Hard Drive Partition Software For Mac

PAGE CONTENT:
Create a Bootable Drive to Start Computer Without OS in WinPE
How to Format Hard Drive Without OS
How to Partition Hard Drive Without OS
How to Wipe Hard Drive Without OS

You can easily format, partition, or wipe a partition within the Windows OS. But how to make it happen if your computer has no operating system or OS fails to boot? Such a problem has been resolved already. You can rely on Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) to boot the computer. The overall process is as follows:

  • Create a bootable media, which can be an ISO file, USB flash drive or CD/DVD disc
  • Boot the non-operating-system computer from the bootable drive
  • Format, Partition, or wipe the hard drive for a normal usage

Create New Mac Hard Drive Partition. The Best Mac Partition Manager Software helps the Apple macOS user to create a new partition on the hard drive. Additionally, if there is any free space available on HD, then the below-mentioned application also shifts pre-exist space onto that drive to make some room available for new Mac-partition.

Create a Bootable Drive to Start Computer Without OS in WinPE

Are you looking for a bootable partition manager that enables you to create a bootable drive? When your operating system fails to work and doesn't boot normally, a bootable drive is necessary. What's more, there might be no operating system installed on a newly bought computer. So, what's the best bootable partition manager that helps format, partition, for wipe hard drive without OS easily?

EaseUS Partition Master is designed with a highlighted feature called WinPE Bootable disk. With it, you can create a bootable media, including ISO file, USB flash drive, and CD/DVD. And the bootable drive can load and run the partition manager software under the system. Then you can partition, format, and wipe hard drive without OS. Now create a bootable drive by following the details below:

Partition
  • Go and find a working computer.
  • You need to download and install the EaseUS Partition Master to accomplish the essential steps to make a bootable drive.

Step 1: Prepare a disc or drive

To create a bootable disk of EaseUS Partition Master, you should prepare a storage media, like a USB drive, flash drive or a CD/DVD disc. Correctly connect the drive to your computer.

Launch EaseUS Partition Master, go to the 'WinPE Creator' feature on the top. Click on it.

Step 2: Create EaseUS Partition Master bootable drive

You can choose the USB or CD/DVD when the drive is available. However, if you do not have a storage device at hand, you can also save the ISO file to a local drive, and later burn it to a storage media. Once made the option, click 'Proceed'.

You have created an EaseUS Partition Master WinPE bootable disk now. You can manage your hard disks and partitions through the bootable drive whenever the computer fails to boot normally.

If you have RAID drives, load the RAID driver first by clicking Add Driver from the menu bar, which can help you add the driver of your device under WinPE environment, as some specific device cannot be recognized under WinPE environment without drivers installed, such as RAID or some specific hard disk.

Insert the bootable drive in the computer without OS, set the boot order in BIOS to boot the computer from the EaseUS bootable drive with the steps below.

  • Restart your computer and press F2 at the same time to enter BIOS
  • Set to boot the PC from 'Removable Devices' (bootable USB disk) or 'CD-ROM Drive' (bootable CD/DVD) beyond Hard Drive
  • Press 'F10' to save and exit

Then you can see the interface of EaseUS Partition Master. Follow the guides below to format a hard drive without operating system.

How to Format Hard Drive Without OS

Usually, in all types of Windows operating systems, you can format a hard drive using the command prompt, the hard drive formatting tool or the Windows Explorer and Windows Disk Management. But things become difficult when you format a hard drive without OS. You can make things easier with the help of EaseUS Partition Master.

Also, insert the bootable drive (you have created it at the very first) and boot from it to enter EaseUS partition tool. Then follow the details:

Step 1: Select a partition.

Step 2: Right-click it and select 'Format'.

Step 3: Type the label you want in the Partition Label text box.

Step 4: Select the file system type to be created from the Partition Type drop-down list. (FAT/FAT32, NTFS, ReFS and EXT2/EXT3). Choose the Cluster Size (512 byte,1,2,4…64KB) from drop-down list.

Step 5: Click 'OK' when ready. All the introduced changes to the disk layout will be pended until applied in Pending Operation List.

Also, watch the video tutorial on how to format a hard drive without operating system.

How to Partition Hard Drive Without OS

In addition to format had without OS, you can still use EaseUS Partition Master bootable USB drive to partition a hard drive without operating system: such as move space from D drive to C drive to extend system partition, shrink and merge partitions, delete and create partitions.

Step 1: Install and launch EaseUS Partition Master

Step 2: Partition Hard Drive

Shrink partition:

1. Right-click on a partition that you want to shrink and select 'Resize/Move'.

2. Drag the end of the partition rightward or leftward or adjust the space by clicking the 'Partition size' column. Click 'OK' to continue.

Extend partition:

1. To extend partition, you need to leave unallocated space next to the target partition. If not, shrink a partition as mentioned above to leave enough unallocated space behind the target partition first.

2. Then right-click on the target partition and select 'Resize/Move'.

3. Drag the target partition handle into the unallocated space to extend partition. Click 'OK' to continue.

Create partition:

1. On the main window, right-click on the unallocated space on your hard drive or external storage device and select 'Create'.

2. Set the partition size, partition label, drive letter, file system, etc. for the new partition and click 'OK' to continue.

Delete partition:

1. On the main window, right-click on the hard drive partition which you want to delete and select 'Delete'.

2. Click 'OK' to confirm.

Change partition drive letter:

1. Right-click the partition, and choose 'Change Drive Letter'.

2. Click the down arrow, choose a drive letter for the partition, then click 'OK'.

Step 3: Execute operations

Click the 'Execute Operation' button at the top corner and keep all changes by clicking 'Apply'.

How to Wipe Hard Drive Without OS

Wipe Data can erase all the data on the selected partition/disk/unallocated space. In most cases, the data cleaned with this feature are not able to be retrieved. You might need to wipe a hard drive when you don't need it anymore. Use EaseUS partition management software to wipe hard drive without OS:

Step 1: Insert the bootable drive to open EaseUS Partition Master. Select a disk/partition (volume)/unallocated space.

Step 2: Right-click it and select 'Wipe Data'.

Step 3: Set the number of times to wipe the partition in the Wipe Disk/Partition window (The wipe algorithm is to alternately overwrite the disk by 0x00 and random digit according to the wipe times).

Step 4: Click 'OK' when ready. All the introduced changes to the disk layout will be pended until applied in Pending Operation List.

To Sum Up

After reading this post, we believe that you’ve already known how to format hard drive without OS as well as how to partition or wipe a hard drive without the Windows operating system. It's quite easy with the help of EaseUS partition and disk management program.

EaseUS Partition Master Pro makes it easy to partition hard drives with or without OS, making the most of your disk space. You can even use this tool to migrate OS to SSD to speed up Windows, whether moving from small HDD to large SSD or from large HDD to small SSD.

FAQs About How to Format Hard Drive Without OS

Here are a few questions related to how to format hard drive without operating systems. If you also have any of these problems, you can find the methods here.

Partition Software For Mac

Can I reformat a hard drive from BIOS?

You cannot format a hard drive from BIOS. You can only change the boot order get your computer to check for an OS startup CD, DVD, or USB stick. If you want to format HDD without OS, you have to create a bootable USB flash drive or CD/DVD and boot from it to perform formatting.

How do I format my hard drive without logging into Windows?

You can format hard drive without Windows by creating a bootable USB drive using EaseUS Partition Master. Then, start your computer from the bootable drive to format HDD or SSD.

Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, go to the 'WinPE Creator' feature on the top.

Step 2. You can choose the USB or CD/DVD when the drive is available to create EaseUS Partition Master bootable drive.

Step 3. Insert the bootable drive in the computer without OS, set the boot order in BIOS to boot the computer from the EaseUS bootable drive. Then, format your hard drive in WinPE.

How do I format a blank hard drive?

To format a partition using Disk Management, use these steps:

Step 1. Open Disk Management and right-click the new hard drive and select the 'Format' option.

Step 2. In the 'Value label' field, type a descriptive name for the drive. Use the 'File system' drop-down menu, and select NTFS (recommended for Windows 10). Use the 'Allocation unit size' drop-down menu, and select the Default option. Check the Perform a quick format option.

Step 3. Click the “OK” button to start formatting your hard drive.

Do you need to format a new hard drive?

Yes, you need to format a hard drive need at first before you can use it. You can use EaseUS formatting tool, Windows Disk Management, or Diskpart command lines to format a hard drive to NTFS, FAT32, or other file systems.

If you encounter the Windows was unable to complete the format issue, turn to the tutorial to fix the problem.

For years, early adopters and beta testers would partition their Mac's hard drive in order to test a new or beta version of macOS. Partitioning your hard drive actually creates a separate container on your hard drive that is limited in its abilities.

If your Mac uses APFS, you can actually create a volume right on your current hard drive instead. This allows your hard drive to manipulate your available storage temporarily as you need it. It makes testing new or beta operating systems much easier to do and easier to remove when you're done testing them out.

IMPORTANT: The developer beta of Big Sur is currently experiencing some issues with installing and updating versions including and most importantly, installing Big Sur onto separate volumes.

From Apple's developer support notes for Dev beta 2:

You might be unable to install macOS Big Sur 11 beta onto additional volumes. (63677460, 64445236)

If macOS Big Sur 11 beta is installed into the same APFS container as previous versions of macOS, system software updates can no longer be installed on the previous versions of macOS. (64411484)

If you are installing the developer beta of macOS Big Sur, we highly recommend going with partitioning your hard drive not creating a volume.

Before you start

The most important thing to do before making any changes to your hard drive is to back it up. Seriously. Back it up. Please. Time Machine is the easiest way to back up your data if you don't already have another system in place.

Second, make sure you have enough free disk space to properly run a secondary operating system. Shoot for at least 30GB free, though I recommend closer to 50GB if you have it available.

What's the difference between a disk partition and a volume?

Hard Drive Partition Software For Mac Windows 7

A partition and a volume act in very similar ways, but creating a volume allows for flexibility of storage needs while creating a partition separates storage with a specific amount and does not adjust for each drive's needs.

What is a partition?

Partitioning your Mac is basically splitting your hard drive into separate, usable systems. It makes it possible to run two separate operating systems on one device, like Windows and macOS, or two versions of macOS (like Catalina and Big Sur).

Note: If you want to run Windows on your Mac, Apple's Boot Camp assistant will automatically make a partition for you. Here's how to install Windows.

It is important to note that partitioning your hard drive also splits up your available hard drive space. Each partition will take up a portion of your usable storage. So, if you are running low on storage capacity on your hard drive, we don't recommend partitioning.

If you are running a Mac using HFS+ file system (prior to macOS Catalina) you must partition your hard drive. If your Mac uses APFS, Apple recommends creating a volume instead.

What is an APFS volume?

An APFS volume creates a similar container to be used the same way as a partition, but it mounts it within your main hard drive. This allows the volume the flexibility to grow or shrink in storage size as needed. You don't have to worry about running out of temporary space while installing macOS, for example, because it will grab the necessary space from your main drive and then put it back when it's done. You can manually select size limiters for a volume if you're worried about one drive overtaking another's space.

If your Mac uses APFS, Apple recommends creating a volume instead of a partition.

How to add an APFS volume on Mac

You can test the beta of Big Sur on your Mac without having to change anything on your daily driver by creating a volume that acts as a separate drive so you can install a completely different operating system. This allows you to switch between OSes using the Startup Disk option.

Hard Drive Partition Software For Mac
  1. Open Finder from your Mac's dock.
  2. Select Applications.

    Source: iMore

  3. Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
  4. Double-click on Disk Utilities to open it.

    Source: iMore

  5. Select your APFS drive (Should be called Macintosh HD) from the sidebar.
  6. Enter a name for the volume.

    Source: iMore

  7. Select the type of APFS format you want. I recommend just APFS.
  8. Click Add.

    Source: iMore

You have the option of selecting a specific size that you want the volume to be, which will guarantee this volume will always have the reserve size you want. However, APFS volumes are designed to allocate disk space as needed. If you're worried about running out of disk space on either your main drive or the new volume, you can select a minimum/maximum volume size. After completing Step 7 above:

Why Partition A Hard Drive

  1. Click Size Options.
  2. Enter a Reserve size to ensure that the new volume will always have a minimum amount of space.
  3. Enter a Quota size to ensure your main drive never runs out of space.

    Source: iMore

  4. Click OK.
  5. Click Add.

    Source: iMore

How to create a partition on your Mac

  1. Open Finder from your dock.
  2. Select Applications.

    Source: iMore

  3. Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
  4. Double-click to open Disk Utility.

    Source: iMore

  5. Select your hard drive in the Disk Utility window. It will be the first drive on the list. It might be named 'Fusion,' or 'Macintosh HD.'
  6. Click on the Partition tab. You will be prompted to either add an APFS volume or a Partition.
  7. Click Partition.

  8. Click the Add partition button it looks like a plus (+) symbol.
  9. Change the size of the partition you wish to use by dragging the resize controls. The used space is represented in blue.
  10. Name the new partition.
  11. Specify which file system format you want to use. If you're running macOS 10.13 or higher, you'll want APFS. If you are running macOS 10.12 or older, you'll want Mac OS Extended.
  12. Click apply.

Disk Utility will check the disk and make changes. This will take several minutes.

How to switch partitions or volumes

You can switch to the new partition, install the current macOS, and then download and install macOS Catalina from there.

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen.
  2. Select System Preferences from the drop-down menu.

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  3. Select Startup Disk.
  4. Click the Lock in the lower left corner of the window to unlock and make changes.

  5. Enter your system admin password.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Select your partition drive.
  8. Click Restart.

You can also restart your Mac and press the Option Key when you hear the startup chime. This will take you to the Startup Manager and you can select your drive from there.

You will then be asked to install macOS. This will install the latest available macOS onto the partitioned hard drive. You may have to install an older version of macOS before updating it to the more recent version you want to run.

If you are testing a beta version of macOS, you'll first install whatever the current version is. Then, you can then install the macOS beta.

Partition Hard Drive Mac

How to download the beta of macOS Big Sur

Once you've updated your partitioned Mac with macOS Catalina, you can download and install the beta of macOS Big Sur. For the developer beta, you need a developer account and some patience. Developer betas are often a bit complicated to install. We've got a guide to help you out.

Any questions?

Do you have any questions about installing a partition or downloading a new operating system onto a partitioned drive? Let us know in the comments. If you're having trouble partitioning your hard drive, be sure to check out our forums for help!

Updated June 2020: Updated for the developer beta of macOS Big Sur.

Free Hard Drive Partition Software Mac

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