How to Delete Hard Drive Partition on Mac

It is easy to delete a hard drive partition on Mac running macOS Catalina or Mojave, just like creating one. In the past, you may have made a partition to install a beta version of macOS or run Windows on it. Now, if you are looking to get this storage back, you can effortlessly use Disk Utility to remove the hard drive partition.

Before you proceed, you should know that;

• You can remove the partition of internal as well as an external hard drive or SSD using Disk Utility
• Just to be on the safe side, I would recommend that you take a backup of your Mac
• Important: If you want to remove partition created by Boot Camp, then do not use Disk Utility. Use Boot Camp to delete the Windows partition and get back the space
• When you delete a partition, all the data on it is erased permanently

So, that was some basics, now let’s jump on to the process;

How to Delete Partition on Mac Using Disk Utility

1. Open Finder → Applications folder → Utilities.
2. Now, double click on Disk Utility to open it.
3. From the left sidebar, click on the partition you want to delete
4. Click on the Partition button from top.
5. From the slide down options, click on Partition.
6. From the pie chart, click on the partition you wish to remove. The solid color of the partition is the empty space, and shaded is the size of files in it.
7. Click on the minus button.
8. Click on Apply.
9. Now, click on Partition in Pop-up window.
10. After a partition is successfully deleted, click on Done.

You will see that the partition is not visible in the left sidebar of Disk Utility. Also, the space taken by this partition is added back to your primary volume.

How to Erase a Partition on Mac

If you don’t want to delete the partition itself, but only remove all the contents inside it, then erasing the partition is what you must choose. To do so, follow the easy steps below.

1. Open Finder → Applications folder → go to Utilities.
2. Now, Open Disk Utility by clicking on it.
3. From the left sidebar, select the partition you want to delete.
4. Click on the Erase button.
5. Now, click on Erase to confirm the action.
6. After the process ends, click on Done.

The hard disk partition has been successfully erased.

You may also like to take a peek at…

• Best Partition Manager for Mac
• Steps to Password Protect Folders on Mac
• External hard drive not showing up on Mac? 9 Must-try fixes

What are your thoughts on this tutorial and friendliness of macOS in general? Please share your opinion with us in the comments section.