External HDD Unlock

I got the same problem with my external HDD (with 2 partitions) while I was using one of the encrypted partition as Time Machine backup. I could not erase it after I upgrade to Mountain Lion, and it shown "this patition contain a locked disk and can not be resized until it is unlocked" in Disk Utility.

Finally I get it fixed by the "diskutil" command in "Terminal" in "OSX > Applications > Utilities".

I used the command "diskutil" to verify the UUID of the "Logical Volume Group (LVG)" of the locked partition.

Then use the command to delete the LVG.

** All logical volume under this groiup will be deleted!!

Once the operation finished, I am able to recreate the partition in Disk Utility.

Hope this help!!

My apologies for "hijacking" this thread but looks like you all know what you are talking about and I have searched the web for over an hour without finding a solution to my problem. Maybe Eddie Yam can help me.

I had an external HDD where I stored encrypted secondary backup of my iMac. After upgrading the iMac to Mountain Lion I brought the HDD from remote location to update the backups on it. Time Machine stated there is not enough room in the volume, so I just went to Disk Utility and erased it. I am very well organized and I knew I could just wipe the disk clean as I have another functional backup. Not so smart. Now I have the external HDD mounted but I can't use it for back up and I can't reformat or repartition it. (see below)

It states that "This partition contains a locked disk and can not be resized until it is unlocked" I tried to used the method Eddie suggested but I get the following:

I appreciate your help in unlocking my external HDD and making it useable again. Thank you.

hi this is the thred ive been looking for, for two days. Eddie im a super noob and so good with termial can you send me a list of commands to use to reclaim my harddrive. its a seagate 1tb external and im pretty sure i deleted a partion or something in it because now all it says in disk utility is Expansion and i cant mount or format or partion please help ive included a screen shot.

ok so im gonna post a picture of what came up when i tried your method i have no idea if what im doing is even close to what you said, im truy sorry fo rbegin such a pain but terminal is def not my thing. just tell me what to input in there with this new info and ill try it.

alsoi have included the system information on the seagte external so if you could just gimmie something to cut and paste into terminal id reall appericate it.

<S/N Image Edited By Host>

HELP!

I have the same issue with a locked external hard drive with "this partition contains a locked disk and cannot be resized until it is unlocked". All this went haywire when I was decrypting a previous encrypted external USB hard drive. I have a lot of data on there that I don't want to lost and I'm not sure that I won't lose my data if I follow these instructions.

When I followed the initial instructions, this is what I see. I spoke to Apple support and they told me to try a data recovery app. I paid $75 for one and my hard drive doesn't even show up anywhere to have a recovery performed on it. PLEASE HELP!

This is the best option, it is quick and it works.

Eddie Yam wrote:

I got the same problem with my external HDD (with 2 partitions) while I was using one of the encrypted partition as Time Machine backup. I could not erase it after I upgrade to Mountain Lion, and it shown "this patition contain a locked disk and can not be resized until it is unlocked" in Disk Utility.

Finally I get it fixed by the "diskutil" command in "Terminal" in "OSX > Applications > Utilities".

I used the command "diskutil" to verify the UUID of the "Logical Volume Group (LVG)" of the locked partition.

Then use the command to delete the LVG.

** All logical volume under this groiup will be deleted!!

Once the operation finished, I am able to recreate the partition in Disk Utility.

Hope this help!!

I have the same problem but with my Macbook Air's internal SSD. So basicaly, i cannot install Mountain Lion on my computer. I'm looking forward to a solution.

I wanted to erase my (encrypted) partition and make a new (encrypted) one. Then I got a failure message, the partition was gone and well like I said, I cannot make a new one.

I have found a fix that worked for me. I booted from the recovery disk, from there I could still see my partition. I erased it an made a new one.

My source:

http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/using-disk-utility-to-unlock-or-decr ypt-your-filevault-2-encrypted-boot-drive/

Good luck!

Luckily I have another Mac and was able to boot the problem Mac into target disk mode and run disk utility on the working Mac. Was able to erase the partition no problem then. Mountain lion installing now. Hopefully you can find access to another mac

According to the screenshot attached, the UUID should be the long string follow by "Logical Volume Group", which is "6B88...8BE2", let's try to amend your command by replace "UUID" to "6B88...8BE2".

Hope it helps!

I think "expanion drive" is just a name, you may try to follow the command (with screenshot) in my first response in this post, and in the 2nd screenshot, you can find the full command list of "diskutil".

Hope this help and let us know your result :)

1. Use the "diskutil" command to verify the UUID of the "Logical Volume Group (LVG)" of the locked partition.

(without quote) "distil core storage list"

2. Once you get the UUID, use the command to delete the LVG.

(without quote) "diskutil corestoreate delete (the UUID you got in command 1 result)"

Thank you Eddie!! Your simple solution using the terminal to delete the locked partition solved my problem.

I'm a complete Mac newbie but thought I'd try to do a clean install on my MBA but it went horribly wrong. I was following another website with instructions on how to do this. When I tried to erase my existing disk, which was already encrypted, I input my existing password and then chose a new password....but then some error flashed up when I tried to erase the disk.

I cleared the error but then my disk disappeared! The SSD was still listed and verfying that said it was all OK. I tried everything to add it back but basically every option to erase/partition was grayed out/disabled.

After a bit of panicking and taking my time to slowly go through every word on every screen I could possibly click on, I finally spotted the message "The partition contains a locked disk and can not be resized until it is unlocked" which lead me to this forum! Thank you again Eddie.

Since I knew the existing password and gave it a new one (albeit the same password) I wonder why the error happened and I was presented with a locked disk. Or maybe it's not even related to encryption/FileVault? Oh well, at least I know the solution.

I hope this isn't a dumb question... but how do I get into disk util if I can't boot into the OS? I had the same problem as everyone else, deleted my partition (received an error) and now can't boot into the OS at all... I do the Command R thing at boot up, and select the Disk Utility - same error (the partition contains a locked disk......) - is there anyway I can launch a terminal session from there?? thx