jake10e

Q: Disk Utility defaulted to Logical Volume Group format for new 4TB HDD and won't let me change to GUID. Is that a problem?

I just installed a 4TB HGST HDD in the 4th bay of my mid-2010 mac pro (2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel). I formatted the drive using Disk Utility's "Erase" tab as Mac OS Extended Journaled and the drive seems to be working fine (set up as Time Machine backup).  It is recognizing the full 4TB capacity and the first backup in TM took a long time but all the files are there.  However, my understanding is that all drives intended for use solely in my mac should ideally be formatted to GUID.  The problem is that Disk Utility formatted the drive to a Logical Volume Group/Logical Partition, so it's not allowing me to change the format type now i.e. when I go to the "Partition" tab in Disk Utility, all of the options are greyed out.  Also, the RAID tab does not appear for this drive as it does for the other three 1TB drives installed.

 

So my ultimate question is this - is it a problem that I can't reformat to GUID?  If so, why is it a problem and how do I fix it?

 

Thanks!

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Aug 19, 2013 12:23 AM

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Q: Disk Utility defaulted to Logical Volume Group format for new 4TB HDD and won't let me change to GUID. Is that a problem?

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  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Sep 26, 2013 5:29 PM in response to danilokim
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
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    Sep 26, 2013 5:29 PM in response to danilokim

    Still a bug in 10.8.5.

     

    Still can be bypassed by erasing in an External enclosure, but as at least one Reader found out, some older External enclosures do not support drives over 2.2TB either.

     

    Still can be worked around if you have a version of Recovery_HD or an old Mac OS X drive that pre-dates 10.8.4.

  • by aaaashy,

    aaaashy aaaashy Sep 28, 2013 7:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (55 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 7:43 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    is Recovery_HD part of another program? or part of certain versions of the Mac OS? i see it is somehow incorporated into Carbon Copy Cloner, but i do not have this particular app, so is this the only way to get it?

    (btw i am running 10.8.5)

    thanks peter

  • by The hatter,

    The hatter The hatter Sep 28, 2013 8:30 AM in response to aaaashy
    Level 9 (60,935 points)
    Sep 28, 2013 8:30 AM in response to aaaashy

    Lion and above have a small (under 1GB) Recovery partition. CCC just asks to make sure if you want to include one on your other drives (recommended) so you can use it as a small mini OS to use a trimmed down limited set of programs.

     

    Having a clone from say 10.8.3 or earlier would be a better route. Saving that ML installer you got say back in 10.8.0-10.8.3 would also be handy to have to do a clean install and have your own 20GB system - and not update it past 10.8.3 (hence the usefulness of those combo updates for manually install and reinstalling, rather than automatically which will take you to 10.8.5 again).

  • by Frank Lowney,

    Frank Lowney Frank Lowney Dec 7, 2013 7:14 AM in response to jake10e
    Level 1 (113 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 7:14 AM in response to jake10e

    I am seeing the same problem with four 3TB Hitachi disks in a 2009 MacPro under MacOS X 10.9 (Mavericks).

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 7, 2013 7:57 AM in response to Frank Lowney
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 7, 2013 7:57 AM in response to Frank Lowney

    All the earlier Mac Pro through the 4,1 2009 model can boot from the 10.6 "Full Retail" DVD, which is still available from the Apple Online Store for US$20.

     

    The 5,1 models (2010 and 2012) require custom 10.6.4 as a minimum. So they can RUN 10.6.8 if you have it on an old drive, but they cannot BOOT from the Full Retail DVD, (which contains 10.6.3).

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 8:15 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 8:15 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    So what does this mean in practice, say you have a 3TB or 4TB drive in 10.8.5 ?

     

    I replaced a non-startup drive holding my iTunes library which was low on space with a 4TB WD black drive some weeks ago - a bit noisy like my smaller 750GB blacks but seems to be working ok for the intended usage - the black is probably overkill for itunes streaming to AppleTv but it was on offer.

     

    Disk Utility indicates it's formatted as GUID partition table, so anything to be wary of?

     

    I ask primarily as ML is behaving oddly - peculiar finder oddities and a few other things that make me think I've either got a dodgy logic board or ML is corrupt.

     

    AC

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 7, 2013 8:35 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 7, 2013 8:35 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    This is NOT a subtle problem. You can't do ANYTHING with it -- the drive is useless and you are stuck.

     

    The problem is the new Drive gets configured as a Logical Volume group.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 8:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 8:55 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

     

    This is NOT a subtle problem. You can't do ANYTHING with it -- the drive is useless and you are stuck.

     

    The problem is the new Drive gets configured as a Logical Volume group.

    When you say I can't do anything with it I don't follow but am undoubtedly missing something.  I've been using it for a few weeks now and have another unopened.

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-07 at 16.49.06.png

     

    and

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-07 at 16.55.02.png

     

    AC

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 7, 2013 8:57 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 7, 2013 8:57 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    Alley_Cat-

     

    YOU have dodged this bullet completely. [I dunno how or why.]

     

    Users with this problem end up with a >2.2TB+ Logical Volume group as the only item on the drive and cannot erase or create ANY Volume on it. The drive is dead in the water.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 8:58 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I honestly can't remember if I formatted the drive via 10.8.5 or 10.9 which I had as a second boot option but removed a few weeks ago.

     

    If I formatted it with 10.9 any problems using it in 10.8.5 ?

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 9:00 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Grant Bennet-Alder wrote:

     

    Alley_Cat-

     

    YOU have dodged this bullet completely. [I dunno how or why.]

     

    Users with this problem end up with a >2.2TB+ Logical Volume group as the only item on the drive and cannot erase or create ANY Volume on it. The drive is dead in the water.

    Yikes and phew!

     

    Can the dead drive be salavaged and reformatted using 10.9 or earlier ML installations or on a Windows system?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 7, 2013 9:04 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 7, 2013 9:04 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    10.9.0 appears to have this problem as well.

     

    Maybe you used a 10.6.3 DVD or one of those [I can't talk about it] versions of Mac OS X.

     

    IF it can create a Mac OS X Extended journaled Volume, you will be fine. Those are broadly backward and forward compatible.

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 9:07 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 9:07 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    How very, very strange......wasn't the DVD....the 10.9 version was legitimate just not 'mainstream'.

     

    What about the new unformatted 4TB drive? Can I use my old 10.6.8 startup ?  I probably have an old Lion startup partition somewhere too.

     

    How very odd.

     

    I wonder if DIsk Utility logs drive formatting anywhere?

     

    AC

  • by Alley_Cat,

    Alley_Cat Alley_Cat Dec 7, 2013 9:13 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 6 (19,593 points)
    Dec 7, 2013 9:13 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    Alley_Cat wrote:

     

    I wonder if DIsk Utility logs drive formatting anywhere?

     

    AC

    Here we go, from DiskUtility.log:

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-07 at 17.10.07.png

     

    So looks as though I formatted it with 10.8.5

     

    AC

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Dec 7, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Alley_Cat
    Level 9 (61,250 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 7, 2013 9:22 AM in response to Alley_Cat

    Can the dead drive be salavaged and reformatted using 10.9 or earlier ML installations or on a Windows system?

     

    • 10.6.0 or 10.6.3 "Full Retail" DVD from its Utilities on DVD, or even older DVD;

    • any intervening version from its Recovery_HD (on DVD or thumb drive) through 10.8.3;

     

    • any intervening version on a Hard Drive through 10.8.3;

     

    • also in an External enclosure under the troubled versions {10.8.4, 10.8.5, 10.9.0} (provided the enclosure has large drive support);

    • 10.9.0 = Not as an Internal drive;

     

    Windows System not sure, but likley.

    N.B.> I hesitate to recommend Windows since So Many Windows users TRASH their Mac OS X Volume using Windows Tools to re-configure a Multi-OS Volume.

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