How to Use Parted Command Line on Mac: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you looking for a way to resize or manipulate partitions on your Mac using the parted command line? Look no further! This comprehensive guide will walk you through the process of creating a new partition, resizing an existing one, and setting up a swap space.

Setting Up Swap Space

To set up a swap space, you'll need to use the `mkswap` command. First, create a new partition using `sudo fdisk /dev/sda`. Create a new primary partition starting at the same sector as the original one, but with a bigger size (leaving some room for swap). Then, create a new extended partition with a logical partition in it to hold the swap space.

Once you've created the new partition, use `sudo mkswap /dev/sda5` to turn the swap on. Don't forget to adjust `/etc/fstab` accordingly.

Resizing an Existing Partition

To resize an existing partition, you can use the `resize2fs` command. This is useful if you need to increase or decrease the size of a partition without losing any data.

For example, if you want to resize a mounted partition, you can use `sudo resize2fs /dev/sda1`. This will allow you to resize the filesystem on-the-fly while it's still in use.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

When resizing or creating new partitions, it's not uncommon to encounter errors. If you get an error message like 'WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed with error 16: Device or resource busy,' don't worry! This is usually caused by a device or resource being busy and can be resolved by restarting the process.

Using parted command line on Mac may seem daunting at first, but with this guide, you should be able to create new partitions, resize existing ones, and set up swap space with ease. Remember to always back up your data before making any changes to your partition table to avoid losing important files.

Parted command line for mac