How to use disk utility on a mac tucked away in the utilities folder, disk utility and its first aid feature can be used to check if a disk is damaged and repair it, create a disk image, partition. All you need to know to use disk utility on your mac disk drill. How to clone mac hard drive with disk utility hdd sdd macbook pro imac 20102019. An important application in your macbook maintenance toolbox is disk utility, which you find no surprise here in the utilities folder within your applications folder. Go to the disk utility window during the booting process of your mac. Disk utility is even accessible from recovery mode, so you can partition your macs hard drive without having to create and load up any special bootable tools. The next time i was in disk utility, i could finally see the internal hard drive. Jan 28, 2015 it is quite simple, one of the reason i love apple. Choose apple menu about this mac, then click storage. Dec 21, 2017 theres no need to hunt down paid partition managers or diskmanagement boot disks. Disk utility can fix certain disk problemsfor example, multiple apps quit unexpectedly, a file is corrupted, an external device doesnt work properly, or your computer wont start up. Cant reinstall macos because disk is locked 2nd hand macbook. Until your see the macos utility window on your mac screen.
The disk utility interface is the same one youll see on your mac os x desktop, but run it from. Oct 06, 2016 how to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac os x disk utility gemsbok apple tips and tricks. As we covered, if you dont see the encrypt option, it means that your usb device hasnt been formatted with a guid partition map which is a requirement for finder encryption. Once you open it, click on the first aid tab near the top. You can save the cost of a macbook air by buying a refurbished mac pro. Heres how to access the contents on a usb drive that wont open on your mac. How to repair disk and file system problems on your mac. Nov 08, 2018 disk utility error message when formatting in macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air. Repair a storage device in disk utility on mac apple support.
If you havent yet upgraded to macos sierra or later, learn about other ways to free up storage space. Reinstallrecovery upgrade downgraderepair utility factory reset disk drive disc cd dvd v. Internal hard drive not detected in disk apple community. Solved new internal ssd is not showing in macbook while.
How to use disk utility on an apple imac or macintosh youtube. Others say it lost many of the basic capabilities that old mac hands took for granted. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac os. Scan, verify and repair connected drives with disk utility. That means if your mac or macbook pro cant mount its startup disk, it is likely that you will experience problems, like your computer gets stuck on the login screen or it does not boot at all. You can create a disk image of a desktop drive, portable drive or even a dvd. Download free mac data recoevry software to recover lost data from unmountable macintosh hd. Resolve a couldnt unmount disk error in disk utility.
And even if its there, i dont know the password too. This is an overview of available storage space on your mac, as well as the space used. How to repair a mac boot disk with disk utility in mac os x. How to fix a macbook pro that cant mount its startup disk. While using time machine is a great option, sometimes it helps to consider all your options for example, if youre looking to replace your macbooks hard drive, consider creating a disk image of your hard drive and store it. At the boot menu, choose disk utility if using an installer disk, pull down the utilities menu to access disk utility go to first aid and verify the disk, then repair if needed now perform the original task that threw the couldnt unmount error. Select the drive or partition you need to repair and click the first aid button. Also, some users are worried about other volumes on disk utility showing big space that cant delete. The term disk image simply refers to a single file that contains the entire contents of a drive. How to fix mac startup disk is fullon macbook pro macbook air imac.
Tucked away in the utilities folder, disk utility and its first aid feature can be used to check if a disk is damaged and repair it, create a disk image. Disk utilitys erase security options is grayed out. In os x recovery, click the disk utility shortcut to launch the disk utility here. Fix mac startup disk is full on macbook pro, air mac.
Commonly when you want to connect an external hard drive to laptop or computer all you need to do is just plug and play thats it. Disk utility also still shows no internal hard drive. Disk utility failed to repair external hard drivemacintosh hd and showing error. Get help online using safari, you can browse the web to find help for your computer, including apple support. Ran apple hardware test hold r on startup this showed a passing adp000 reference code. Though frustrating, but it doesnt mean you will necessarily lose all files. Id now like to combine those partitions into a single one. The first thing youll want to do is make sure your mac s startup disk is healthy. It is quite simple, one of the reason i love apple.
There are also a few changes in macos high sierra thanks to the new file format apple has introduced. Every 2008 and later macbook pro and macbook can install mac os x 10. How to open an external drive thats not showing on mac. How to erase a mac that seems to lack erasure options. The user often experiences a problem, while handling some of the macs, when they are not allowed to repair permissions or directory in disk utility. So i had to reinstall os x on my mba and halfway through the installer it said it failed. Henceforth, you should follow bottom guide will let you check outer disk space on your mac running mojave or later. Click on your mac s startup drive in the disk utility sidebar. Since the newly installed ssd dont have a macextended journal format, we need to format it in that way. How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac os x disk utility gemsbok apple tips and tricks. Clean my macbook air software to clean up system junk files. Disk utility partitioning controls on your macbook dummies. But, if you are using macbook air then hard drive must be formatted with a file system your mac can support. We often think of this as cloning a drive, so you have an exact copy for backup or archiving purposes.
Theres no need to hunt down paid partition managers or disk management boot disks. How to check your startup disk with disk utility in macos recovery mode. Then youll have a complete copy of your hard drive which you can use to restore your data later on. If you have any files you want to save, copy them to another storage device. By backing up your macbook air with time machine and performing a factory reset of your macbook air, your machine will feel like you just unboxed it for the first time. If you find your macbook air or any mac computer stuck on recovery mode, youll need expert tips and advice on what to do. Erase and reformat a storage device in disk utility on mac. How to use your macs disk utility to partition, wipe, repair. Jun 14, 20 at the boot menu, choose disk utility if using an installer disk, pull down the utilities menu to access disk utility go to first aid and verify the disk, then repair if needed now perform the original task that threw the couldnt unmount error. Disk utility, in all of its incarnations, has always had a restore function, a way to copy a disk volume or image file to another volume, creating an exact copy. How to use macos recovery to restore the operating system on.
Its also not showing up when i try and reinstall the software, which now is mac os x lion rather than yosemite or maverick which i had before. Apr 18, 2019 leverage disk utility on macos to encrypt usb drives. The software offers a number of hard drive management functions. If you find yourself needing another volume on a disk or if you need to resize the total space on existing volumes on a disk click the partition tab within disk utility to display the controls. Reader sonya jefferson tells a tale of two partitions.
Apr 06, 2010 as its name implies, disk utility is a mac os x utility that helps mac users work with disks. I used disk utility to format a drive so that it has two partitions. In this video we show you how to check your hard drive is ok and that the data on. As clean my macbook air software, easeus cleangenius can clean up your system junk files and unwanted applications for more disk space and better performance. How to reset macbook pro or air if you are keeping your macbook. Open finder click on applications navigate utilities folder then click on disk utility to see external drive storage space quickly.
How to force a hard drive to unmount for formatting in mac. Another great use of disk utility is to create disk images. How to use your macs disk utility to partition, wipe. How to fix disk utility cant repair this disk error. According to apple, a striped raid set stores files in segments.
Disk utility error message when formatting in macbook pro, imac, mac mini, mac pro, macbook air. The disk utility interface is the same one youll see on your mac os x desktop, but run it from here and itll be able to repair problems with your system drive. The new version of disk utility is much more colorful and some say easier to use. When you decide to backup your mac, its important to choose the right way to do it. How to use macos recovery to restore the operating system. Jan 29, 2020 you cant reformat a drive in macos disk utility when the erase button is grayed out.
Disk utility is an application thats built into os x that can perform lots of useful and even scary actions. Resolve a couldnt unmount disk error in disk utility for mac. The steps are exactly the same as mentioned in the first section, except that you do not reset any other disk on your machine except for startup disk if you are planning to keep it second section, differs a bit. Experienced users find frequent need of this handy tool but those newer to the mac experience are often cautioned to steer clear, for good reason. Mac secret trick how to clone mac hard drive with disk utility hdd sdd macbook pro imac 20102019. How to fix macintosh hd greyed out in disk utility. Jul 05, 2017 in os x recovery, click the disk utility shortcut to launch the disk utility here. How to free up storage space on your mac apple support. The macbook air family is a line of ultraportable macintosh notebook computers created by apple inc. I was on the phone with apple support for 2 hours because i could not back up an iphone to a macbook air computer due to disk space even though i deleted a ton of stuff and kept deleting more and more. The builtin recovery partition on your macs startup disk contains recovery tools, like disk utility. Disk utility is a macos and mac os x system utility that enables the user to perform tasks related to their hard disks and storage devices.
The disk utilitys partitioning controls enable you to partition your macbooks disk. Cant erase or reformat a drive in macos disk utility. As its name implies, disk utility is a mac os x utility that helps mac users work with disks. In disk utility on mac, you can erase and reformat storage devices to use with your mac. To get the encryption option, youll need to erase your thumb drive and then encrypt it in disk utility. When you first run this program, it looks something like the following, displaying all the physical disks and volumes on your system. The types of disks that disk utility can manage include hard disks, disk images, dvds, and cds. Disk utility repair or erase your startup disk or another hard disk. Disk utility can fix certain disk problemsfor example, multiple apps quit unexpectedly, a file is corrupted, an external device doesnt work properly, or your.
Recovery mode makes it easy to repair your macs disk in situations when the machine wont boot properly and load the desktop in. I restarted my mac, reset the pram which did nothing and booted back into the internet recovery. In this article, we will give you effective solutions to fix disk utility cant repair this disk issue, especially when you are facing the issue that disk utility cant repair external hard drive, or when disk utility cant repair macintosh hd on mac. Disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you.
After you install the new hard drive, you will need to boot to the recovery partition on the original drive if os 10. How to use the restore feature of disk utility to clone a drive tuesday, january 10th, 2017 author. Including how to format a drive to be used on a mac and a pc and. If youre using boot camp to start up from microsoft windows, set startup disk preferences to start up from macos instead. Macintosh hd, or the macbook internal hard drive, is basically the startup drive of most apple computers. Click on your macs startup drive in the disk utility sidebar. The disk utility tool will perform a file system check and you no need to run it manually. Jul 20, 2019 before doing something as drastic as replacing a macbook airs ssd, it pays to confirm the drive is actually damaged and unrepairable. Disk utility window will show finalize space available on your mac, that we can see in any account if your mac has multiple accounts.
People said that i should go to disk utility and unlock the locked disk there. Leverage disk utility on macos to encrypt usb drives. New apple macbook air inch, 8gb ram, 128gb storage space gray. If your mac cannot be recovered in any other way, use recovery mode to diagnose disk problems, get help online or install the version of macos that previously ran on this mac. Find out how much storage is available on your mac. Disk utility is even accessible from recovery mode, so you can partition your mac s hard drive without having to create and load up any special bootable tools. Even though i did it, my mac claims that it wasnt eject properly. With apple file system apfs, the file system introduced in macos 10. Theres no need to hunt down paid partition managers or diskmanagement boot disks. The timeline on the right side of your macbooks display will. Festplattendienstprogramm benutzerhandbuch fur mac apple. Solved new internal ssd is not showing in macbook while booting. How to erase and install you can use os x recovery to erase your computer using disk utility. Once your computer enters recovery mode, click on the disk utility option, choose the first aid tab to start repairing your mac drive.
Disk utility is a hard disk management application that comes with the mac operating system. Macbook, macbook pro, air buyer and seller above guide is handy to check the storage space on mac. Nov 30, 2019 disk utility is free and included with every copy of the mac os. Disk utility cant detect or repair all problems that a disk may have. I mentioned this because you should go for the disk utility first if your new internal ssd is not showing in macbook while booting. This short video covers the basics of using apples disk utility application to erase and partition a. How to hard reset macbook pro or air and reinstall macos x. Aug 18, 20 so i had to reinstall os x on my mba and halfway through the installer it said it failed. Disk utility is an application thats built into os x that can perform lots of.
This might happen for a variety of reasons, all of which keep you from erasing or reformatting the drives connected to your mac. Back up as many of your files as possible, reformat the disk, and restore your backedup files. Follow this tutorial to back uprecover files without loss and fix this disk that disk utility unable to repair, including external hard drives, usb, sd cards, memory cards, etc. Disk utility will require some time to create the backup of your mac depending on the amount of data you have on your startup disk. Or use optiond to start up to this utility over the internet. The reason why i am asking is because i usually eject my hd by dragging it to the trash icon.
This is typically the format used to create a clone of a hard drive and to distribute software. And while the various cloning apps have a lot more features, if you dont have access to thirdparty apps, using disk utility will create a perfectly usable clone, although it may require a few more steps and lacks some nice features, such as automation and scheduling. I verified it, ran repair, and choose it as the startup disk. My air has never been opened so i dont think the connection is loose. Disk utility is free and included with every copy of the mac os. Feb 03, 2020 disk utility in macos high sierra or later can erase most disks and volumes for mac using either the newer apfs apple file system format or the older mac os extended format, and it automatically chooses a compatible format for you. Alternatively, you can use spotlight search to open disk utility pan in a shortcut way.