Can't use Disk Utility and MacBook Pro is not booting from the Snow Leopard CD

Teragram2410 Said:

"Can't use Disk Utility and MacBook Pro is not booting from the Snow Leopard CD: I want to fully erase my previous MacBook Pro. I replaced it because of an intermittent problem with the hard drive which even the Apple Genius people couldn't fix.[...]"

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Not that I am aware of, but... Try this...

Erase with Terminal in Recovery Mode:

Note that all will be rid of. Try booting into Recovery Mode (Hold Command + R), Go To: Utilities Menu on the top > select Terminal. Next use the Terminal command the erase the disk. See if that works.

Go Here for the Commands: How to Erase a Disk from Command Line in Mac OS X - OSXDaily Try one of the four Terminal commands, shown on that site. Reply back, informing of which command works.

Teragram2410 Said:

”Further to my previous message. I just noticed that at the end of diskutil list it says:

Logical Volume Macintosh HD on disk0s2

a massive list of numbers

Locked Encrypted.

I've tried erasing disk0s2, back at the beginning and again today. It tells me to use eraseVolume instead. When I try eraseVolume it tells me that "The disk is in use by Core Storage as a Physical Volume"”

———-

Some Links:

Seeing: "The disk is in use by Core Storage as a Physical Volume"

Try the links below. They’re back in the day (10.11 of 2014), But try them, being careful what you type. Highlight what is needed to be copied, by highlighting it with the cursor, and pressing [command + c]. Then Paste it, by pressing [command + v] at the end of the Command Prompt.

• https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/136590/how-can-i-delete-a-partition-corestorage-logical-volume-from-the-terminal/136621#136621

• https://awesometoast.com/yosemite-core-storage-and-partition-woes/

You’re welcome.

At at least we tried.

Good luck from here on out.

You made a great choice at choosing to go with an AASP.

—TheLittles

Teragram2410 Said:

“I tried several variations. Eventually the "diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ "MacIntosh HD" /dev/disk0" led to:

"Started erase on disk0"

"Unmounting disk"

"Error: -69888: Couldn't unmount disk"”

———-

Thank for the reply.

Moving forward, let’s try something else:

Using this Command Text Example...

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ CleanDrive /dev/disk0

Go By this: List All Mounted Drives And Their Partitions From The Terminal - OSXDAILY

• Find the name of your disk, using one of these Commands:

diskutil list

diskutil list df

diskutil list df -h

What to Replace:

How to format a hard drive on MacOS - howchoo

• Replace JHFS+ with any file system you need (JHFS+ is probably what you need)

• Replace CleanDrive with the new name for your formatted drive

• Put your disk name in place of /dev/disk1

For Instance:

If your disk is MacintoshHD, then try:

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ FormattedDrive MacintoshHD

Also, Try Using sudo in Terminal:

5 Solutions to “Couldn’t Unmount Disk” Error when Using Disk Utility on Mac - Datanumen

sudo is short for super user (AKA Root).

Use this Command Text Example...

sudo diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/diskx

What to Replace:

“x” in diskx with the correct number

To Get the Disk Number, Go To:

How To Find Disk ID & Device Node Identifier In Mac OS X Command Line - OSXDaily

For Instance:

sudo diskutil unmountDisk force /dev/disk1

Teragram2410 Said:

”Thank you for both responses.[...] Is there another option to get the drive emptied.[...]”

———-

You are welcome.

A few More thoughts:

A. First, in Terminal, Login as a Root:

Try logging in as root, and then run the above command. To be certain that you are logged in as Root, the Terminal line will end with the pound sign “#”

Using Terminal:

1. Use this Command: login root
2. Enter your password
3. Press the enter key
4. Use any above commands: exclude sudo
5. use this Command: logout. That way you are logged out of root.

B. Run First Aid, through Disk Utilities in Safe Mode: Repair a storage device in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support. If it is damaged... then it’s damaged. But if it gets fixed after First Aid, then try all of the above once more.

That’s the best I can think of.

C. As a final resort...

So, as an alternative to an unsuccessful try, take this to an AASP (Apple Authorized Service Provider), for extra help. They will look at this error firsthand, face-to-face, and will know where to go from here.

Go Here: Find Locations - Apple Authorized Reseller. Click: Service & Support > Enter your location information, and see if there is an AASP nearby. Contact an AASP that shows up, and find out more about the services that they offer to fix this.