subdirectory.
3. On the screen you should see the disk split into the different partitions. Select the partition you wish to resize.
4. That partition will be highlighed and the lower right part of the box should have a little triangle-like series of lines. Click and hold this triangle, then drag it down to make the partition larger, or drag it up to make the partition smaller.
5. When you get to the size you want, hit apply.
6. Disk Utility should do its thing and your disk will be resized.
Viola. You are finished.
Take a look at http://macs.about.com/od/applications/ss/diskutilitysize_3.htm for pictures of this process.

Want to partition a new External Hard drive for both pc and mac

Hello!
I am going to partition a new Seagate external hard drive for both my pc and mac. What format do I choose for the PC partition? MS-DOS (FAT), ExFAT, or Free Space.
Thank you!
Nikki

If I may suggest:
Drive Preparation
1. Open Disk Utility in your Utilities folder.
2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.
3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.
4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.
5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.
6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.
7. After formatting has completed select the main entry for the new drive (mfgr.'s ID) then click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Click on the large partition rectangle then click on the Add [+] button. The partition should divide into two equal volumes. Resize as you prefer. Select the second or bottom volume to use on the PC. Set the format type to ExFat, then click on the Apply button. Wait for the two volumes to finish mounting on the Desktop.

"How to partition for an external hard drive for windows and Mac backups"

I have two PCs, Dells, and 1 Macbook Pro. They are set up on a wireless network. I would like to set up an external hard drive to backup all three automatically. Does anyone know how I can do this? Do I have to partition the external hard drive?

You would need to partition the hard drive using the GUID partition scheme. Your non-Apple machines would need their partitions formatted MS-DOS (FAT) and the Mac partition would have to be formatted Mac OS Extended. Note, however, that using the MS-DOS format may cause some problems with filenames on an NTFS formatted Windows drive.
Now you could use Mac OS Extended formats on all three partitions, but then you would need third-party software on your Windows machines to enable them to read and write a Mac-formatted drive.

Partitioning 1.2T External Hard Drive for Time Machine and PC backup?

We have a 1.2T Seagate external hard drive. I partitioned it so that I could use part of it for my Time Machine backups and want to be able to use the rest of it for the PCs in the house. I formatted the rest of the space using the Disc Utility and the MS-DOS option. Was this the wrong choice? I can't use the PC space on the hard drive on my PC. It says there are 0 bytes available.
Help?

Fred Elmendorf wrote:
We have a 1.2T Seagate external hard drive. I partitioned it so that I could use part of it for my Time Machine backups and want to be able to use the rest of it for the PCs in the house. I formatted the rest of the space using the Disc Utility and the MS-DOS option. Was this the wrong choice?
no, that was the right choice. I don't know what's going on there. you just might need to reformat the whole drive. also check the partition scheme for the drive. it should be GUID. if it's not GUID repartition the drive with GUID partition scheme.
I can't use the PC space on the hard drive on my PC. It says there are 0 bytes available.
Help?

Time Machine Partition Corrupted on External Hard drive

I have a external hard drive partitioned into 2 sections, one for storage and the other for time machine back up of my macbook original hard drive. One day the time machine partition stopped being recognized so I tried verifying and it told me it needed to be repaired. Now it says the disk cannot be repaired and to reformat my disk. I do not want to do this because I don't want to lose whats on the other partition and I have no where else to put the data. It won't allow me to just remove the time machine partition, when I try it comes back with "disk cannot be opened". I'm lost here, is there anything that I can do without reformating the whole external hard drive?
Oh and I'm fine with losing whatevers on my time machine back up

Erasing one partition should not affect another one; however, the drive has had at least one major malfunction already, and should be expected to have more. You should immediately back up all data to another drive, including the data on the non-backup partition of the problem drive. Then, and only then, you can try fixing the unmountable partition. If the drive ever malfunctions again, replace it.

I have partitions in my external hard drive, and it was working fine. but not the oy, I have partitions in my external hard drive, and it was working fine. but not the other partition says you can only read. how to solve it ? help me

Mu external hard disk partition is not working. In get info it says that "hou can read only" bow can I fix this?

Read this:
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/fix-permissions-imac-external-hard-drive-48257.ht ml

Maximum partition size for external hard drives with G4 MDD?

I have a Maxtor 300GB external hard drive. When I initially formatted it, I did so with 4 partitions because I knew there was a limit that G4s recognized with internal hard drives. Is that the case with externals as well or can I reformat it to be one large external drive?

Hi, what G4 model do you have? Only the Quicksilver 2002's and MDD's + MDD FW800's don't suffer from the 128GB capacity. In fact, in any of the above G4s, you can put up to 144 petabytes.

Recommendations on partitioning a large external hard drive.

Hello
Well, I'm stepping up and purchasing a new Western Digital MyBook 500 GB external hard drive.
What's the current thinking on partitioning something like this? I thought at least making one or two 50 GB partitions in case I want to load parallels and run windows from one section. Otherwise, will be using this largely for backups and media files (music, films). Any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages of partitioning would be great.
Thanks in advance!
MBP 2.16 2GB Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Hi,
I do have the same drive (actually 2, one for each) and had them partitioned in a way to have one partition with 50GB as a sort of 'disaster boot' with a OSX system on it (made with SuperDuper) and the rest for backup purpose.
As for Parallels, the main app must be on your boot-up system, whereas the VM could very well be put on another, even external, drive.
So far no problems.
Regards
Stefan

Booting from a different partition of an external hard drive

Any chance anyone could offer some advice for my asthmatic iBook G4?
The internal hard drive has given up the ghost.
I have re-installed Mac OS X 10.3.3 on a NEW external portable drive which I have partitioned. I have copied the contents of the farked internal HD - Mac OS X 10.3.9 to partition 2 of the external drive. Partition 1 currently has the re-installed recovery version OS X 10.3.3 on it and is now the selected drive and volume to boot from. However I now want to change the boot volume from partition 1 to partition 2 which includes all the OS updates to 10.3.9 plus all my user preferences, etc.
I have tried everything but to no avail. Renaming the partitions by reversing the numbering has no difference. The Start Menu just recognises the same parition even though it is renamed as other partition and vice versa. The Start Up file in System Preferences won't recognise partition 2, only partition 1 and the farked internal HD. I have tried restarting the iBook while pressing the Option key with and without the recovery disc #1 in the CD drive. No difference.
I am thinking now that the Start Up menu is able to only recognise 2 drives - the internal and an external one which is connected by Firewire 400 port of which there is only one. Or only distinct drives. It can't recognise separate partitioned drives which would be pretty pi$$ poor. There are two other USB ports but I guess these are for other peripherals.
So how can I get my iBook G4 to boot from Partition 2 of the NEW external drive?
Just to re-iterate my iBook boots fine from the NEW portable hard drive partition 1, but this partition only has the OS X system as per the recovery disc.
My Mac is starting to really test my patience.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Message was edited by: AlAlexander
Message was edited by: AlAlexander
Message was edited by: AlAlexander

Limnos wrote:
*In order to produce a bootable copy of the system on another volume you have to copy it using a cloning utility. Plain drag and drop will not work with OSX*.
[CarbonCopy Cloner|http://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html] (donationware)
[SuperDuper|http://www.shirt-pocket.com/SuperDuper/SuperDuperDescription.html] (shareware)
[IBackup|http://www.grapefruit.ch/iBackup/index.html] (free)
The Restore function of Disk Utility included in OS X. [Kappy's directions|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=8799711#8799711]
[Tri-Backup (commercial)|http://www.tri-edre.com/english/tribackup.html] (payware)
[Silverkeeper|http://www.lacie.com/silverkeeper> (free) - version 2 has some issues (references: [here|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d12jan2009], and [here|http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/backup/index.html#d13jan2009]) and it is recommended Tiger users stick with 1.1.4.
[Kappy's Backup Software Recommendations|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9065665#9065665]
[Overview of Mac OS X Backup Programs|http://8help.osu.edu/1247.html]
Drag and drop is what I did so I will have to use CarbonCopy Cloner. Thanks for the tip. I shall report back shortly.

Partitions on an external hard drive?

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