


This allows the partition's free space to be shared on demand and allocated to any of the individual volumes in the container as required.Ĭatalina is installed on a dedicated read-only system volume, while your files and data are stored separately in another volume labelled with the suffix "- Data." The idea behind this setup is that it helps prevent the accidental overwriting of critical operating system files, since the user can no longer alter data or store files on the read-only system volume. Aside from introducing a bunch of other new technical features, an APFS-formatted partition uses a space-sharing "container" that can house multiple secure "volumes" or file systems. It's the same procedure that Apple's Boot Camp Assistant runs to let you install Windows alongside macOS, but whereas that creates the partition for you, here we're going to show you how to partition your drive manually.īut before you install macOS Catalina on a separate partition, it's worth familiarizing yourself with the way Apple's new file system works.Ĭatalina is the first version of macOS to adopt wholesale the relatively new Apple File System (APFS), which is optimized for the flash storage used in recent Macs.


Partitioning your Mac divides the available hard drive space into individual sections, each of which acts as a separate volume that you can use to run two separate operating systems on the same computer. Of course, it's not just Catalina that you can install on a separate partition – the associated steps below can be used to run any operating system alongside macOS. That way, you can test out the apps that are most crucial to your daily workflow without risking your system's existing setup, not to mention your personal data. One way of avoiding a disastrous upgrade to Apple's latest version of macOS is to partition your Mac's hard drive and install Catalina alongside your current operating system. Every new release of macOS comes with its share of undetected bugs, but most early adopters will tell you that Catalina has had more than most.
