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Bootcamp partition space disappeared after Bootcamp Assistant removal failed

I'm running macOS 11.3.1 on my 2013 MacBook Air and wanted to remove my Bootcamp and reclaim the space. Had around 40GB free on my macOS partition and the Bootcamp one was 50GB. So I ran the Bootcamp Assistant to remove the partition - thing is, it froze mid-process and the computer stopped responding, even the curson stopped moving. So I powered it off with the button, powered it on again and now there is neither the Bootcamp partition nor its space anywhere to be seen. Diskutil outputs:


/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0
   1:                        EFI ⁨EFI⁩                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                 Apple_APFS ⁨Container disk1⁩         250.8 GB   disk0s2

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +200.8 GB   disk1
                                 Physical Store disk0s2
   1:                APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD – dane⁩     133.4 GB   disk1s1
   2:                APFS Volume ⁨Preboot⁩                 389.2 MB   disk1s2
   3:                APFS Volume ⁨Recovery⁩                622.2 MB   disk1s3
   4:                APFS Volume ⁨VM⁩                      2.1 GB     disk1s4
   5:                APFS Volume ⁨Macintosh HD⁩            15.4 GB    disk1s5
   6:              APFS Snapshot ⁨com.apple.os.update-...⁩ 15.4 GB    disk1s5s1

and diskutil cs list:

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found


The 50GB isn't visible in the GUI diskutil either. How can I reclaim that space?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on May 31, 2021 3:58 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 31, 2021 6:57 AM

Can you try to create a smaller ~40GB partition and test? If that returns an error, we may need to create a Time Machine backup of your internal disk, erase it and restore the backup. You would need an external disk (or a Time Capsule) to create a backup.


See Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support for reference.

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10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

May 31, 2021 6:57 AM in response to Tigro!

Can you try to create a smaller ~40GB partition and test? If that returns an error, we may need to create a Time Machine backup of your internal disk, erase it and restore the backup. You would need an external disk (or a Time Capsule) to create a backup.


See Back up your Mac with Time Machine - Apple Support for reference.

May 31, 2021 5:14 AM in response to Loner T

Sure thing, here goes:


tigro@MacBook-Air ~ % diskutil apfs list

APFS Container (1 found)
|
+-- Container disk1 C02F9F4E-46B4-4E4F-8004-169895879D08
    ====================================================
    APFS Container Reference:     disk1
    Size (Capacity Ceiling):      200790749184 B (200.8 GB)
    Capacity In Use By Volumes:   159519363072 B (159.5 GB) (79.4% used)
    Capacity Not Allocated:       41271386112 B (41.3 GB) (20.6% free)
    |
    +-< Physical Store disk0s2 8A1262CF-40B9-4FE7-8EA8-97885D518F3C
    |   -----------------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk0s2
    |   Size:                       250790436864 B (250.8 GB)
    |
    +-> Volume disk1s1 9060519F-8CE4-3240-A7AF-9D2EB92F73CE
    |   ---------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s1 (Data)
    |   Name:                      Macintosh HD – dane (Case-insensitive)
    |   Mount Point:               /System/Volumes/Data
    |   Capacity Consumed:         139794690048 B (139.8 GB)
    |   Sealed:                    No
    |   FileVault:                 Yes (Unlocked)
    |
    +-> Volume disk1s2 0E2C2B5E-0C5E-4E80-B48F-20D934BBA8B9
    |   ---------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s2 (Preboot)
    |   Name:                      Preboot (Case-insensitive)
    |   Mount Point:               /System/Volumes/Preboot
    |   Capacity Consumed:         389234688 B (389.2 MB)
    |   Sealed:                    No
    |   FileVault:                 No
    |
    +-> Volume disk1s3 85F0821D-53AB-42D9-BA07-AF72EC58AA99
    |   ---------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s3 (Recovery)
    |   Name:                      Recovery (Case-insensitive)
    |   Mount Point:               Not Mounted
    |   Capacity Consumed:         622211072 B (622.2 MB)
    |   Sealed:                    No
    |   FileVault:                 No
    |
    +-> Volume disk1s4 B60D2F3C-94D0-4258-A5EB-0A7C92E51C03
    |   ---------------------------------------------------
    |   APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s4 (VM)
    |   Name:                      VM (Case-insensitive)
    |   Mount Point:               /System/Volumes/VM
    |   Capacity Consumed:         3222298624 B (3.2 GB)
    |   Sealed:                    No
    |   FileVault:                 No
    |
    +-> Volume disk1s5 29671E89-9A39-4284-9035-7987D7DC3272
        ---------------------------------------------------
        APFS Volume Disk (Role):   disk1s5 (System)
        Name:                      Macintosh HD (Case-insensitive)
        Mount Point:               /Volumes/Macintosh HD 1
        Capacity Consumed:         15355846656 B (15.4 GB)
        Sealed:                    Broken
        FileVault:                 Yes (Unlocked)
        Encrypted:                 No
        |
        Snapshot:                  A7F7CFDE-537A-4473-A237-B01C0146C2B8
        Snapshot Disk:             disk1s5s1
        Snapshot Mount Point:      /
        Snapshot Sealed:           Yes


and


tigro@MacBook-Air ~ % diskutil apfs resizeContainer disk0s2 limits

Resize limits for APFS Physical Store partition disk0s2:
  Current Physical Store partition size on map:   250.8 GB (250790436864 Bytes)
  Minimum (constrained by file/snapshot usage):   163.6 GB (163644964864 Bytes)
  Recommended minimum (if used with macOS):       174.4 GB (174382383104 Bytes)
  Maximum (constrained by partition map space):   250.8 GB (250790436864 Bytes)


Nope, I don't have a Time Machine backup :(

Haven't tried booting into recovery. Should I? What should I do when I get there?

May 31, 2021 6:15 AM in response to Loner T

Yep, I was able to choose 87GB - however as you mentioned, it results in an error :( Here's the log:


Dzielę dysk „APPLE SSD SD0256F Media” (disk0) na partycje {{dividing up the disk into partitions}}

Podczas zmiany wielkości woluminu startowego komputer może przestać odpowiadać. {{during the procedure the computer may become unresponsive}

Wykonuję operację 1 z 2: Dodaj „Bez nazwy” 87,04 GB, zmniejszając kontener disk1 „Macintosh HD” (disk0s2) z 250,79 GB do 163,75 GB… {{pending operation 1 of 2: add "untitled" 87GB, resizing the disk 1 "Macintosh HD" (disk0s2) container from 250GB to 163GB}}
Aligning shrink delta to 87,044,808,704 bytes and targeting a new physical store size of 163,745,628,160 bytes
Determined the minimum size for the targeted physical store of this APFS Container to be 163,745,628,160 bytes
There is not enough free space in this APFS Container for this operation. : (-69605)

Operacja nie powiodła się… {{operation failed}}


(added translations of the parts which were in my system language in curly brackets where needed)

May 31, 2021 7:30 AM in response to Loner T

Ha, solved! :D I wanted to try creating a smaller one myself but couldn't find a way as the size text box is greyed out when you choose FAT or exFAT - but the little circle dial on the left hand side still works! After trying out a 40GB partition, an error occurred again, this time later in the process (no error code, just "internal error occurred, try again later") but a new 40GB partition still appeared in disk utility (albeit an exFAT one instead of the FAT we choose in the beginning). So I tried removing it through the same partitioning dialog I created it with in disk utility and then somehow magically my main macOS partition started having full 90GB of free space instead of the 40GB it had before with 50GB floating in the abyss. So all's good now, thanks so much, never would have figured that out on my own!

May 31, 2021 7:38 AM in response to Tigro!

Excellent!


The issue is the way APFS manages Containers and disk space. By forcing a small partition creation and then removing it, macOS shrinks and expands the Container, which cleans up space issues.


Container disk1 C02F9F4E-46B4-4E4F-8004-169895879D08

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

    APFS Container Reference:     disk1

    Size (Capacity Ceiling):      200790749184 B (200.8 GB)

    Capacity In Use By Volumes:   159519363072 B (159.5 GB) (79.4% used)

    Capacity Not Allocated:       41271386112 B (41.3 GB) (20.6% free)

    |

    +-< Physical Store disk0s2 8A1262CF-40B9-4FE7-8EA8-97885D518F3C

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

    |   APFS Physical Store Disk:   disk0s2

    |   Size:                       250790436864 B (250.8 GB)

   

The highlighted discrepancy is the reason for your issue.

Bootcamp partition space disappeared after Bootcamp Assistant removal failed

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