In this case, you can use the Restore feature in Disk Utility to transfer the files to another drive, as guided below. You can do this by dragging and dropping.īut you may fail to copy the files from a Time Machine backup disk this way, as many have reported. Since erasing the disk will delete all data on it, it's essential to secure the critical files to another storage device beforehand. If the first solution doesn't work, you can enable the 'Partition' button on Mac by erasing the whole disk with GUID Partition Map. Way 2: Erase the offending disk with GUID Partition Map If the external hard drive won't partition on Mac, move on to the solutions below. This way, the disk will show up, and you can select it to check whether the Partition button works now.

To do this, open Disk Utility, click the View icon at the top left, and choose 'Show All Devices.' The first thing you should try is to select the disk to partition. Usually, there are two ways to fix the 'Partition' button greyed out on Mac when modifying an SD card/USB drive/hard drive.

The disk has MBR (Master Boot Record) as the partition table.

The volume instead of the disk is selected.

Many factors may result in your external storage devices, such as SD card, USB flash drive, hard drive, etc, and the internal SSD falling to be partitioned on Mac. Why can't I partition my SD card/USB drive/hard drive on Mac? Can't partition SD card on Mac: Most Disk Utility options grayed out

macOS can't partition USB drive: ( - ) delete button grayed out in Disk Utility Can't partition SSD on Mac (internal): Can't resize APFS container External hard drive won't partition on Mac: ( +/- ) button grayed out in Disk Utility Can't partition SD card/USB drive/hard drive on Mac: Partition button grayed out Solutions to try if you can't partition SD card/USB drive/hard drive on Mac: Here, we will elaborate on the common 'grayed out' issues regarding partition-related buttons in Disk Utility, such as the Partition button, the ( +/- ) button showing after clicking Partition, or the grayed out ( - ) delete button.

Can't partition SD card on Mac? You may experience different errors or barriers when partitioning a hard drive on Mac, such as an SD card, USB drive, external hard drive, or internal SSD on Mac.

How to partition external drive mac