sundy_1

Q: Can't partition (option greyed out) External HDD on Mac OS X El Capitan

Hi guys,

 

Scoured the net for an existing solution to this problem, but to no avail.

 

I'm attempting to partition a 500gb external HDD to run bootcamp, but whenever I go into Disk Utility, the option to partition the drive is greyed out.

 

I've previously erased and formatted to Mac OS X Journaled, so there's nothing on it, but still the partition option isn't available (see screenshot).

 

Any help is majorly appreciated. Thanks in advance!Mac Screenshot.png

MacBook Pro

Posted on Nov 15, 2015 1:48 AM

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Q: Can't partition (option greyed out) External HDD on Mac OS X El Capitan

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  • by sundy_1,

    sundy_1 sundy_1 Nov 15, 2015 1:58 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 1:58 AM in response to sundy_1

    This has gotten even stranger. When I took the screenshot, it was showing the hard-drive as empty, but now that I look at the above screenshot, it's not only saying there's content on the drive, but it's apparently still MS-DOS (completely altered screenshot)!? This is even though when I open the HDD in Finder, there is definitely nothing on it.

     

    Please help.

  • by bigschwabbel,

    bigschwabbel bigschwabbel Nov 15, 2015 2:05 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 3 (808 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 2:05 AM in response to sundy_1

    Erase it with GUID/HFS+. Restart Disk Utility if necessary. That should give you the Partition button back.

  • by sundy_1,

    sundy_1 sundy_1 Nov 15, 2015 2:13 AM in response to bigschwabbel
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 2:13 AM in response to bigschwabbel

    Hi bigschwabbel,

     

    I've already erased through Mac OS X Journaled. When I look at it on my Mac, it then tells me it's empty. Like the second post said^^, it's showing on this forum screenshot there's apparently still content there, which isn't the case. I've restarted Disk Utility numerous times, but nada.

     

    Thanks for the quick response.

  • by bigschwabbel,

    bigschwabbel bigschwabbel Nov 15, 2015 2:39 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 3 (808 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 2:39 AM in response to sundy_1

    Open Terminal and type "diskutil list". Post the output here.

  • by Leopardus,

    Leopardus Leopardus Nov 15, 2015 3:13 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 4 (1,087 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 15, 2015 3:13 AM in response to sundy_1

    sundy_1 wrote:

     

    Hi guys,

     

    Scoured the net for an existing solution to this problem, but to no avail.

     

    I'm attempting to partition a 500gb external HDD to run bootcamp, but whenever I go into Disk Utility, the option to partition the drive is greyed out.

     

    I've previously erased and formatted to Mac OS X Journaled, so there's nothing on it, but still the partition option isn't available (see screenshot).

     

    Any help is majorly appreciated. Thanks in advance!Mac Screenshot.png

     

    This drive has been formatted as FAT (MS-DOS), for Microsoft. You have to erase it, to give it a new partition table. (GUID for OS X Journaled)

     

    Leo

  • by sundy_1,

    sundy_1 sundy_1 Nov 15, 2015 5:59 AM in response to Leopardus
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 5:59 AM in response to Leopardus

    Any help is majorly appreciated. Thanks in advance!Mac Screenshot.png

     

    This drive has been formatted as FAT (MS-DOS), for Microsoft. You have to erase it, to give it a new partition table. (GUID for OS X Journaled)

     

    Leo

     

    Hey Leo,

     

    Thanks for the reply. I know the screenshot reads MS-DOS, but I have in fact already erased as OS X Journaled, hence the confusion as to why the screenshot that appears on this forum appears different (really strange). Here's what I got when I took your advice in running through terminal:

    Terminal output.png

    Hope that helps and thanks in advance!

     

    Tom

  • by greg sahli,

    greg sahli greg sahli Nov 15, 2015 6:12 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 7 (25,395 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:12 AM in response to sundy_1

    Still shows no indication that it's been formatted HFS+.

    What brand external drive?

  • by Alberto Ravasio,Solvedanswer

    Alberto Ravasio Alberto Ravasio Nov 15, 2015 6:27 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 5 (4,070 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:27 AM in response to sundy_1

    Issue the following Terminal's command

     

    diskutil erasedisk hfs+ External GPT /dev/disk2

  • by Leopardus,

    Leopardus Leopardus Nov 15, 2015 6:28 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 4 (1,087 points)
    Desktops
    Nov 15, 2015 6:28 AM in response to sundy_1

    Your terminal output indicates that it has not been formatted correctly for HFS+

     

    Make sure that you select the GUID partition and not the MBR which is for FAT. Thereafter your disk should be formatted correctly for HFS+

     

    Leo

  • by sundy_1,

    sundy_1 sundy_1 Nov 15, 2015 6:26 AM in response to greg sahli
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:26 AM in response to greg sahli

    Greg wrote:

     

    Still shows no indication that it's been formatted HFS+.

    What brand external drive?

     

    It's Seagate, Greg.

     

    Best,

    Tom

  • by sundy_1,

    sundy_1 sundy_1 Nov 15, 2015 6:29 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio
    Level 1 (3 points)
    Nov 15, 2015 6:29 AM in response to Alberto Ravasio

    Alberto wrote:

     

    Issue the following Terminal's command

     

    diskutil erasedisk hfs+ External GPT /dev/disk2


    Alberto! You are the man. It's now renamed Seagate Portable (as opposed to my personalised name beforehand) and shows its own partition named simply "External," but that appears to have solved the issue as partition is now an option when highlighting the HDD.

     

    Thank you so much, sir.

     

    All the best,

    Tom


  • by traceyinhenderson,

    traceyinhenderson traceyinhenderson Jan 23, 2016 12:12 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jan 23, 2016 12:12 AM in response to sundy_1

    Thank you so much and I wish I had found your answer yesterday! I spent so much time before finding your solution that worked.  After following your instructions and pressing partition from the main listing of my hard drive in disk utilities, I got a message saying I needed to click the external option of my hard drive (which was the listing under the main hard drive) "file" and "enable journaling."  After doing that the partition option was no longer greyed out and I was able to successfully partition the drive.   

  • by Don Knaught,

    Don Knaught Don Knaught Mar 27, 2016 9:00 AM in response to sundy_1
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Mar 27, 2016 9:00 AM in response to sundy_1

    Hi guys, sorry for highjacking the post, but since the problem was already solved, I thought you wouldn't mind.

     

    I had the same problem and used the command posted here on terminal, but still can't partition my external HDD. When I run diskutil list on my terminal, this is what I get now, after using the proposed hfs+ command:

     

    Last login: Sun Mar 27 12:28:21 on ttys000

    MacBook-Air:~ TT$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD            120.5 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +120.1 GB   disk1

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2

                                     DE906773-3685-4883-A1E5-A0D123646512

                                     Unencrypted

    /dev/disk2 (external, physical):

       #:                       TYPE             NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                              *1.0 TB     disk2

       1:                                       EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk2s1

       2:           Microsoft Basic Data TT                       999.9 GB   disk2s2

    MacBook-Air:~ TT$


    Partition button is still greyed out. Any suggestions?


    Thanks

  • by Leopardus,

    Leopardus Leopardus Sep 4, 2016 11:17 AM in response to Don Knaught
    Level 4 (1,087 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 4, 2016 11:17 AM in response to Don Knaught

    Don,

     

    Kindly start your own thread concerning your exact problem. It will receive it's due consideration from the community on it's own merits.

     

    Leo