How to Partition your Mac drive OS X

Partitioning hard drive is a common practice among users for managing data in Mac machine. Although there are many reasons and benefits of it, but creating a multi-boot drive, is most significant. The search for Mac drive management tool became wider after the launch of new version of Mac OS X i.e 10.8.

With the release of Mac Mountain Lion, one should needs to create divisions in Mac drive for keeping this OS X 10.8 or files associated with it, in separate section. Before creating these one must need to understand its requirement for partitioning Mac drive.

Why user need to create partitions in Mac Drive:

1. It allows you to keep separate OS, program files and user files from each other. This will make you able to create backup image or clone of your OS and installed software without disturbing other files.

2. After creating it, you can have a separate area for OS, virtual memory, swapping/paging.

3. It help you to keep frequently used files and application near each other in same or closer regions.

4. Partitioning of drive results into changing file size rapidly and dynamically, by keeping separate cache and log files from other files.

5. You can have multi-boot setups, it allows you to have many OS in one machine. So, as a result your data integrity and authenticity is maintained. As one system can be used by many users via different logins and booting with different OS present in different volume, without losing your private data.

Ex. Linux.,win,Mac OS x etc. You can install different OS on same hard disk by creating different partitions and you have a choice to boot your system with your preferred OS which is compatible.

6. If one volume of your drive is corrupted due to any reason, it doesn't affect others. So, other file will not be affected.

7. By division of drive one can have a separate partition for diverse range of files like one section for music and for keeping movies, data files and pictures different volumes respectively.

8. It keeps your related files together in contiguous location in memory, it reduces read/write time of processor in fetching and searching files from drive. Hence increase performance of system.

How to Create partitions in Mac OS X 10.8:

Today as we know all work is done digitally means on computer whether its related to office or home. So all this work require large memory on your system for storage. When your Mac drives become full, it needs an external hard disk for storing different category of data by making different partitions in it.

For installation purpose also as described above, to use another OS with Mac OS X 10.8 you need to make divisions in your Drive.

There are two ways to do it:

1. Boot camp Assistance

2. Disk Utility

1.Using Boot camp Assistance:

Boot camp Assistance creates a volume just for Windows, it lets you run windows on your Mac machine, without erasing any existing volume from your drive.

So, if there is a PC application that you need to run on your Mac you just require a copy of start up Boot camp.

Requirement:

• Intel based Mac with built-in keyboard & mouse

• Mac OS X version 10.5 or late

• Latest firmware update available

• Boot camp Assistant

Do 's Before installing Boot camp:

• Backup important data.

• Update your Mac to latest version of Mac OS X, use software update in

Apple menu to check latest updates.

• Install latest update available for firmware updates available on your Mac.

2.Using Disk Utility:

• Go to Applications-­­­­­­­­­­> click to Utilities-> Disk utilities

• Choose drive and click partition.

• It provide information and then at end choose correct partition scheme.

Disk utility is a great tool but its features are fairly limited as compared to third party software. As I have used many software for it, and from past two years I have been using Stellar Partition manager utility, and its awesome. Easy to use application and best in performance, so, that saying much I would suggest to have a look by downloading its free trial version.

It is recommended by experts to clone your drive using some reliable Mac cloning software in order to be on safe side as sometimes partitioning process can lead to data loss.