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First I used Disk Utility to create a 100GB partition for sharing data between OSes, I then used Bootcamp Assistant to create a Windows partition to install Windows.

Later, when I removed the Windows partition again through Bootcamp assistant, it hasn't restored the space back to my original Hard disk.

Below is how my disks appears on Disk Utility, I'm not sure what is going on with it.

Does anyone know how I can recover the space?

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  • So are you just wanting to understand why, or are you wanting to work out how to get the free space back?
    – Mr R
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 20:14
  • Ideally both, but more so the latter. I have updated the description to include the question - "Does anyone know how I can recover the space?"
    – conorsomahony
    Commented Mar 15, 2021 at 20:52
  • conorsomahony: How is disk0s3 formatted? Such as FAT, ExFAT, NTFS or something else?
    – David Anderson
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 12:00

1 Answer 1

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Your disk has an APFS container, followed by a ‘Microsoft Basic Data’ partition called ‘datashare’, then free space. You can't join non-contiguous partitions.

Either delete the partition named 'datashare', or create a new separate partition in the free space.

You can perform these operations by choosing Partition from the toolbar in Disk Utility.

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    You mean can't with diskutility... there are a few disk managers / partition managers that can move partitions around too.
    – Mr R
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 10:37
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    @MrR: In this case, a new partition could be created at the bottom, then the contents of disk0s3 could be copied to the new partition. The would be fairly safe because the original could be left unchanged until you verify the copy was successful. When moving a partition, a backup should first be made just incase the move fails. Moving is required when the new and old partitions overlap, which in this case they would not.
    – David Anderson
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 11:54
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    @DavidAnderson the can't was reflecting on the answer saying you can't join non-contiguous partitions. Your method is cute - create a 150+GB partition, then duplicate the datashare partition, then delete the old data share and 150GB partition, and resize to get the space back.
    – Mr R
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 12:00
  • My “datashare”/disk0s3 partition was basically just for syncing my Google Drive and sharing it across OSes, but it is kind of redundant now. I will move my Google drive sync location to my main disk and try what you suggested, thanks guys, I will let you know how it goes.
    – conorsomahony
    Commented Mar 16, 2021 at 22:48

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