Dina Bader: Need to remove a partition on your Mac? Here's how to do it.

Need to reclaim that space you used for a hard drive partition? Here's what you need to do.

If you have previously partitioned your Mac's hard drive in order to download a macOS beta or install Windows, but now you need that storage space back, you can remove the partition and recapture the much-needed space. Here's how to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac.

Getting rid of a secondary partition on the Mac is a two-step process. After erasing a partition, you can then remove it from your system.

Before you start

The most important thing to do before you remove a hard drive partition on your Mac is to back it up. Time Machine has the easiest way to back up your data if you don't already have a system in place. You'll need an external hard drive to start a local backup regimen.

How to erase a partition on your Mac

Make sure to restart your computer in your main partition to erase additional ones.

Open Finder from your dock.
Select Applications.
Scroll down and open the Utilities folder.
Double-click to open Disk Utility.
Select the partition you wish to erase.
Click Erase.
Click Erase to confirm you wish to erase the partition.
Click Done to continue.

How to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac

After following the steps to remove a hard drive partition on your Mac, you can then remove it from your hard drive.

Select your main partition, which is the first drive on the list. It might be called "Fusion" or "Macintosh HD."
Click Partition.
Select the partition you wish to remove from the graph.
Click the minus (-) button.
Click Apply.