Josh99Ralla

Q: Can't format former Boot Camp partition

So I stupidly erased my Boot Camp partition using Disk Utility rather than in the Boot Camp Assistant. And now I the partition is stuck as free space and i can't change it. When i select the free space in Disk Util, I can change it to Mac OS Extended and ExFAT as usual, but when I press apply, the progress bar appears for a brief second and disappears. Then it acts as if I never pressed apply; when I close the window, it says that I have unsaved changes. The free space does not appear as a drive in the left sidebar.

 

I have tried reinstalling OS X, I've tried returning to a time machine backup, I've verified and repaired the disk, but nothing has worked.

I'm left with 67GB of space unusable on my macbook now.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Oct 11, 2014 9:36 AM

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Q: Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 18, 2014 9:42 AM in response to Eddiep56
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    Oct 18, 2014 9:42 AM in response to Eddiep56

    Excellent.

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 12:15 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 12:15 AM in response to Loner T

    Hi!

    I have  the same problem. I erased my Bootcamp partition using Disk Utility and now I cannot use the whole disk. Here is what I get after entering diskutil list:

    Danil-Mac:~ makarovdanil$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            87.5 GB    disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

    And here is the screenshot of DiskUtility (sorry for another language, I hope it is not a problem):

    No_Name.tiff

    I studied what you've written before and as far as I understand I should use diskutil coreStorage deleteVolume. The problem is that I can't find this huge number 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555. Could you tell me what should I do? Many thanks in advance.


    PS Do I have to erase the whole disk and then use TimeMachine or somehow I can save the data?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 19, 2014 7:38 AM in response to makarovdanil
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Oct 19, 2014 7:38 AM in response to makarovdanil

    Please post the output of command diskutil cs list from an OSX Terminal. (Language is not an issue, please do not worry about it).

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 7:43 AM in response to Loner T
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    Oct 19, 2014 7:43 AM in response to Loner T

    Danil-Mac:~ makarovdanil$ diskutil cs list

    No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

    Danil-Mac:~ makarovdanil$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 19, 2014 8:07 AM in response to makarovdanil
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Oct 19, 2014 8:07 AM in response to makarovdanil

    If you do not have a CoreStorage volume, it may be a bit easier to fix it.

     

    Can you post the output of

     

    1. sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    2. sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

     

    If you erase Bootcamp partition using Disk Utility, which uses both GPT and MBR, it will change the GPT, but may leave the MBR without a proper cleanup. It is recommended that Bootcamp Assistant be used to remove Bootcamp partitions, not Disk utility.

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 8:26 AM in response to Loner T
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    Oct 19, 2014 8:26 AM in response to Loner T

    First:

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 236978175

          start       size  index  contents

              0          1         PMBR

              1          1         Pri GPT header

              2         32         Pri GPT table

             34          6        

             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

         409640  170845832      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      171255472    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      172525008   64453135        

      236978143         32         Sec GPT table

      236978175          1         Sec GPT header

    Second:

    Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  236978175] <Unknown ID>

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

     

    I know that I should have used BootCamp Assistant, but for some reason it didn't work. So I made this bold decision. Looks like there are some issues with BootCamp because of Yosemite.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 19, 2014 8:38 AM in response to makarovdanil
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Oct 19, 2014 8:38 AM in response to makarovdanil

    If you notice, the space after GPT#3 is where your Bootcamp used to be. Because you have Recovery HD between OS X and Bootcamp, this would require delete recovery HD, merging the all of them to get OS X back, and re-installing OS X again (to get Recovery HD back).

     

    Your MBR is fine.

     

    If you want to see the same picture in Disk Utility, please see this link http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Enable-Disk-Utilitys-Debug-Menu.htm. This will show you Recovery HD right after OS X and then the previous Bootcamp disk space.

     

    This can also be done via diskutil commands as follows...

     

    1. Merge Recovery HD into OS X. The order of disk0s2 and disk0s3 is very important otherwise you will lose all your OS X data.

     

    diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3

     

    2. Now you can use Disk Utility to drag the Macintosh HD bottom left corner and make it full size. You have lost Recovery HD, but you can get it back by reinstalling OS X without touching any of your non-OS files.

     

     

    diskutil mergePartitions

    Usage:  diskutil mergePartitions [force] format name

            DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

     

    Merge two or more pre-existing partitions into one.  The first disk parameter

    is the starting partition; the second disk parameter is the ending partition;

    this given range of two or more partitions will be merged into one.

     

    All partitions in the range, except for the first one, must be unmountable.

     

    All data on merged partitions other than the first will be lost; data on the

    first partition will be lost as well if the "force" argument is given.

     

    If "force" is not given, and the first partition has a resizable file system

    (e.g. JHFS+), it will be grown in a data-preserving manner, even if a different

    file system is specified (in fact, your file system and volume name parameters

    are both ignored in this case). If "force" is not given, and the first

    partition is not resizable, you will be prompted if you want to erase.

     

    If "force" is given, the first partition is always formatted. You should

    do this if you wish to reformat to a new file system type.

     

    Merged partitions are required to be ordered sequentially on disk.

    See diskutil list for the actual on-disk ordering; BSD slice identifiers

    may in certain circumstances not always be in numerical order but the

    top-to-bottom order given by diskutil list is always the on-disk order.

     

    Ownership of the affected disk is required.

     

    Example: diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ NewName disk3s4 disk3s7

             This example will merge all partitions *BETWEEN* disk3s4 and disk3s7,

             preserving data on disk3s4 but destroying data on disk3s5, disk3s6,

             disk3s7 and any invisible free space partitions between those disks;

             disk3s4 will be grown to cover the full space if possible.

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 9:30 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 9:30 AM in response to Loner T

    Thank you so much!

    Regretfully now I am having another issue: my macbook can't find my wi-fi in the recovery mode (reboot + cmd + R). May I simply download Yosemite from App Store once again and launch the installer?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 19, 2014 10:01 AM in response to makarovdanil
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Oct 19, 2014 10:01 AM in response to makarovdanil

    Command+R is local Recovery HD, and if you did a mergePartitions, you no longer have Recovery HD.

     

    Please use Command+Opt+R (Internet Recovery - it should show a spinning globe), use a wired connection, otherwise it is too slow.

     

    1. Once you have OS X Yosemite installed from App Store (using your AppleID), you can restore files from TM backup as necessary, or,

    2. Do a full Restore from your TM backup.

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 10:27 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 10:27 AM in response to Loner T

    Yes, correct, I tried Cmd+Opt+R, but I couldn't find my wifi (and I have no LAN ).

    I tried to launch Time Machine (reboot + option), but it didn't work. Do I actually need this Recovery HD (sorry for such a silly question, I am a new Mac user).

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 19, 2014 11:02 AM in response to makarovdanil
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Oct 19, 2014 11:02 AM in response to makarovdanil

    1. See OS X: About OS X Recovery for Internet Recovery requirements.

    2. A Recovery HD is useful in case your main OS is not working, it is used for encrypting your hard drive and also to find your mac. Please see OS X: Installing OS X on an external volume.

  • by makarovdanil,

    makarovdanil makarovdanil Oct 19, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 11:33 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanx!

  • by iPodtouch245,

    iPodtouch245 iPodtouch245 Oct 19, 2014 10:16 PM in response to Josh99Ralla
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 19, 2014 10:16 PM in response to Josh99Ralla

    I just successfully installed Windows 8.1 Update 1 on BootCamp on Mac OS X Yosemite. Here is a step by step I just wrote, hope it helps y'all:

     

    How to successfully install Windows 8, or above, on Mac OS X Mavericks or above:

     

    Requirements:

    1- Windows OS ISO Image file

    2- An 8GBs USB Flash Drive

    3- A good Internet connection as you will need to download the Windows compatible drivers for your Mac

     

    Steps:

    1- Open up Disk Utility and create an additional partition for Windows formatted as ExFat. 100GBs, or above, is recommended as update to the operating system, as well as Apps requiere space on your HD or SSD [This step can be done during Mac OS X's installation process]

    2- Open up BootCamp Assistant

    3- Make sure only the 'Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk' is checked and your USB Flash Drive plugged in and click 'Continue'

    4- Click 'Choose' and select your Windows ISO Image file

    5- Select the USB Flash Drive you will be using during the installation process and click continue to confirm

    6- Once done, restart your Mac and hold down the 'alt/option' key on your keyboard to bring up the Boot Menu

    7- Select the USB Flash Drive named Windows, not the UEFI Boot

    8- Install Windows as you normally would

    * Remember to press and hold the 'alt/option' key, and select the Windows Partition, whenever the installation process requires your Mac to restart


    * http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj945423.aspx

    * http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/install-windows-on-mac

  • by dspec99,

    dspec99 dspec99 Oct 21, 2014 8:54 PM in response to iPodtouch245
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 21, 2014 8:54 PM in response to iPodtouch245

    Loner T, does the following tell you anything about my problem? Thank you.

     

    Last login: Tue Oct 21 23:37:28 on console

    Dans-MBP:~ danspector$ diskutil cs list

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group 06832E97-0D55-453A-BE67-FBB32D709E44

        =========================================================

        Name:         danspector

        Status:       Online

        Size:         239197650944 B (239.2 GB)

        Free Space:   35676160 B (35.7 MB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume DE9088CE-F17B-4BAD-A357-614A4A0A8CE6

        |   ----------------------------------------------------

        |   Index:    0

        |   Disk:     disk0s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     239197650944 B (239.2 GB)

        |

        +-> Logical Volume Family 914F8233-1C31-48C5-A094-9DCD87370B69

            ----------------------------------------------------------

            Encryption Status:       Unlocked

            Encryption Type:         AES-XTS

            Conversion Status:       Converting

            Conversion Direction:    forward

            Has Encrypted Extents:   Yes

            Fully Secure:            No

            Passphrase Required:     Yes

            |

            +-> Logical Volume D7C657CC-710D-4F72-8805-6567DE9A70F1

                ---------------------------------------------------

                Disk:                  disk1

                Status:                Online

                Size (Total):          238826422272 B (238.8 GB)

                Conversion Progress:   Optimizing 35%

                Revertible:            No

                LV Name:               danspector

                Volume Name:           danspector

                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

    Dans-MBP:~ danspector$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 21, 2014 9:04 PM in response to dspec99
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Oct 21, 2014 9:04 PM in response to dspec99

    The two things I can discern a. that it is still converting to a CS volume, and b. you may have a single 256GB drive on your Mac? DU will refuse to partition this further till the CS operation completes. Are you in the middle of a FileVault2 conversion?

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