What is the disk utility tool in macOS called?

The disk utility tool in macOS is called Disk Utility. It is Apple’s built-in application for managing storage devices, volumes, partitions, and disk images.

Disk Utility can erase and reformat drives, create or restore disk images, partition physical disks, and inspect the relationship between a physical device and its volumes. Its First Aid feature can check certain file-system problems and attempt repairs. The app is located in the Applications/Utilities folder and is also available from macOS Recovery.

A common mix-up is confusing Disk Utility with a third-party maintenance program. Names such as Disk Doctor are commercial utilities, not macOS’s standard storage manager. Disk Utility also is not the same as Finder: Finder handles everyday file browsing, whereas Disk Utility works at the storage and file-system level. Since erasing a disk can destroy data, backups are important before using its erase tools.