Josh99Ralla
Level 1 (0 points)

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

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (24,738 points)
Safari
A:

If you are restoring a full TM backup, it will erase and restore the entire disk. Please try and post if you get any errors when you attempt a restore. If you want to test whether it works or not...

 

You can erase the  disk using...

diskutil eraseDisk

Usage:  diskutil eraseDisk format name [APM[Format]|MBR[Format]|GPT[Format]]

        MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Completely erase an existing whole disk.  All volumes on this disk will be

destroyed.  Ownership of the affected disk is required.

Format is the specific file system name you want to erase it as (HFS+, etc.).

Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions),

or can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (newfs).

You cannot erase the boot disk.

Example: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ UntitledUFS disk3

 

 

You can format the disk using...

 

diskutil reformat

Usage:  diskutil reformat MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Completely erase an existing volume with the same name and format as the

original.  Ownership of the affected disk is required.

You cannot erase the boot volume, nor can you reformat any device which

does not have a valid file system (instead use diskutil eraseVolume).

Posted on Oct 12, 2014 9:57 AM

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Q: Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 30, 2015 1:42 PM in response to Loner T
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    Jul 30, 2015 1:42 PM in response to Loner T

    Thats interesting thanks a lot. i think i can sleep today.

     

    Should i restore from a particular time to avoid recreating the initial problem that led me to this. Or should i restore from a day before the problem was created. The problem resulted because i wanted to install Windows 8.1pro using Boot camp. What do you just? thanks

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 30, 2015 1:44 PM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 30, 2015 1:44 PM in response to ralphejims

    Restore the latest backup. The Restore process will figure it out. You can fix it again using the same steps if necessary.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 30, 2015 1:47 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 30, 2015 1:47 PM in response to Loner T

    Ok, thanks very much. I am giving you complete five stars!!!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 30, 2015 1:52 PM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 30, 2015 1:52 PM in response to ralphejims

    Thank you.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 10:48 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 10:48 AM in response to Loner T

    Sorry if I am disturbing a lot. However, my confidence in you has grown. My system is working fine after yesterdays recovery and formatting. Nevertheless
    I am trying to install windows 8.1pro using boot camp, but I cannot scale through again. I keep on receiving this message Error: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate and existing one" can you help me? Any solution towards installing it?

    Thanks.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 10:56 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 10:56 AM in response to Loner T

    This is what my lists show. I only attempted to install windows 8.1pro once. I have not deleted the partition through boot camp yet.

     

    -bash-3.2# diskutil cs list

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group D58C9A35-0855-4F6F-BED1-D59EAC5AF28C

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

      Name: OSX-MacintoshLVG

      Status: Online

      Size: 839498473472 B (839.5 GB)

      Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

      |

      +-< Physical Volume BEB1745E-9977-4A6F-9511-699A0A46A234

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

      | Index: 0

      | Disk: disk0s2

      | Status: Online

      | Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

      |

      +-< Physical Volume 0F1676BC-5711-4E4F-8BD1-40001C3B8C04

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

      | Index: 1

      | Disk: disk1s2

      | Status: Online

      | Size: 718509621248 B (718.5 GB)

      |

      +-> Logical Volume Family 085B35F7-851C-4C5C-8C4E-D444A04D4B55

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

      Encryption Status: Unlocked

      Encryption Type: None

      Conversion Status: NoConversion

      Conversion Direction: -none-

      Has Encrypted Extents: No

      Fully Secure: No

      Passphrase Required: No

      |

      +-> Logical Volume 24B4FC14-6C84-44F9-A78E-07502960C541

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

      Disk: disk3

      Status: Online

      Size (Total): 833999994880 B (834.0 GB)

      Conversion Progress: -none-

      Revertible: No

      LV Name: Macintosh HD

      Volume Name: Macintosh HD

      Content Hint: Apple_HFS

    -bash-3.2#

    -bash-3.2# 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_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

      3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

      1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

      2: Apple_CoreStorage 718.5 GB disk1s2

      3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 650.0 MB disk1s3

      4: Microsoft Basic Data 280.8 GB disk1s4

    /dev/disk2

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: Apple_partition_scheme *1.3 GB disk2

      1: Apple_partition_map 30.7 KB disk2s1

      2: Apple_HFS OS X Base System 1.3 GB disk2s2

    /dev/disk3

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *834.0 GB disk3

      Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

      24B4FC14-6C84-44F9-A78E-07502960C541

      Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk4

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: FDisk_partition_scheme *63.9 GB disk4

      1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 63.9 GB disk4s1

    /dev/disk5

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *5.2 MB disk5

    /dev/disk6

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk6

    /dev/disk7

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk7

    /dev/disk8

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk8

    /dev/disk9

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk9

    /dev/disk10

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk10

    /dev/disk11

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *6.3 MB disk11

    /dev/disk12

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *2.1 MB disk12

    /dev/disk13

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *1.0 MB disk13

    /dev/disk14

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk14

    /dev/disk15

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *524.3 KB disk15

    /dev/disk16

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *1.0 MB disk16

    /dev/disk17

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: untitled *6.3 MB disk17

    -bash-3.2#

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 31, 2015 11:13 AM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 31, 2015 11:13 AM in response to ralphejims

    1. You have a BC/Windows partition.

     

    /dev/disk1

      #: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

      0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

      1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

      2: Apple_CoreStorage 718.5 GB disk1s2

      3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 650.0 MB disk1s3

      4: Microsoft Basic Data 280.8 GB disk1s4

     

    2. If you interrupt BC Assistant and use Alt/Option key, one likely error is what you see.

    3. If BCA failed in creating an MBR, it can result in this error message as well. Please post the output of

     

         fdisk /dev/disk0

         fdisk /dev/disk1

     

         Use sudo before these commands, if necessary.

     

    4. You may run into an issue with a 64GB flash device. You may want to use a 8/16GB Flash disk and it should be USB2 not USB3.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 11:29 AM in response to Loner T

    Da before yesterday, I tried installing with 8Gb flash disk and I was getting the same error. That's why I decided to try with 64 since I don't have 16.

     

    The terminal result I ran now shows nothing. It reads

     

    -bash-3.2# sudo fdisk/dev/disk0

    -bash: sudo: command not found

    -bash-3.2# fdisk/dev/disk1

    -bash: fdisk/dev/disk1: No such file or directory

    -bash-3.2# sudofdisk/dev/disk0

    -bash: sudofdisk/dev/disk0: No such file or directory

    -bash-3.2# sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    -bash: sudo: command not found

    -bash-3.2#

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 11:33 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 11:33 AM in response to Loner T

    Ok, see the list, it reads

     

    -bash-3.2# fdisk /dev/disk0

    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     

    -bash-3.2#

    -bash-3.2# fdisk /dev/disk1

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 1953525167] <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     

    -bash-3.2#

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 31, 2015 11:37 AM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 31, 2015 11:37 AM in response to ralphejims

    Can you boot normally and download GPT Fdisk from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/ ? BCA failed to create a Hybrid MBR that can be manually created and then you can re-attempt the Windows installation.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 11:40 AM in response to Loner T

    ok, I will try that immediately

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 11:44 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 11:44 AM in response to Loner T

    should I clean up the window partition using boot camp?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 31, 2015 11:48 AM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 31, 2015 11:48 AM in response to ralphejims

    You can try that, but use only BCA, nothing else. If you still run into issues, please post back.

  • by ralphejims,

    ralphejims ralphejims Jul 31, 2015 12:15 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 31, 2015 12:15 PM in response to Loner T

    I succeeded in removing the partition through BCA. My HDD is normal now. I have also downloaded the gpt fdisk and installed it in the computer. Should I start the normal process of installing windows 8.1 using boot camp as before?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 31, 2015 12:19 PM in response to ralphejims
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
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    Jul 31, 2015 12:19 PM in response to ralphejims

    Yes, please try the normal BCA. If it fails, we can use GPT Fdisk to correct it.

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