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Q: GUID drive partition? and new disk utility

The New Disk Utility Version 15.0 that ships with El Capitan, differs from prior versions of the Disk Utility.

 

Most will notice the absence of the utility to correction permissions.

However, checking the format type of a disk is a little more challenging and well.

The drive needs to be selected and then the information button needs to be selected.

Then one needs to look at the "File System" line to see if it is OS X Extended or not.

Then one needs to look at the "Journaled" line to see if it is "yes" or "no".

 

How does one know if it is a GUID partition or an APM partition with the new utility?

Mac Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11.2)

Posted on Dec 28, 2015 11:55 PM

by Alberto Ravasio,Solvedanswer
Alberto Ravasio Alberto Ravasio
Level 5 (4,070 points)
A:

Sorry to contradict you, but general informations about disks are always where they used to be

 

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Posted on Dec 29, 2015 12:09 AM

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Q: GUID drive partition? and new disk utility

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  • by Alberto Ravasio,Solvedanswer

    Alberto Ravasio Alberto Ravasio Dec 29, 2015 12:09 AM in response to PJ'sPal
    Level 5 (4,070 points)
    Dec 29, 2015 12:09 AM in response to PJ'sPal

    Sorry to contradict you, but general informations about disks are always where they used to be

     

    0001.png

  • by chroot,

    chroot chroot Dec 29, 2015 12:10 AM in response to PJ'sPal
    Level 4 (1,099 points)
    Dec 29, 2015 12:10 AM in response to PJ'sPal

    GPT, APM, or MBR is the partition map and has not changed even with the GUI changes in Disk Utility for El Capitan.

     

    GPT is GUID Partition Table

    APM is Apple Partition Map

    MBR is Master Boot Record

     

    APM is not used anymore and MBR is being phased out, even by Microsoft in favor of GPT.  MBR might still be required when formatting an external drive as NTFS even though many newer computers shipping with Windows 8 or later started using GPT in favor of an EFI boot loader.

     

    We can cancel out using APM unless you are using a dinosaur computer with Tiger or earlier.

     

    Now comes the difference between GPT or MBR.

     

    Are you formatting as FAT?  Use MBR

     

    Are you formatting as OS X Extended?  Use GPT

  • by bigschwabbel,

    bigschwabbel bigschwabbel Dec 29, 2015 12:12 AM in response to PJ'sPal
    Level 3 (808 points)
    Dec 29, 2015 12:12 AM in response to PJ'sPal

    File system:

    Select the volume you want to check

    On the right side, right below the volume name it says something like "8TB SATA External Physical Volume OS X Extended"

    How complicated can it be to find that?

     

    Partition map:

    Select the physical drive you want to check

    In the little table on the right it says "Partition Map: GUID Partition Map"

    Again, how complicated can it be to find that, too?

     

    Journaling:

    That's the only information out of your three points that can only be seen in the "Info" window. But how often do you need to check on that? Journaling is enabled by default on all HFS+ volumes. People only turn it off if necessary.

  • by PJ'sPal,

    PJ'sPal PJ'sPal Dec 29, 2015 9:10 AM in response to bigschwabbel
    Level 1 (59 points)
    iWork
    Dec 29, 2015 9:10 AM in response to bigschwabbel

    Thank you.

     

    Maybe this was a dumb question.

    I am still getting used to the El Capitan and its new Disk Utility application.

     

    These questions came up because I  was following Apple's old instructions on moving one Time Machine backup from one drive and volume to a new larger drive and volume. I understand that most of the time we use OS Extended volumes with Journaling.  GUID partition maps are the norm since Power PC was dropped and Intel processors adapted.

     

    However, I was unfamiliar with the new Disk Utility application.

    When I selected the  volume and not the drive, I missed the text under the name of the volume.  The table underneath the name of the volume had little information within it that was relevant to what I did not already know. I knew the size information and that it was a USB connected drive.  

    Bottom line - I did not know for sure how the original drive was formatted by the manufacturer and wanted to be sure before wasting a day or two copying over my 2 TB time machine folder.

     

    Had I been more awake last night at midnight I might have been smarter and selected the drive under Disk Utility and not the volume before asking the question. The table under the drive indicates a line "Partition Map:   GUID Partition Map".  Had I been smarter, I would have seen that but did not.

     

    What I really wanted to get across was that this information is more spread out in the new Disk Utility application than I seem to recall with the older Disk Utility application.   With the old application, I used to be able to see it all on the same screen. 


    If new MAC users add an external TM Drive or have the same questions about the new Disk Utility application, hopefully the information from this conversation will help them to find it.  

  • by PJ'sPal,

    PJ'sPal PJ'sPal Dec 29, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio
    Level 1 (59 points)
    iWork
    Dec 29, 2015 9:14 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

    I may have misspoke -  I was selecting the volume and not the drive if I remember correctly.

    I missed the line of text under the name of the volume.

     

    Thank you for pointing out where one can find it.