Need some help with partitioning an external hard drive

[helpmebuydiz]

Ive bought a 2TB external hard drive and want to partition it to use half for extra space and half for time machine.

I tried partitioning it in half but it said that the partition had failed.

Despite this, it seemed to split the hard drive in to two separate volumes of 1 GB each, but I couldn't interact with the second volume in any way, and any time I tried to erase it would only let me do so by creating another one in its place, but then that would fail as well and, like a hydra, I just kept ending up with more values, all somehow calming to be 1TB each, and none of them usable...

 

[MacsBug]

In APFS, you can have multiple volumes and they share the space on the drive. This is why it shows that you have so many 1TB partitions.

With that said, if you do want to split the drive as you said then the 1st thing that you need to do is to go under the View menu in Disk Utility and select Show All Devices..

At this point, you can format the drive as a single APFS Volume, then Add shared volumes by right clicking on the Container and selecting Add APFS Volume.. What this will do is set multiple volumes that can share the free space.

Or if you want to actually make 2 seperate partitions then you can select the Drive (not a volume) and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume . Next highlight the drive again and select Partition. This is where you partition the drive into 2 1TB volumes.

Once you have the 2 volumes then you can reformat each partition seperately to the partition type that you want such as APFS for Time Machine.

Personally I don't partition dives anymore, I just format them as APFS and add volumes as needed for specific tasks.

 

[helpmebuydiz]

In APFS, you can have multiple volumes and they share the space on the drive. This is why it shows that you have so many 1TB partitions.

With that said, if you do want to split the drive as you said then the 1st thing that you need to do is to go under the View menu in Disk Utility and select Show All Devices..

At this point, you can format the drive as a single APFS Volume, then Add shared volumes by right clicking on the Container and selecting Add APFS Volume.. What this will do is set multiple volumes that can share the free space.

Or if you want to actually make 2 seperate partitions then you can select the Drive (not a volume) and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume . Next highlight the drive again and select Partition. This is where you partition the drive into 2 1TB volumes.

Once you have the 2 volumes then you can reformat each partition seperately to the partition type that you want such as APFS for Time Machine.

Personally I don't partition dives anymore, I just format them as APFS and add volumes as needed for specific tasks.

Thanks, but sorry could you talk me through in a little more detail how I actually do that?

This is how it currently looks:

I've managed to get it down to one a few times, but whenever I do that and and then try to participate it, it fails and creates another broken volume.

 

[MacsBug]

If you disconnect the drive and then reattach it, does it still show the extra APFS Physical stores, or just the container.

This is a 1TB that I have a single APFS partition (Container) and then I added a couple of APFS volumes to it that share the space.

 

[helpmebuydiz]

If you disconnect the drive and then reattach it, does it still show the extra APFS Physical stores, or just the container.

This is a 1TB that I have a single APFS partition (Container) and then I added a couple of APFS volumes to it that share the space.

View attachment 4898

Yes, I tired plugging it out and in again and it still looks like this:

And if I try to partition one of them I get this:

 

[MacsBug]

It looks like you formatted the drive as APFS, then are trying to shrink the APFS Container to make a 2nd partition.

If you read my earlier post I suggested the following:

"Or if you want to actually make 2 seperate partitions then you can select the Drive (not a volume) and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume . Next highlight the drive again and select Partition. This is where you partition the drive into 2 1TB volumes.

Once you have the 2 volumes then you can reformat each partition seperately to the partition type that you want such as APFS for Time Machine."

If you follow this proceedure then you will have exactly what you want.

 

[helpmebuydiz]

It looks like you formatted the drive as APFS, then are trying to shrink the APFS Container to make a 2nd partition.

If you read my earlier post I suggested the following:

"Or if you want to actually make 2 seperate partitions then you can select the Drive (not a volume) and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume . Next highlight the drive again and select Partition. This is where you partition the drive into 2 1TB volumes.

Once you have the 2 volumes then you can reformat each partition seperately to the partition type that you want such as APFS for Time Machine."

If you follow this proceedure then you will have exactly what you want.

Right I'm asking how do I do that though? "and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume"

 

[helpmebuydiz]

Right I'm asking how do I do that though? "and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume"

I've tried erasing the drive and making the format MAC OS Extended (Journaled), but that didn't work. Do I need to change the scheme? Or try the case sensitive one?

 

[helpmebuydiz]

It looks like you formatted the drive as APFS, then are trying to shrink the APFS Container to make a 2nd partition.

If you read my earlier post I suggested the following:

"Or if you want to actually make 2 seperate partitions then you can select the Drive (not a volume) and format it as a MacOS Extended single volume . Next highlight the drive again and select Partition. This is where you partition the drive into 2 1TB volumes.

Once you have the 2 volumes then you can reformat each partition seperately to the partition type that you want such as APFS for Time Machine."

If you follow this proceedure then you will have exactly what you want.

Case sensitive didn't work either. Could I not maybe get you to talk me through it in a little more detail?

 

[MacsBug]

here are the instructions Step by step.

1. Format the Drive as follows:

2. After the drive is formatted higlight the Drive and click on Partition. You will see the following then click on Apply then in the window that pops up click on Partition.

You should have 2 volumes that look like this.

3. Next select the 1st volume on the left and click on Erase then set it up as follows

The end result will look like this.

You can then reformat the 2nd partition if you want. or continue to use it as MacOS Extended.

 

[helpmebuydiz]

here are the instructions Step by step.

1. Format the Drive as follows:
View attachment 4903

2. After the drive is formatted higlight the Drive and click on Partition. You will see the following then click on Apply then in the window that pops up click on Partition.
View attachment 4904


You should have 2 volumes that look like this.
View attachment 4905

3. Next select the 1st volume on the left and click on Erase then set it up as follows
View attachment 4906

The end result will look like this.

View attachment 4909


You can then reformat the 2nd partition if you want. or continue to use it as MacOS Extended.

 

[helpmebuydiz]

That's what I've been doing though and it's still not working.

I seam ti be going backwards because that first step isn't even getting rid of the additional ones now.

I did manage to get it down to just one a few times before, but even then I get the same error when it comes to the partition part.

 

[MacsBug]

One thing that you may want to try first is to format it as MS-DOS FAT and the Partition Scheme Mast Boot Record.

If you are not able to do this on your Mac, you may want to try formatting it on a Windows machine to get rid of the prtition map

After its done, disconnect the drive from your Mac and then plug it back in. That should get rid of any lingering APFS Info that is lingering.

Then you can start from scratch following the instructions from before

 

[helpmebuydiz]

One thing that you may want to try first is to format it as MS-DOS FAT and the Partition Scheme Mast Boot Record.

If you are not able to do this on your Mac, you may want to try formatting it on a Windows machine to get rid of the prtition map

After its done, disconnect the drive from your Mac and then plug it back in. That should get rid of any lingering APFS Info that is lingering.

Then you can start from scratch following the instructions from before

Thanks. That worked with getting rid of all the APFS info, but I'm still getting the same error when it comes to partitioning unfortunately:

 

[MacsBug]

Your original post is that you had just got a 2TB External Hard Drive, but doing some research on "VendorCo ProductCode Media" and it seems that they make USB Flash drives that read as having considerably more storage that they actually have.

Is the drive that you purchased one of the really inexpensive Flash Drives or SSD Drives? I have seen some 2TB Drives that sell on Amazon for under $30 and if you read the reviews people state that they are a scam and that the drive shows the same vendor as yours.