I can’t partition my internal disk

Hello, i tried to restore my mac, and when i erased the hard disk dsts i don't know what happened, but now, i can't create any partition on my disk and i haven't heard to install mac os on the current and only partition i have. Please, I need to solve this as soon as possible

Posted on Nov 19, 2022 4:02 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 19, 2022 4:53 PM

What happens if you try to boot normally? Sometimes an aborted installation can leave a partition this way and maybe it will finish installing if left to boot normally.


At best, you may be able to try adding another partition so that you can install macOS temporarily, but I'm not sure whether it will be possible. You can also connect an external USB3 drive and erase it and install macOS to it. Both of these options will allow you to boot this laptop normally so that you can create a bootable macOS USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


You can also try erasing the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) in order to try to install macOS to the internal drive, but this option is risky if something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, then you will no longer be able to boot into local recovery mode like you have done which means you need access to another Qualifying Mac in order to create a bootable macOS USB installer. Or you would need to be able to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R assuming this laptop had macOS 10.12.6+ installed at some point in the past.


A Qualifying Mac is one which is compatible with the OS you are trying to create. You can use this article to determine which Macs are compatible with various versions of macOS. For example, to create a macOS 10.13 USB installer generally requires a Mac from Late-2009 to 2018.

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 19, 2022 4:53 PM in response to Carvajaal15

What happens if you try to boot normally? Sometimes an aborted installation can leave a partition this way and maybe it will finish installing if left to boot normally.


At best, you may be able to try adding another partition so that you can install macOS temporarily, but I'm not sure whether it will be possible. You can also connect an external USB3 drive and erase it and install macOS to it. Both of these options will allow you to boot this laptop normally so that you can create a bootable macOS USB installer using the instructions in this Apple article:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support


You can also try erasing the whole physical SSD as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled) in order to try to install macOS to the internal drive, but this option is risky if something goes wrong. If something goes wrong, then you will no longer be able to boot into local recovery mode like you have done which means you need access to another Qualifying Mac in order to create a bootable macOS USB installer. Or you would need to be able to boot into Internet Recovery Mode using Command + Option + R assuming this laptop had macOS 10.12.6+ installed at some point in the past.


A Qualifying Mac is one which is compatible with the OS you are trying to create. You can use this article to determine which Macs are compatible with various versions of macOS. For example, to create a macOS 10.13 USB installer generally requires a Mac from Late-2009 to 2018.

https://eshop.macsales.com/guides/Mac_OS_X_Compatibility

Nov 19, 2022 4:31 AM in response to Carvajaal15

Carvajaal15 wrote:

Hello, i tried to restore my mac, and when i erased the hard disk dsts i don't know what happened, but now, i can't create any partition on my disk and i haven't heard to install mac os on the current and only partition i have. Please, I need to solve this as soon as possible




Unfortunately you do not say what exact Mac is this (& year,) or what macOS ( or OS X ) you are trying to reinstall(?)



I will say the "OS X Base System" is the Recovery partition...

Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support




In the contemporary macOS you can add or deleted Volumes within the same Container with no penalty.

Add, delete, or erase APFS volumes in Disk Utility on Mac



yes there is an option if necessary: Partition a physical disk in Disk Utility on Mac - Apple Support



Here for example only— what a default install looks like on a drive from Terminal.app w/ Ventura macOS 13.0.1 installed. (Notice all Volumes are in a single Container.)

diskutil list internal



MacBook-Pro ~ % diskutil list internal


/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2


/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 8.8 GB disk1s1

2: APFS Snapshot com.apple.os.update-... 8.8 GB disk1s1s1

3: APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data 412.3 GB disk1s2

4: APFS Volume Preboot 1.8 GB disk1s3

5: APFS Volume Recovery 1.1 GB disk1s4

6: APFS Volume VM 2.1 GB disk1s5


MacBook-Pro ~ %





This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

I can’t partition my internal disk

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.