How to Fix Slow Mac After macOS Sequoia Update
Upgrading to the latest macOS Sequoia is not always all the fun, here's a guide to solve the potential slowdown…
If you have dealt with OS installations, you sure would have come across disk partitions. However, it doesn’t mean that they are not useful beyond OS installation. On the contrary, partitions can help you better manage your drives and make use of them.
However, we must also admit that disk partitions are not that common on MacOS. Most people tend to use their Mac hard drive in its default capacity.
So, if you want to manage your disk drives, there are a few ways to do that on your Mac.
In this article, we will explore a list of the best partition manager apps for Mac – from built-in tools to powerful paid options — that will help you manage your drives with ease.
Feature | Disk Utility | GParted | EaseUS Partition Master | Paragon Hard Disk Manager |
Type | Built-in macOS tool | Open-source tool | Dedicated partition manager | Partition manager for Intel Macs |
Platforms | macOS | macOS, Linux, Windows | macOS (Silicon & Intel) | macOS (Intel only) |
Key Features | Basic partition tools | Boot-level access, cloning | Cloning, NTFS write, installer | Data recovery, Bootcamp resize |
File System Support | APFS, macOS Journaled | macOS, Linux, Windows FS | APFS, HFS+, FAT, NTFS | macOS, Windows Bootcamp |
Ease of Use | High | Moderate | High | Moderate |
Cost | Free | Free | $49.95 | $39.95 |
Partition managers are essential tools that let you organize your Mac’s hard drive into separate sections, known as partitions. These tools help you manage storage efficiently, create dual-boot systems, or simply declutter your drive by segmenting data.
To select the best partition managers for Mac, we conducted thorough testing on a MacBook Air with M2 chip running macOS Sequoia, simulating typical user scenarios. Each app was carefully evaluated and reviewed by our team. We never accept payment for placement in our articles or for links to any site—we value the trust our readers place in us to provide honest evaluations. For more details on our process, read the full rundown of how we select apps to feature on TheSweetBits blog.
Disk Utility is the official built-in disk management solution for macOS. You can use this app to manage the multiple partitions and storage devices connected to your Mac. It follows the same UI design that you see on other apps from Apple, making it easy to take care of devices and partitions.
For instance, you can create new partitions or add another volume to the container. You also get options to Erase, Restore, and Mount/Unmount devices. However, many of these options may not work if you have an unsupported drive, say NTFS.
However, we use Disk Utility to fetch accurate information about connected drives most of the time. So, if you already have a drive with the APFS (Apple File System), or macOS Journaled file system (which are optimized for Apple devices), you may find Disk Utility just right. It does not require much technical expertise, either.
The problem? You don’t get options like disk/partition transfer or cloning. It offers the First Aid feature that can check the drive for potential issues. In summary, Disk Utility may not be enough if you need advanced drive/partition management options.
On the bright side, it’s completely free and integrates well with macOS.
GParted is a boot-level partition manager that works on macOS, Linux, and Windows. This open-source app is convenient when you cannot start up your Mac. In those cases, you can load GParted from bootable media and explore options like creating/deleting, checking, copying, pasting, etc.
However, the biggest difficulty is that you need boot-level access to use GParted in the first place. It doesn’t have a GUI-based design that runs on macOS. Moreover, accessing the boot-level menu for managing drives and partitions is a convenient option for many.
If the restriction does not affect you, GParted makes perfect sense. It definitely offers more control than the built-in disk utility on macOS. More importantly, you can access a variety of file systems, including the ones used on macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows.
Another reason to use GParted is the regular updates the free tool receives. For instance, the latest stable version of GParted Live was released in September 2024. It also keeps adding more features to each version, including added support for environments.
Given that it is free to use, you can consider GParted if you find it convenient.
EaseUS Partition Master for Mac is a dedicated partition manager app for macOS devices. It works with both Apple Silicon and Intel-series Mac devices and offers the best of both worlds. First, the tool provides a lot more features than disk utility. More importantly, you get a GUI that does the job.
In addition to helping you manage disk partitions, EaseUS Partition Master for Mac will provide features for cloning and copying disk content. It is a convenient feature for SSD upgrades. You also get access to BitLocker drives, even if they are encrypted. As a cherry on top, this tool makes NTFS drives writeable on your Mac.
Furthermore, you can use EaseUS Partition Master for Mac to create a macOS installer on a removable drive. Compared to the manual process, this one doesn’t take more than a second. We also loved the format-to-format conversion options, especially since they do not incur data loss.
As far as support is concerned, this app from EaseUS works with HFS, HFS+, APFS, FAT, ExFAT, and NTFS. In this package, you get disk benchmark software for Mac as well. This feature will let you find the maximum speed of your hard drives.
You can get the yearly license of EaseUS Partition Master for $49.95, and you can use it on up to two Macs. Overall, we found it a worthwhile investment, mainly if you deal a lot with OS installation and disks.
The next paid option on this list is the Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac. This nifty tool from Paragon can easily become your buddy for all things hard disks on Intel-based Macs. Though you can use the app to manage partitions, it also offers advanced options for data recovery.
This means you will find more dedicated data/partition recovery options for Mac using Paragon Hard Disk Manager. You can use many of these features while migrating data between two Macs or virtual containers. It is a trusted way to resize and manage the Windows Bootcamp installation as well.
As you may guess, Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac lets you create bootable media for macOS and other drives. So, this single partition manager app can replace multiple apps that you may have on your Mac. Given the experience Paragon has in this niche, you can expect best-in-class performance and compatibility.
We should remind you that Paragon Hard Disk Manager does not support Apple Silicon Macs, though. This means that only those with an older Mac can use all the features mentioned earlier. As far as compatibility is concerned, the app works on macOS 10.12 Sierra to macOS 12 Monterey.
On the bright side, Paragon Hard Disk Manager for Mac costs only $39.95. This one-time purchase is an excellent option for those who have an Intel Mac.
We have included iBoysoft NTFS for Mac as a bonus entry. While it is not a fully-fledged partition manager, you have the option to control drives and containers. This is more important when you want to manage an NTFS drive/container from your Mac.
You also get the easiest way to have writeable NTFS drives on a Mac. Yet, its core partition management features are available only for NTFS drives. So, if you have an ExFAT or macOS Journaled drive, you are out of luck.
As you may already know, iBoysoft NTFS for Mac has an impressive User Interface, which makes it easy for anyone to handle partition management, among other tasks. You may also want to check our article on the different ways to read and write NTFS on macOS.
You can get iBoysoft NTFS for Mac through a lifetime license costing $49.95 or a yearly subscription worth $19.95. You can get it via Setapp as well.
We believe our recommendations helped you find the best partition manager for Mac out there. You always have the option of sticking with Disk Utility, but it doesn’t go beyond the Apple walled garden.
Therefore, if you need a handy option to manage different file systems, drives, and containers from the convenience of your Mac, consider EaseUS Partition Master or Paragon.
While some of these tools have some limitations, our testing revealed that their features ensure maximum performance.
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