POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory

I have a similar issue which my external drives. I have 2, 2TB drives that I've connected, was able to format disk2, but disk 1 doesn't have any partitions as seen in the screenshot and i get the Cannot allocate memory error mentioned in the previous post. Any ideas? It shows up in disk utility which makes me think the drive works, but then can't format it

In disk utility, my external drive shows up as disk1 (which makes me think the drive works), however when i try to format it, im getting the above mentiond error stating it cannot allocate memory. I tried formatting and zeroing out form terminal with no success as I get the same error as above. I was able to format disk2 which is the same exact hard drive, but disk 1 doesn't have any partitions as seen in the terminal screenshot. Any ideas?

Thank you so much for the help on this! Years later and it helped me!

I resolved this problem by changing the internal flat cable. (Hd cable that connects the motherboard)

Maximum:

If the problem is the flat cable, then why does replacing the drive also allow it to be seen?

As stated earlier in this discussion, I had several drives go bad within a couple days. Couldn't recognize them on another computer either.

Nor on another computer that was PC. (I have Macs)

man managed to solve this error just swapping the cable flat.

My problem was also resolved due to a faulty cable connecting the HD to the motherboard.

I had a work around and that was plugging the drive into a Windows machine and formatting it. If it was a hardware problem (cable) then I would think the problem would carry over to Windows. Just my opinion.

@CitizenX, you were able to pop the drive back in the Mac and get it work after formatting it? Could it be that the cable issue was a connectivity one that was resolved from unplugging/plugging? For me, I tried removing the drive, formatting it (which worked), and put it back in the laptop: still didn't work. Nor did the new hard drive I purchased to use. Brought it to the Genius Bar, they diagnosed it within 10 minutes or less, swapped the cable out, and I was good to go. Bad cable!

It worked fine as a Windows formatted volume. I used that as my "is the drive good" and "is the USB port" good check.

My eventual resolution was to format it connected with the firewire cable. It formatted with no problem when connected in that manner. I then put it back into my USB enclosure and it is working to this day.

It may be a cable problem. Perhaps the cable didn't have a drive select line cut or it did have the drive select cut but should also apply the the firewire interface.

Got the same error message too. It was indeed the SATA cable that had to be changed. I went to Genius Bar, they changed it for 60$ + tx and everything is fine now.

Hi, Grafikco.

1. Can you format the disk for a Windows machine on the Mac, or must you do it on Windows?
2. After you format the disk for Windows, can you secure-erase it on the Mac? If not, how do you do it on Windows?

Thanks,

Sheila

1. Can you format the disk for a Windows machine on the Mac, or must you do it on Windows?
2. After you format the disk for Windows, can you secure-erase it on the Mac? If not, how do you do it on Windows?

yes, using disk utilities, you can format a disk for windows and you will need to look for a secure erase utility for windows.

I have the error "POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory" when trying to partition an internal MBP 13" Mid-2010 on Snow Leopard OS. And I receive a different error if I try to partition the drive using the Lion install disc. It was something like "error: wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed".

If you have these errors I'm fairly certain it's the Hard Drive cable that needs replaced. It worked for me, but you might want to try simply disconnecting the cable from the motherboard and reconnecting it (gently pull the cable and do not use any metal tools near the motherboard).

For more detail, I installed a second hard drive in my MBP when I first got it and I can dual boot Snow Leopard from my original hard drive and Lion from and solid state drive I installed. The Lion disk is where my original hard drive was and I moved the original hard drive into a little caddy that fits where the optical drive was (and I put the optical drive into an external USB enclosure so I can still use it). I had an issue on my Lion disk after 3 years where every open app was throwing crazy errors. I recycled the power and it hung on the gray apple screen with a spinning bar underneath and would never boot into Lion again. I messed around with a whole bunch of stuff I found online, but ultimately it was the hard drive ribbon. Oh, also I wanted to mention my battery is getting very old and can't hold a charge which I thought may have played a factor so I swapped my battery too while I was in there swapping the hard drive cable. Good luck to anyone that finds this!

Hi there,

It's 2014 and this thread is still relevant. I have been trying to erase a 60gig drive in my external enclosure and getting the "POSIX reports: The operation couldn’t be completed. Cannot allocate memory" problem as well. After trying everything here, including the Terminal commands, the bad cable suggestions jogged my memory - I remembered that my enclosure has Firewire ports as well as USB. I hunted around for the right firewire cable and adaptor, and PROBLEM SOLVED. I had previously swapped several USB cables to make sure i had a good one.