Disk partition in Mac

First, you should note that the APFS filesystem has a feature that NTFS lacks. An APFS partition can have several logical volumes, each of which act as separately mountable devices. They are individual volumes within a single partition. If you want to add a new volume, you can pretty much do that at any time, as long as you have the space available, with no need to repartition. It's easy and fast to add a new volume in Disk Utility.

With that knowledge in mind, you have a couple of options.

For my internal SSD, which has both MacOS and almost all of my data, I have a single APFS partition and its single default volume.

I also have an external hard drive with a single APFS partition. However, I have two volumes. I keep my entire music library in one volume, and Time Machine is configured to backup to the second volume.

To answer your question directly, there is no need to keep the operating system and your data in separate partitions, or even in separate APFS volumes. I have opted to keep my music library on an external disk, because my library is pretty large and my internal SSD is relatively small.

Does that help? Feel free to ask if you're still confused.

Hi Arya! Regarding your question about using a single external SSD for both Windows and Mac, the answer is yes, you can! However, you need to format the SSD in a file system that is compatible with both operating systems, such as exFAT. This way, both your Mac and Windows machines can read and write to the SSD.

As for creating a new volume in your external SSD, the process is quite straightforward in Disk Utility. Here’s a simple step-by-step guide I usually follow:
1. Connect your external SSD to your Mac.
2. Open Disk Utility (you can find it using Spotlight search).
3. Select your external SSD from the list of drives.
4. Click on the 'Partition' button.
5. Choose to add a partition or an APFS volume (depending on your requirement).
6. Assign a size and name to the new volume.
7. Click 'Apply' to create the volume.

Remember to back up any important data before you start the partitioning process, as it's always better to be safe than sorry. And for a more comprehensive guide on using NTFS for Mac, especially if you're transitioning from a Windows machine, you might find this article helpful: https://setapp.com/how-to/use-ntfs-for-mac. If you have any more questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask!

I had not subscribed to this thread and had missed Arya's followups.

Hi Arya!

I'm glad to hear that you successfully partitioned your SSD! This setup should serve you well in managing your data effectively across both operating systems.

Wishing you a fantastic and productive year ahead in 2024!