Disk Utility within Mac OS X provides a range of disk management tools, from erasing and repartitioning hard disks to restoring images and repairing volumes. It's a simple way of interacting with attached storage on your Mac.
You can do that using the following command: sudo nvram 'recovery-boot-mode=unused' sudo reboot This sets a firmware variable in nvram indicating that you want to start in Recovery mode on the next boot, and then reboots the machine. Command line macOS update reportedly faster, allows use of Mac while updating. Updating macOS through the App Store can take a very long time — for me it’s typically around 30 mins of.
- Dec 16, 2020 There are other ways to start up your Mac computer apart from the above-mentioned methods. Other ways to start up your Mac computer include; Safe mode: To simplify the process of troubleshooting those problems that are associated with your macOS, it is ideal to start up your Mac in a safe mode.
- I want to start the Tor Browser to a specific url from command-line but I don't found any way to do that. On Linux, i know the 'start-tor-browser' script exist but I don't found it on Mac OS X (10.10) after install the Tor Browser Bundle. In the Tor Browser.app I found a 'firefox' command, but this start a regular firefox.
Beyond this graphical front-end are some powerful command-line tools that we can use directly. In this series, we'll look at how to replicate the functionality of Disk Utility at the command-line.
The following guide will require the use of an external hard drive which will be erased and partitioned.
Terminology
A partition is a logical storage unit located on a hard disk. A hard disk can contain a single partition, making use of all the space it contains, or it can be split into multiple partitions.
In order to store data on a partition, it needs a filesystem. Once a partition has been formatted, this combination of partition and filesystem is known as a volume.
Here's a USB hard drive that has been split into 16 partitions, all of which will display separately on the Mac as separate volumes since they've been formatted, though they are all on the same drive.
Imagine you have a loft apartment that's just four outer walls. Think of partitioning as putting up dividing walls to create additional rooms. The more walls you put up, the more rooms you'll have, but all limited to the total amount of space you first had available.
But these rooms can't be used yet, not until you decide what each room will be. Formatting a disk partition is no different than deciding which room will be the bedroom or kitchen. At that point, it becomes a volume.
With the introduction of OS X Lion, your Mac's hard disk is split into two partitions with two corresponding volumes. The first is hidden and named Recovery HD for OS X Recovery, allowing you to reinstall OS X without needing any physical media. The second is the more familiar Macintosh HD.
Benefits of the Command-Line
Disk Utility is more than adequate to perform any form of disk management for most users. It's also safer than the command-line, displaying warning dialogs before proceeding with any potentially destructive functions.
For more experienced users, the command-line offers a greater level of flexibility and control so that what would normally require several different interactions and mouse clicks can be done with just one command.
Disk Information with diskutil
The diskutil command provides many of the features of Disk Utility, from verifying and repairing volumes to changing partition information.
To view the full list of available options for the command, enter the command diskutil.
Partition Information
Using the list option will display some basic information about all available volumes and drives attached. Within Terminal, enter:
In the following screenshot, you can see both the Recovery HD and Macintosh HD, both partitions contained on the Mac's internal hard disk. An external hard disk is also connected with a volume labeled Untitled.
There are some hidden partitions (such as EFI) used for the purposes of providing drivers and settings during boot. These aren't volumes since they cannot be mounted.
Depending on whether you have features such as FileVault 2 or Fusion Drive, your partition layout might differ slightly to what is pictured above.
For many of the options within diskutil, it's necessary to use the disk or partition's Identifier. Using list will provide you with this information.
Should you have a number of disks and only want to view information about a specific one, you can append the disk identifier to the command:
The first number represents the physical disk identifier. The number following the letter 's' represents the partition number. If a disk has three partitions, it would follow this convention:
- disk2s1
- disk2s2
- disk2s3
In addition to list, you can also use info with the corresponding identifier to display even further information, like so:
Verifying and Repairing Volumes
As within Disk Utility, the diskutil command can be used to verify or repair volumes of any errors and is very straightforward to do using either verifyVolume or repairVolume. These options don't need the disk identifier, just the volume's name:
If the feedback within Terminal looks familiar, that's because it's the same information Disk Utility provides.
Disk permissions can also be verified and repaired using two similar commands:
Erasing Disks
Erasing disks from the command-line can be a dangerous process as there aren't any warnings or confirmations. One typo could lead to irreversible data loss if there's no backup to restore from. If you're not familiar with the command-line, Disk Utility is just as capable.
You can either erase a whole disk which will remove any partitions stored upon it, or individual volumes without affecting others.
To erase an entire disk, you'll need the disk identifier, enter the following, adjusting the disk identifier to suit:
You'll notice this command has a little more going on than previous ones. The structure of the command is:
Erasing a whole disk will clear any partitions and create a new, single partition, before formatting it as a volume.
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Filesystem
You can specify the filesystem to format the partition in by using any that are supported. The most common would be JHFS+ which is more commonly known as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
To find out which filesystems you can use, enter:
diskutil listFilesystems
Name
This simply refers to the name of the volume that will be created. In this instance, I've just labelled the volume as 'Test'.
Disk Identifier
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Only the primary part of the identifier (i.e. disk1, disk2, disk3...) is needed. The additional segment indicating the partition number is omitted.
Erasing Volumes
Erasing volumes doesn't erase or affect the entire disk, only the volume you specify.
Here is an external drive that's partitioned with two volumes, FirstVolume and SecondVolume. To erase SecondVolume, the command is:
The command's structure is almost identical to using eraseDisk, only that you specify the volume rather than disk. Should a disk contain multiple volumes, only the one you specify is altered.
Reformatting Volumes
You'll notice that erasing a volume requires specifying the filesystem and name. This can be a bit tedious if you don't actually want to change either of these, but simply want to erase the contents.
Instead, the reformat option will erase the contents of the volume without requiring the filesystem or name, provided these are to remain unchanged.
Now, the volume will be erased but retain the existing filesystem and name.
Renaming Volumes
Within the Finder, you can quite easily rename the volume by selecting it on your desktop and pressing the Return key, just like you would any file or folder.
Renaming volumes within the Terminal uses a different method than the renaming of files and folder, something accomplished by using the command:
Wrapping Up
We've only scratched the surface of diskutil yet covered quite a lot. While the graphical interface of Disk Utility can be easier to interact with, a task that would involve several steps can be accomplished with just one single command.
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In the next part of this series, we'll cover how to manage partitioning and modify volumes.
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Start up from macOS Recovery
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
- Apple silicon: Turn on your Mac and continue to press and hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which includes a gear icon labeled Options. Select Options, then click Continue.
- Intel processor: Make sure that your Mac has a connection to the internet. Then turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold Command (⌘)-R until you see an Apple logo or other image.
If you're asked to select a user you know the password for, select the user, click Next, then enter their administrator password.
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Reinstall macOS
Select Reinstall macOS from the utilities window in macOS Recovery, then click Continue and follow the installer's instructions.
Follow these guidelines during installation:
- Allow installation to complete without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. Your Mac might restart and show a progress bar several times, and the screen might be empty for minutes at a time.
- If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac.
- If the installer doesn't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
- If the installer is for a different version of macOS than you expected, learn about other installation options, below.
- If the installer offers you the choice between installing on Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - Data, choose Macintosh HD.
After installation is complete, your Mac might restart to a setup assistant. If you're selling, trading in, or giving away your Mac, press Command-Q to quit the assistant without completing setup. Then click Shut Down. When the new owner starts up the Mac, they can use their own information to complete setup.
Other macOS installation options
By default, macOS Recovery installs the latest macOS that was previously installed on your Mac.* You can get other macOS versions using one of these methods:
- On an Intel-based Mac, you can use Option-Command-R at startup to upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Exceptions:
- If macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later was never previously installed, you will receive the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
- If your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip and you never installed a macOS update, you will receive the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.
- On an Intel-based Mac that previously used macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later, you can use Shift-Option-Command-R at startup to install the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.
- Reinstall macOS from the App Store instead of using macOS Recovery. If you can't install the latest macOS, you might be able to install an earlier macOS.
- Create a bootable installer, then use it to install macOS on your Mac or another Mac.
* If you just had your Mac logic board replaced during a repair, macOS Recovery might offer only the latest macOS compatible with your Mac. If you erased your entire disk instead of just the startup volume on that disk, macOS Recovery might offer only the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available.