User profile for user: gsyrba
gsyrba Author
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Erasing an external SSD with multiple partitions from my iMac

As usual, if you do a google search you find multiple and conflicting ways of doing things... so I want to ask the pros here instead of guessing which is correct.


I have a 2TB external drive on my iMac with two different partitions. I am planning on erasing everything and giving this external SSD away. My google searches have come up with the following three various directions for the Disk Utility, and I'm not sure which is right if I want the erased SSD to no longer have partitions...


1) Go to the top tier of the HD and erase from there (makes the most sense to me)


2) Go to the Container disk listed right under the top tier and erase from there (not sure if this one is correct, but multiple search results said this one)


3) Go to each partition and erase from there. If you erase from the top tier, the SSD will still be partitioned (which sounds wrong to me)


So which of the three suggestions above is correct?


iMac 24″, macOS 15.1

Posted on Nov 25, 2024 7:54 AM

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 8
42,503 points

Posted on Nov 25, 2024 8:13 AM

Yes, the first option is the best. Erase the device.


Edit: The APFS format, in the scenario you have, actually only has a single "partition'. The container describes the size of that single partition. The two items below are "volumes" within that container. They share the space available within the container and can dynamically grow or shrink as the demands of each changes. Together, however, they cannot exceed the available space in the container.


The device could be further partitioned with a second or third container, and each of those could have multiple volumes within. The APFS makes "partitioning" a device easy. It's a simple thing to add and delete containers and volumes. Drive management is pretty simple and faster when compared to the old HFS and other file systems.

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User profile for user: D.I. Johnson
D.I. Johnson
User level: Level 8
42,503 points

Nov 25, 2024 8:13 AM in response to gsyrba

Yes, the first option is the best. Erase the device.


Edit: The APFS format, in the scenario you have, actually only has a single "partition'. The container describes the size of that single partition. The two items below are "volumes" within that container. They share the space available within the container and can dynamically grow or shrink as the demands of each changes. Together, however, they cannot exceed the available space in the container.


The device could be further partitioned with a second or third container, and each of those could have multiple volumes within. The APFS makes "partitioning" a device easy. It's a simple thing to add and delete containers and volumes. Drive management is pretty simple and faster when compared to the old HFS and other file systems.

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Erasing an external SSD with multiple partitions from my iMac

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