Can't remove partition (ex Bootcamp partition)

khenryashley wrote:

When I input the enableOwnership command it's says I must be in root for this command.

Ps. Trying to erase gave me the message ownership

Ok try.

sudo diskutil unmount force disk0

sudo diskutil erase disk0

sudo diskutil mountDisk disk0

sudo stands for super user do, it's basically root and will ask for your admin password.

khenryashley wrote:

Now asking for password.

Punch in your Admin password you set the machine up with.

Also what is the results of

diskutil list

can you copy that info here?

Ok,

Sorry I didn't have the exact answer, Apple must have changed something. 🙂

Ok, I see where I screwed up.

diskutil list

Should give you the list of drives and partitions, you want the disk identifier for the internal GUID drive (should be disk0)

diskutil unmountDisk force diskidentifier

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MacintoshHD diskidentifier

diskutil mountDisk diskidentifier

Example based upon above: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MacintoshHD disk0

remove my hard drive then put it back in

That certainly would unmount it, but it shouldn't have been necessary as many Mac's one can't just open it up to do that.

Likely had to do with your drive being Filevaulted, I wonder if a PRAM reset would have done it?

So in the future: Boot Camp Assistant first, then undo Filevault, then RecoveryHD/Internet Recovery.

I have learnt a lot from your posts.

And I've learned a lot from your experience.

Thanks for participating and good luck. 🙂

@ds store:

Thought I'd let you know that your posts helped me to resolve a similar issue on my MBP. Specifically, I used the Terminal commands to force a re-partitioning of the drive. Thanks!

Here is a better way:

1. Go to disk utilities.
2. Click on 250.6 GB Hitachi HTS5...... This is on the top left, right above Machintosh HD partition.
3. You will see a tab called partition on the right section.
4. Now the box will appear showing the space consumed by the available partitions.
5. Click on the box that represents the partition you want to remove.
6. Click the - (negative sign) right below the box.
7. Drag the upper box all the way down to the bottom or type the size you want on the box.
8. If you wish to use the full space for Machintosh HD, type more than the maximum size and hit apply and it will give you the full space for Machintosh HD.

Hi,

I have been reading this thread with interest as I think I am experiencing a similar problem.

I recently upgraded my 2011 27” iMac with a 3TB HDD and a 240GB SSD and created a Fusion Drive. Everything was working great.

I then wanted to re-create my BootCamp partition. I had already taken a WinClone copy of my BootCamp partition from old iMac.

I started to create a new 140GB BootCamp partition using the BootCamp Assistant. A new 140GB BootCamp drive was then created and mounted on my desktop.

I went into Disk Utility and tried to change the format of the BootCamp partition from FAT32 to NTFS (as I had thought WinClone required a NTFS partition to restore to). However this is where I encountered some problems. An error message came up (but can’t recall what it said) and the BootCamp partition unmounted.

I can now no longer access the BootCamp Partition and can’t seem to be able to erase the partition.

All options in Disk Utility to Partition are greyed out are not selectable. (ie. The Partition Layout drop down can’t be selected, ‘+’ or ‘-‘ us also unselectable. I can’t resize the partition or make any changes.

I have noticed that the BootCamp partition is no longer FAT32, but appears to be Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

I have booted from a Mavericks Install USB and tried Disk Utility from there, but the situation is the same. I have run Repair Disk on both all partitions and Disk Utility stated that the Disk is fine.

I have tried to delete the partition using BootCamp, but get this error message

I even tried to repeat the steps to create a Fusion Drive (per the article above), but I am unable to do this as the Terminal replies with Error -69888 Couldn’t unmount disk

What can I do to restore my iMac? The iMac still works fine otherwise. I just can’t seem to remove the partition.

Would the Terminal command to force a repartition work? How do I do that?

Please help

Andrew

You can't change the format for the BC partition in OS X. you have to do that during, at the start, of the install of Windows. OS X CAN'T format any drive NTFS. That is a Windows Only format.

You have basically FUBARed your Fusion drive and the only way I know of recovering from this type of thing is to Backup OS X with Time Machine, Wipe Out the Fusion drive and then Recreate it and restore from the TM backup.

Once you FUBAR a Fusion drive with fooling around with a Windows, BCA, partition in OS X Disk Utility I don't know of any way to Restore, Put Back, the Windows partition into the Fusion drive. Other than wiping it out and starting over from the beginning. No terminal command for what you need to do.

Then use BCA to create your Windows partition and start the install of Windows to format that partition NTFS.

But I have never personally used WinClone so I have no idea if you even need to format that partition NTFS. WinClone might do that for you when it Restores Windows. Check the Winclone documentation for the details on how to use it.

I figured I have stuffed my Fusion Drive, so I tried to recreate it using the steps I originally took, however I get Error -69888 could not unmount disk.

Does anyone know how to get around this problem? Would the DiskUtil unmount commands fix this?

I have never fooled with a Fusion drive system in any way but IIRC the only way to remove one and then recreate it is to boot the system from an External Source and that external source drive has to be from at Least a Mt Lion 10.8.3 or above install.

You can't boot from the internal Recovery HD partition as that is PART OF the internal drive system.

I tried booting from my Mavericks install USB, but Disk Utility showed the same things as above.

I also went into Terminal to try and re-create my Fusion Drive but I got the Error -69888 count not unmount disk error.

Do I need to boot from a bootable backup? I would have thought booting from the USB would have been enough.