mhtjj

Q: GUID partition map or Apple partition map

I have seagate external portable hard-drive 1 TB, and I will be using with following Mac's.

 

  • 13" White MacBook (Intel Core 2 Duo) running Snow Leopard
  • 13" MacBook Air (Intel Core i5) running Lion
  • iMac running Lion

 

What partition map I should use, GUID or Apple when formatting external portable hard-drive?

 

Once more question, I want to format it with HFS+ type. Is HFS+ synonym for Mac OS Extended Journaled type?

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Apr 26, 2012 11:05 AM

Close

Q: GUID partition map or Apple partition map

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by ds store,

    ds store ds store Apr 26, 2012 11:25 AM in response to mhtjj
    Level 7 (30,395 points)
    Apr 26, 2012 11:25 AM in response to mhtjj
  • by Thomas Brierley,Helpful

    Thomas Brierley Thomas Brierley Apr 26, 2012 3:42 PM in response to mhtjj
    Level 3 (540 points)
    Apr 26, 2012 3:42 PM in response to mhtjj

    Short answer = use GPT (GUID Partition Map)

     

    Long answer = The partition map type doesn't really make any difference for non bootable volumes, if you never plan on booting OS X or other OS from your external drive then you can use whatever partition map you want (APT, MBR, GPT).

     

     

    But if you want to boot OS X (intel) from it, then you need GPT

     

    If you want to boot OS X (PPC) from it, then you need APT

     

    If you want to boot Linux, Windows, BSD, or other OS that boots from the BIOS then you need MBR.

     

    Alternatively if you are using bootcamp or rEFI for any of these on a mac then you use GPT also.

     

    but in terms of purely mounting on any of these systems they dont care. What they do care about is what file system is within the partitions.

     

     

    Also "HFS+" is a synonym for "Mac OS Extended"

     

    Journaling is an adition to file system, and hence an additional option in the Disk Utility frop down list...

     

    You should use "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)". There is no reason not to use journaling, only in very esoteric circumstances is there a reason to disable journaling. It's well worth the data it saves in the event of a sudden power loss.

  • by MacTigre,

    MacTigre MacTigre Dec 2, 2012 11:35 AM in response to mhtjj
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 2, 2012 11:35 AM in response to mhtjj

    The solution I used when couldn’t save files on my Seagate external hard drive from my MacBook Air was to do a partition on my Seagate 1TB external hard drive. If you follow the next steps it will take you 5 minutes to do it from step 3. I hope this helps

     

    1. Connect your external hard drive to your MacBook Air
    2. Save all the information you already have on your Seagate external hard drive on your Mac or any other device that allows you to do so.

       3. Go to Finder and click on the Applications option from the Favorites section

       4- Click on Utilities and double click on Disk Utility

       5- Click on your Seagate external hard drive to select it

       6- Click on the Partition tab that appears at the top on the right hand pane

       7- Click on the Current tab to select how many partitions you want from the drop down (you can select from1 to       16) it is totally up to you.

    I will assume you only want 2 partitions

       8- Click on the top window (partion1) and give a name on the Name field. I’ll assume you want the first partition        is for Windows so you would call it WINDOWS if you want.

       9-  On the Format field select MS-DOS (FAT) from the drop down.

      10- On the Size field Select how many GB you want to reserve for this first partition; I selected 200 GB

      11- Now, click on the second window (partition2)

      12- Give a name on the Name field. I’ll assume you want the second partition to be Macintosh so you would call            it MACINTOSH if you want to.

      13- On the Format field select Mac OS Extended (journaled) from the drop down.

      14- On the Size field Select how many GB you want to reserve for this second partition; I selected 800 GB,

      15- Click the Options button to select PC Partition Scheme to enable a partition for use on a Windows           computer. Select Master Boot Record.

        16- Click on the Apply button

     

    You are done….

  • by Lilytmn,

    Lilytmn Lilytmn Mar 14, 2016 3:14 AM in response to Thomas Brierley
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 14, 2016 3:14 AM in response to Thomas Brierley

    I have this kind of question too. But my mac is 10.7.2 and i have bootcamp - window 7 so which partition do i need to choose? Still GUID?

  • by BobHarris,

    BobHarris BobHarris Mar 14, 2016 6:19 AM in response to Lilytmn
    Level 6 (19,420 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 14, 2016 6:19 AM in response to Lilytmn

    If you wish to boot into OS X you "MUST" have a GUID (GPT) partition map on your boot disk.

     

    If you do not wish to boot OS X from the disk, it can be any of the other partition map types supported by OS X for external disks.  But the intel Mac firmware will ONLY read and boot from a GUID partition map.

  • by bblokar,

    bblokar bblokar May 6, 2016 9:11 AM in response to MacTigre
    Level 1 (4 points)
    May 6, 2016 9:11 AM in response to MacTigre

    For number "9-  On the Format field select MS-DOS (FAT) from the drop down."  Later in Windows format that partition to NTFS for better support, but Disk Utility doesn't allow it. If you're planning to partition with any other partitioning environment such as Parted Magic or EaseUs partition master or similar, you don't need to because it will detect it as unpartitioned space anyway..

     

    And about the partition table, also is you're planing to use with Windows or Linux dual/multiboot you can use GPT if you're having EFI/UEFI bios type, using MBR is necessary only if you're having motherboard/laptop with legacy bios (speaking of "hackintosh" - installing OS X on PC, ofcourse if you have original installation DVD or installation media from apple store and own a mac )