Dragged partition into the trash...now what?

no, no reformatting necessary.

dragging a partition to the trash is akin to dismounting it.

all you need to do is remount it.

one way this can be accomplished is by launching the disk utility app at

/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility.app

select the dismounted partition

then select menu item Options->Mount

Great. Thanks. I assume all of the content will still be on there. To make it all one drive again, I assume that that would entail a reformatting, just like a pc. Not really a fan of Partition Magic.

Also, does one use the disk utility program that you mentioned to format it so that all of its contents are erased? If so, what are the steps? I'm sure that it is self-explanitory, like all mac stuff is, but just want to be sure.

Originally posted by LABachlr
Great. Thanks. I assume all of the content will still be on there. To make it all one drive again, I assume that that would entail a reformatting, just like a pc.
Yes, the content will still be there and yes, to reintegrate the partition requires a reformat of the entire drive.

Also, does one use the disk utility program that you mentioned to format it so that all of its contents are erased? If so, what are the steps? I'm sure that it is self-explanitory, like all mac stuff is, but just want to be sure.
Yes, it is self-explanatory.

Originally posted by djn1
Yes, it is self-explanatory.

I posted on another mac forum, and was told that with mac's, you can't format a partition of a hard drive if you are booted up from another partition that is on the same hard drive.

In other words, let's say there is one physical hard drive that has two partitions: C and D. If one is booted up via the C drive, he claimed that one could not format the D drive, that you have to be booting from a CD or an entirely different hard drive to do this.

This doesn't really make sense to me as a pc guy, because with pc's, this is completely possible and is done all the time.

Is what he claims really true?

Originally posted by LABachlr
I posted on another mac forum, and was told that with mac's, you can't format a partition of a hard drive if you are booted up from another partition that is on the same hard drive.

Is what he claims really true?
I guess it really depends on what you mean by 'format'. Using Disk Utility you can erase the entire contents of a partition (provided that you aren't booted from it). My understanding is that the term format is relevant at a 'drive' level, not the partition level; i.e. you can format a drive, but not a single partition. What exactly does your friend want to achieve?

Originally posted by djn1
I guess it really depends on what you mean by 'format'. Using Disk Utility you can erase the entire contents of a partition (provided that you aren't booted from it). My understanding is that the term format is relevant at a 'drive' level, not the partition level; i.e. you can format a drive, but not a single partition.

What exactly does your friend want to achieve?

Pretty much just erase the contents of the drive. What is the function called in Disk Utility..."Erase"? I know that it is self-explanitory, but I just want to be able to tell him what he needs to do, instead of saying, "Look for a function similar to..."

In the pc world, the term "format" can refer to a partition or the complete hard drive. It just means that you are completely erasing all contents of that drive...wiping it clean. There is also what is known as a "Low-level" format, in which you format the drive down to its very roots. It is also termed "writing zeros to the drive". That function can only be performed on the entire hard drive, deleting all partitions in the process.

Originally posted by LABachlr
Pretty much just erase the contents of the drive. What is the function called in Disk Utility..."Erase"? I know that it is self-explanitory, but I just want to be able to tell him what he needs to do, instead of saying, "Look for a function similar to..."
I'm at work (in front of a PC) at the moment so this is from memory ... within Disk Utility there's a Partition tab that allows you to select and individual partition and then erase its contents.

Originally posted by djn1
I'm at work (in front of a PC) at the moment so this is from memory ... within Disk Utility there's a Partition tab that allows you to select and individual partition and then erase its contents.

Cool. That will do. Thanks.