Create Partition Mac External Drive: A Step-by-Step Guide

As a Mac user, you may have found yourself in need of installing Windows on an external drive to free up storage space or run specific software that is not compatible with macOS. However, Apple's Boot Camp only allows installation of Windows on the internal hard drive, leaving no room for expansion. Fear not, as we will explore a method to create a partition on your Mac external drive and install Windows 10.

Before we begin, it's essential to note that this process has been tested on both pre-UEFI and UEFI Macs, and has proven to be successful. If you have extra storage available on your internal hard drive, using Boot Camp may be the easier option, as it eliminates the need for an external drive. Nevertheless, if you're looking for more control over the installation process or want to use Windows on an external drive, this method is perfect for you.

The first step in creating a partition on your Mac external drive is to prepare the drive itself. You'll need to format the drive as exFAT, which is a file system that can be read and written by both macOS and Windows. To do this, connect the external drive to your Mac and open Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities). Select the external drive from the list on the left-hand side and click the 'Erase' button.

Once the drive has been formatted, you'll need to create a new partition using the Disk Utility tool. Click on the '+' button at the top-right corner of the Disk Utility window and select 'Partition'. In the Partition window, select the external drive from the list and choose the size of the partition you want to create. For this example, we'll assume you're creating a 256GB partition.

After creating the partition, restart your Mac and boot into Windows installation media (USB or CD/DVD). Follow the standard Windows installation process until you reach the 'Install now' screen. Select the language and other preferences as desired, then click 'Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)'. This will allow you to install Windows on a specific drive or partition.

In this case, select the external drive's partition from the list of available drives. The installation process may take some time, so be patient. Once complete, restart your Mac and boot into Windows. You should now have a fully functional Windows 10 installation running on your external drive.

This method provides more control over the installation process compared to Boot Camp, allowing you to choose the size of the partition and install Windows on an external drive. With this setup, you can easily switch between macOS and Windows without having to worry about storage space constraints.

Create partition mac external drive