Hard Drive Format Fails under Lion 10.7.4

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Hard Drive Format Fails under Lion 10.7.4

Long-time Mac user, first time I've ever seen this problem. OS X 10.7.4, Mac Pro.

I am attempting to format a RAID JBOD disk through Disk Utility 12.1.1 (Lion version) and it fails consistently with this error:

"Partition Failed with the error: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed."

Prior to Lion I've been using 10.5.8 since it's arrival and never had this problem using the 10.5.8 version of Disk Utility (11.x.x). Unfortunately, that version of Disk Utility will not run using Lion 10.7.4 (why???) so I have to restart from an external backup which still has 10.5.8 on it. Then I can properly format the drive. For what it is worth, I've been using the same brand and model of drive for my RAID setup for at least eight years.

Apple, this needs to be fixed. It is not a new problem, either; I found a thread dating back to 2008 with the same problem and still it manifests. Since I have never seen the error before, the previous thread leads me to wonder if it Is, perhaps, an incompatibility between my computer hardware (not the RAID card) and Lion's version of Disk Utility (12.1.1)?

Any thoughts on this issue?

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), 3G Dual Core Xeon, 2008 model

Posted on Jun 21, 2012 5:38 AM

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Answer 1

petermac87

Level 5

7,447 points

Jun 21, 2012 5:47 AM in response to G_Thomas

G_Thomas wrote:

Long-time Mac user, first time I've ever seen this problem. OS X 10.7.4, Mac Pro.

I am attempting to format a RAID JBOD disk through Disk Utility 12.1.1 (Lion version) and it fails consistently with this error:

"Partition Failed with the error: Wiping volume data to prevent future accidental probing failed."

Prior to Lion I've been using 10.5.8 since it's arrival and never had this problem using the 10.5.8 version of Disk Utility (11.x.x). Unfortunately, that version of Disk Utility will not run using Lion 10.7.4 (why???) so I have to restart from an external backup which still has 10.5.8 on it. Then I can properly format the drive. For what it is worth, I've been using the same brand and model of drive for my RAID setup for at least eight years.

Apple, this needs to be fixed. It is not a new problem, either; I found a thread dating back to 2008 with the same problem and still it manifests. Since I have never seen the error before, the previous thread leads me to wonder if it Is, perhaps, an incompatibility between my computer hardware (not the RAID card) and Lion's version of Disk Utility (12.1.1)?

Any thoughts on this issue?

How did you install Lion without first updating to Snow Leopard 10.6.8?

Pete

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Answer 2

G_Thomas Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 21, 2012 6:08 AM in response to petermac87

I followed the procedures specified by Apple exactly. I bought SL, updated it to 10.6.8 and made sure I had all current drivers/other software compatible with SL and Lion for my peripherals on hand to install afterwards.

Everything went smoothly, no glitches of any kind until I had to add a new drive to my RAID. That's when I discovered the formatting problem.

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Answer 3

G_Thomas Author

Level 1

0 points

Jun 22, 2012 2:14 PM in response to G_Thomas

Problem resolved. It turns out that although the drivers for my RAID card were supposed to be on the Snow Leopard Install Disk, apparently they did not get installed, or perhaps they were a little out of date.

Uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling them fixed the Disk Utility partitioning/formatting problem.

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