Hello, I discovered this issue whilst trying to use Filevault to encrypt my drive. When I use Lion Recovery it wont let me select the hard drive to repair or verify the drive so I feel I am kinda stuck. Any ideas?
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
Select the volume in Disk Utility and click the "Unlock" button in the toolbar.
Hi Linc,
Thank you so much for responding. I amnew to this however and I dont see 'Unlock' anywhere... I see Unmount, eject, etc. Next step?
I understood you to mean that the volume was at least partially encrypted. In that case, when you boot from the recovery partition, you'll see an "Unlock" button when the drive is selected in Disk Utility. You won't see "Unlock" when booted normally from the volume itself, because then it's already unlocked.
I think it is partially encrypted as it states that it is encrypted but it couldn't be because, as I stated, there were issues with filevault. Anyway, I am completeyly lost... I am really new to this and need a step by step.
So, since it is partially encrypted how do I unlock it so that I can repair it when in the recovery partition?
Thank you!
Are you saying that there's no Unlock button in Disk Utility while booted from the recovery partition?
Hi Linc,
Yes, unfortunately, that is exactly what I am saying...
Can you still boot from the volume? If so, back it up and then decrypt it.
ho do i decrypt it? when i try to turn off file vault it tells me that my attempt to turn it off has failed. The drives s.m.a.r.t. status is verified so thats a good thing, corrrect?
thank you for your patience and continued help...
Generally, the smart status of disks means very little if positive. It is more often correct when it is negative to indicate the disk is bad.
When is the last time you verified that disk with Disk Utility?
Allan
Your attempt to encrypt the volume seems to have gone wrong. If you've backed up the data, you'll need to delete the associated logical volume, erase the physical volume, and start over. Unfortunately, doing this within Lion requires the use of the shell and is just too difficult for someone at your experience level. Did your Mac come with Lion installed, and if not, do you still have your 10.6 installation disc? Otherwise, I suggest you make an appointment at the "Genius Bar" of an Apple Store for assistance. It's a free service.
Thank you Allan. I only mentioned it b/c I read somewhere in one of these forums that the status = verified meant the harddrive wasnt failing and/or already dead. Is this incorrect?
Thank you Linc for your help. I dont know if there is an Apple Store in my area, ill check. I downloaded Lion from the App store so i have no disc. Also i tried to dwnld again last night to make a bootable copy (per another series of posts in the forums) on a usb but since I installed the Lion update the re-download wont initiate - says there i already a more recent version on your machine or something to this effect.
Jeeeeez, have I screwed the pooch on this one?
What I was asking is whether you have a pre-Lion installation disc. If you do, it will be easier to erase the boot drive. Lion won't let you do it with Disk Utility.
One other thing: If you use Boot Camp, I suggest you avoid FileVault. They don't seem to mix well.
Ahhhhh, yes i have a Snow Leopard installation disk. Also, I dont use bootcamp.
Download this:
OS X Lion: About Lion Recovery Disk Assistant
Use it to create a bootable Lion installer.
Make at least two complete, independent backups of all your data on different storage devices, using Time Machine or a mirror-backup tool such as Carbon Copy Cloner. One backup is not enough. Do not proceed until this is done.
Write down the Apple ID and password you used to buy Lion from the App Store.
Boot from the SL installation disk and partition (do not erase) the internal drive. This action will irrevocably destroy all data on the drive. Create a single partition with the default options.
Next, boot from the Lion installer you created earlier and install Lion. You'll be prompted for your Apple ID and password.
Boot from the internal drive and go through the initial setup process, choosing to import data from one of your backups.
Boot from your recovery partition, launch Disk Utility, and run "Repair Disk" (not "Repair Permissions") again. There should be no errors. If there are errors, you have a hardware fault in the mass-storage subsystem.
Assuming there are no errors from Repair Disk, boot as usual. You can then try again to activate FileVault, if you wish. Review the documentation thoroughly before you begin:
You must understand that if you forget your FileVault password, and you haven't stored an alternate decryption key with Apple or elsewhere, your data is gone forever beyond any hope of recovery (unless you have unencrypted backups, which tends to defeat the purpose.)
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