To partition your hard drive, boot from a Mac OS or
Mac OS X install disc. To do this, insert the disc in the drive and restart the computer while holding down the c key. When you see the gray Apple or Happy Mac icon, you may release the c key.
Mac OS X
Note: The following assumes you are using Mac OS X 10.1 or later.
If your install disc is for Mac OS X, follow these steps:
- From the Installer menu, select Open Disk Utility... . In the window that opens, on the left, click the icon for the drive you would like to initialize or partition.
- To the right, click the Partition tab.
- In the pop-up menu under "Volume Scheme:", choose the number of partitions to be created during the initializing process. By partitioning your drive, you divide it into multiple volumes that can hold different file and operating systems. For a basic installation of Mac OS X, just one partition is necessary.
- After you've chosen the number of partitions you want, you can adjust their sizes by dragging the graphical handles that represent the partition borders.
- Click each of the partitions to adjust its properties. Under "Volume Information", you may choose the format you would like to use. The default choice will be Mac OS Extended or Mac OS Extended (Journaled), depending on the version of the operating system you have, and typically it should be the one you use.
- Once you've chosen your volume scheme, click the Partition button.
After your drive is formatted and partitioned, you may continue with other installations from your install disc. Of course, such an installation will be necessary before you can boot (start up) from your newly partitioned hard drive.
