Dino - UK

Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

Hi Loner T, I've followed this thread from the start as I have the exact same problem installing bootcamp. This is my first Mac so I'm definitely a newbie and made the mistake of erasing windows and trying to delete the bootcamp partition as I didn't make the partition big enough in the first instance.

I now am in the same boat that Barncore was in and I too am not very "techie".

I did boot into recovery and use disk utility and cs list...this is the result.

 

IMG_2654.JPG

Could I take the liberty and ask if you'd cast your eye at the image and give your verdict. It is a late 2013 iMac 27 with I7 processor, 24 GB ram and a 1TB fusion drive.

I'm sorry to burden you with this but you seemed so knowledgable in the thread and I'm desperate to get windows 8.1pro back on as I need it for a couple of programs that are only available within the windows environment.

Best regards.

P.S. When I booted into recovery and ran repair disk in the top drive it listed this in red, although it said the disk appeared ok.

 

"Invalid disk label @ 4096 cksum mismatch".



Loner T wrote....

Can I suggest a new discussion? Since you are in Recovery (I assume Local Recovery - Command +R), this may be a bit more painful to post output with photographs. Can you boot normally into OS X without any issues? If yes, from OS X Terminal post the output of the following Terminal commands.

 

diskutil list

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

 

The "sudo" commands will prompt for your password, and it will not be echoed back. You may also see a warning about improper use of "sudo" and potential data loss due to "abuse" of the command.

 

It is much easier to post information from the normal boot of OS X. If we need to go back to Internet Recovery, it can be done after we gather some information.

 

Yes I can boot normally without issue, here are the outputs..

distil 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 Internal Drive          121.0 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          848.9 GB   disk1s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3

   4:                        EFI NO NAME                 104.9 MB   disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +964.3 GB   disk2

                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

                                 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk3

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS Passport for Mac        999.8 GB   disk3s2

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

distil cs list...

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 0794D847-5234-4609-A6AF-82B40B41A1F0

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

    Name:         Internal Drive

    Status:       Online

    Size:         969855918080 B (969.9 GB)

    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume ABA7389B-D341-41B0-893B-2337E4021183

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

    |   Index:    0

    |   Disk:     disk0s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume E5BF1D6A-47AB-45FC-84A5-C32B725285AB

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

    |   Index:    1

    |   Disk:     disk1s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     848867065856 B (848.9 GB)

    |

    +-> Logical Volume Family F99AD810-6552-4297-96F9-EC5D0458C625

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

        Encryption Type:         None

        |

        +-> Logical Volume 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

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

            Disk:                  disk2

            Status:                Online

            Size (Total):          964336500736 B (964.3 GB)

            Revertible:            No

            LV Name:               Macintosh HD

            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

            LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

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

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  236306352      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  236715992     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  236978136          7       

  236978143         32         Sec GPT table

  236978175          1         Sec GPT header

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

sudo 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    

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 7:19 AM

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Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

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  • Helpful answers

Page 1 Next
  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 21, 2015 9:07 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Dec 21, 2015 9:07 AM in response to Dino - UK

    Can you disconnect your external drive "Passport for Mac" before you attempt BC Assistant partitioning?

     

    You currently have a EFI partition (No name - 104.9MB)  which should not be there. We may need to erase this partition.

     

    Since you have a Fusion drive, can you also post

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

     

    You will also need to run

     

    Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

     

    before you attempt BC Assistant procedure.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 21, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Loner T

    Passport now disconnected, I did disconnect prior to trying bootcamp.

     

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1657943488      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1658353128     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1659622664      615160        

      1660237824      204800      4  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

      1660442624   293082511        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo 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     

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

     

    I'll now read and try the two resets. Thanks

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 21, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
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    Dec 21, 2015 9:41 AM in response to Dino - UK

    We should also delete/erase the second EFI (NO NAME) and coalesce the Free Space. Your Late 2013 Mac supports EFI boot for  Windows 8/10. Windows 7 is bit too buggy for my liking when used in an EFI installation.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 21, 2015 10:20 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 10:20 AM in response to Loner T

    How do we erase/delete the second EFI ? Incidentally, it is Windows 8.1 pro 64bit I'm wanting to reinstall.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 21, 2015 10:27 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 21, 2015 10:27 AM in response to Dino - UK

    From OSX Terminal, run

     

    diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s4

     

    This will return an error because we are converting the disk to Free Space.

     

    I assume you have the USB Installer built. If not, you can use BCA and click on the first two options - Create USB... and Download... and create a USB.

     

    Once you have the USB Installer built, shutdown your Mac, power it up with the USB installer connected and select EFI Boot (not Windows) and point to the Free Space on disk1. The Installer will automatically create a MSR (128MB) and rest will become NTFS.

     

    If you have keyboard/mouse issues, it can be because you are using a USB3 flash drive. Do not connect any other external storage till Windows is fully installed.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 21, 2015 10:42 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 10:42 AM in response to Loner T

    Many thanks, Bootcamp assistant has now at least allowed me to progress.

    I have started again from scratch with the first two options, looking hopeful...I shall keep you posted.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 21, 2015 12:04 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 12:04 PM in response to Loner T

    All is not good Loner, I did what you said, however after rebooting with the USB installer connected and selecting EFI, it did create a MSR but windows said it could not install. Even resorting to BCA again I'm back to square one "the startup disk cannot be partitioned etc...

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 21, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 21, 2015 12:36 PM in response to Dino - UK

    Do you have the exact error message? I suggest we address the issue(s) before you retry BCA. Can you also post the output of the GPT and Fdisk command for disk1?

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 21, 2015 1:20 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 21, 2015 1:20 PM in response to Loner T

    The error message was....

    "We couldn't create a new partitioner locate an existing one, for more info see the setup log files".

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1...


    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1657943488      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1658353128     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1659622664         760        

      1659623424      614400      4  GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

      1660237824      204800      5  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

      1660442624      262144      6  GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE

      1660704768   292818944      7  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      1953523712        1423        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

     

    sudo 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

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 21, 2015 1:33 PM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 21, 2015 1:33 PM in response to Dino - UK

    From OSX Terminal, run

     

    diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s4

    diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s5

    diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s6

    diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s7

     

    Disconnect all external storage and run SMC and NVRAM Reset. Now try the EFI boot.

     

    It created a new EFI, Windows Recovery, MSR and MSD. This usually happens if you have any other external storage connected.

     

    Please also see Boot Camp: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one" alert during Windows 8 install - Apple Support .

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 22, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Loner T

    Sorry I disappeared last night, only as we are different sides of the pond it was my bedtime. lol.

     

    I tried again this morning after erasing the four sections, alas only to end up with this after booting from EFI.

     

    Last login: Tue Dec 22 10:59:16 on ttys000

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ 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 Internal Drive          121.0 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          697.5 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3

    /dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +813.0 GB   disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

                                     0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk3 (external, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *16.0 GB    disk3

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL              16.0 GB    disk3s1

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ diskutil cs list

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group 0794D847-5234-4609-A6AF-82B40B41A1F0

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

        Name:         Internal Drive

        Status:       Online

        Size:         818519449600 B (818.5 GB)

        Free Space:   0 B (0 B)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume ABA7389B-D341-41B0-893B-2337E4021183

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

        |   Index:    0

        |   Disk:     disk0s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume E5BF1D6A-47AB-45FC-84A5-C32B725285AB

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

        |   Index:    1

        |   Disk:     disk1s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     697530597376 B (697.5 GB)

        |

        +-> Logical Volume Family F99AD810-6552-4297-96F9-EC5D0458C625

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

            Encryption Type:         None

            |

            +-> Logical Volume 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

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

                Disk:                  disk2

                Status:                Online

                Size (Total):          813000032256 B (813.0 GB)

                Revertible:            No

                LV Name:               Macintosh HD

                Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

                LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    Password:

    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  236306352      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      236715992     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      236978136          7        

      236978143         32         Sec GPT table

      236978175          1         Sec GPT header

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo 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     

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

     

    Despair is now setting in through no fault of yours.

    Regards.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 22, 2015 7:25 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 22, 2015 7:25 AM in response to Dino - UK

    We should focus on disk1. Please post the output of

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

     

    This is expected. Once you post the output of these two commands, I can explain what we see.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 22, 2015 8:04 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 8:04 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks Loner...

     

    Last login: Tue Dec 22 11:55:42 on console

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1362364448      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1364043624   589481511        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo 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     

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 22, 2015 10:35 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 22, 2015 10:35 AM in response to Dino - UK

    Can you disconnect all external storage, reset SMC and NVRAM, and test EFI Boot? You can point to highlighted Free Space.

     

    1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

    1364043624   589481511       

     

    Please report any error messages.

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