addrum

Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

So I get this error that I see a lot of people have. I recently reformatted my HDD to one partition of Mac OS X Extended Journaled format after having Bootcamp. I'd now like to reinstall bootcamp now my drive is one partition however I get the above error. I checked my disks by holding down the option key and it appears that there are still remnants of my old Bootcamp partition left as you can see in the picture (sorry for poor quality):

 

IMG_20140822_193947.jpg

So I guess OS X still thinks I have bootcamp and thus 2 partitions even though in my disk utility you can clearly see the whole drive is one partition:

 

Screen Shot 2014-08-23 at 14.50.21.png

How do I fix this?

 

Thanks,

Adam

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)

Posted on Aug 23, 2014 6:50 AM

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Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

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  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 6:29 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 6:29 AM in response to addrum

    On my machine with a 256GB SSD, I get an error trying to set it to value outside the available range. The i386 boot message can be safely ignored, but other messages should not. If this does not work, GPT fdisk may be necessary. Disk manufacturers play tricks with advanced formatting options which adjust page size (4k instead of 512) to allow larger than the 2TB disks to be managed, but that causes other alignment issues.

     

    This can be run interactively. If you do not get an error when putting the size of your disk, then you need to use the print, write and confirm the write.

     

    1. Type sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    2. Type '?' to see help and keywords.

    3. Type 'edit 1' to edit the first and only MBR entry.

    4. Accept the 'EE' default for Partition Id.

    5. Accept default for CHS mode.

    6. Type '1' for partition offset.

    7. Type the actual value for partition size.

    8. Type 'p'rint to view your entry.

    9. Type 'w'rite to write it to disk.

    10. Confirm the write command with a 'y'es.

     

    The GPT and MBR are independent of each other. Reboot and try your BA steps again. If you get any other errors not covered here, please stop and post here.

     

    Here is a sample session which has errors.

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory

    Enter 'help' for information

    fdisk: 1> ?

      help Command help list

      manual Show entire man page for fdisk

      reinit Re-initialize loaded MBR (to defaults)

      auto Auto-partition the disk with a partition style

      setpid Set the identifier of a given table entry

      disk Edit current drive stats

      edit Edit given table entry

      erase Erase current MBR

      flag Flag given table entry as bootable

      update Update machine code in loaded MBR

      select Select extended partition table entry MBR

      print Print loaded MBR partition table

      write Write loaded MBR to disk

      exit Exit edit of current MBR, without saving changes

      quit Quit edit of current MBR, saving current changes

      abort Abort program without saving current changes

    fdisk: 1> edit 1

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [EE] (? for help)

    Do you wish to edit in CHS mode? [n]

    Partition offset [0 - 500118192]: [63] 1

    Partition size [1 - 500118191]: [500118191] 5860533168

    '1565565872' is out of range.

    Partition size [1 - 500118191]: [500118191]

  • by addrum,

    addrum addrum Aug 24, 2014 6:50 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2014 6:50 AM in response to Loner T

    When you say the "actual value for partition size", does this mean what I want it to be? i.e 3TB / 3000000000kb ?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 7:20 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 7:20 AM in response to addrum

    The fdisk utility uses 32-bit numbers (you may have a special version of fdisk on your machine to support a larger drive). The number 4294967294

    that you currently have in your fdisk output is 2 ** 32. It may not let you set the value to a larger number. If you notice in my fdisk sample session when I tried to put the value 5860533168 it actually put the value 5860533168 - 4294967294 = 1565565872.

     

    From your GPT output if you look at the following line, notice the number of blocks. The number of bytes in media size (3,000,592,982,016) is divided by sector size (512). You want to use the number 5,860,533,168 (which is the number of available sectors, not bytes).

     

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

  • by addrum,

    addrum addrum Aug 24, 2014 7:15 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2014 7:15 AM in response to Loner T

    Adams-iMac:~ Adam$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 5860533167

           start        size  index  contents

               0           1         PMBR

               1           1         Pri GPT header

               2          32         Pri GPT table

              34           6        

              40      409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

          409640  5858853952      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5859263592     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      5860533128           7        

      5860533135          32         Sec GPT table

      5860533167           1         Sec GPT header

     

    So this is my output of the command you used in a previous post, I want to use the part in bold for step 7? Just want to make sure I get this right! Thanks for being patient

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 7:27 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 7:27 AM in response to addrum

    I put some additional details in my response earlier to provide a better explanation, but you are correct, the number you want to use is the number of blocks.

     

    It is likely that when you used Bootcamp earlier, there was no MBR to begin with, so Bootcamp could put the correct values. BA should not be using the utilities like fdisk that Apple provides to us mere mortals. . It probably writes data directly to an MBR structure and even if the first entry is incorrect, it would be interesting to see what happens when you are actually able to install Bootcamp.

  • by addrum,

    addrum addrum Aug 24, 2014 7:29 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2014 7:29 AM in response to Loner T

    Right. So I tried entering the number of blocks and comes up with the same error that you posted in your sample:

     

    fdisk: 1> edit 1

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 4294967294] <Unknown ID>

    Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [EE] (? for help)

    Do you wish to edit in CHS mode? [n]

    Partition offset [0 - 1565565872]: [63] 1

    Partition size [1 - 1565565871]: [1565565871] 5860533168

    '1565565872' is out of range.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 7:43 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 7:43 AM in response to addrum

    1. Please download GPT fdisk from SourceForge.

    2. Run sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

    3. Use 'b'ackup option and save the current GPT. Copy this to an external location.

    4. You now have two choices

        a. Use gdisk (it may give you the same error).

        b. Use gdisk/fdisk to initialize a new MBR with the entire disk.

     

    The man page for fdisk (the 'i'nitialize flag) can be seen here - https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/Darwin/Reference/Manpages/ man8/fdisk.8.html

  • by addrum,

    addrum addrum Aug 24, 2014 7:51 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2014 7:51 AM in response to Loner T

    Okay, I've backed up the current GPT. Which would be my best choice? Could you give steps for the preferred one? I'm way out of my depth here and don't want to balls anything up

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 8:28 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 8:28 AM in response to addrum

    Gdisk is probably easier.

     

    1. sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

    2. Type 'r' for Recovery and Transformations menu.

    3. Type 'h' to create a new Hybrid MBR.

    4. Allow it to put the EFI part into the Hybrid MBR (The 'good for GRUB' question).

    5. Put partitions 2,3 in the Hybrid MBR.

    6. Print it.

    7. Write it.

    8. Reboot and test.

     

    Here is my sample session, with the help menu.

     

    sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

    Password:

    GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.9

     

    Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

    partition table automatically reloaded!

    Partition table scan:

      MBR: hybrid

      BSD: not present

      APM: not present

      GPT: present

     

    Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

     

    Command (? for help): ?

    b back up GPT data to a file

    c change a partition's name

    d delete a partition

    i show detailed information on a partition

    l list known partition types

    n add a new partition

    o create a new empty GUID partition table (GPT)

    p print the partition table

    q quit without saving changes

    r recovery and transformation options (experts only)

    s sort partitions

    t change a partition's type code

    v verify disk

    w write table to disk and exit

    x extra functionality (experts only)

    ? print this menu

     

    Command (? for help): p

    Disk /dev/disk0: 1954210120 sectors, 931.8 GiB

    Logical sector size: 512 bytes

    Disk identifier (GUID): 6ED0C429-00D1-4759-B50E-04B6FB80D0E3

    Partition table holds up to 128 entries

    First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1954210086

    Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

    Total free space is 1293 sectors (646.5 KiB)

     

    Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

       1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition

       2          409640      1452940543   692.6 GiB   AF00  Customer

       3      1452940544      1454210079   619.9 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD

       4      1454211072      1954209791   238.4 GiB   0700  BOOTCAMP

     

    Command (? for help): r

     

    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): ?

    b use backup GPT header (rebuilding main)

    c load backup partition table from disk (rebuilding main)

    d use main GPT header (rebuilding backup)

    e load main partition table from disk (rebuilding backup)

    f load MBR and build fresh GPT from it

    g convert GPT into MBR and exit

    h make hybrid MBR

    i show detailed information on a partition

    l load partition data from a backup file

    m return to main menu

    o print protective MBR data

    p print the partition table

    q quit without saving changes

    t transform BSD disklabel partition

    v verify disk

    w write table to disk and exit

    x extra functionality (experts only)

    ? print this menu

     

    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): x

     

    Expert command (? for help): ?

    a set attributes

    c change partition GUID

    d display the sector alignment value

    e relocate backup data structures to the end of the disk

    g change disk GUID

    h recompute CHS values in protective/hybrid MBR

    i show detailed information on a partition

    l set the sector alignment value

    m return to main menu

    n create a new protective MBR

    o print protective MBR data

    p print the partition table

    q quit without saving changes

    r recovery and transformation options (experts only)

    s resize partition table

    t transpose two partition table entries

    u replicate partition table on new device

    v verify disk

    w write table to disk and exit

    z zap (destroy) GPT data structures and exit

    ? print this menu

     

    Expert command (? for help): o

     

    Disk size is 1954210120 sectors (931.8 GiB)

    MBR disk identifier: 0x6152249D

    MBR partitions:

     

    Number  Boot  Start Sector   End Sector   Status      Code

       1                     1       409639   primary     0xEE

       2                409640   1452940543   primary     0xAF

       3            1452940544   1454210079   primary     0xAB

       4      *     1454211072   1954209791   primary     0x07

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 9:21 AM in response to addrum

    Please see iMac 13,2 Late 2012 3TB Boot Camp Windows 7 Install - SOLVED! (unsupported)

     

    This is one method, but you can see it is unsupported. If Windows partition is forced with the first 2.2TB, the MBR stuff works, but Software Upgrades can cause problems. Would you have the output from the fdisk and gpt commands when you had it working? (Highly unlikely, but worth the question ).

  • by addrum,

    addrum addrum Aug 24, 2014 10:50 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 24, 2014 10:50 AM in response to Loner T

    Unfortunately I don't sorry. I'm a little confused from all these commands. Would it be easier if I created a partition for Windows myself and installed manually using a USB? I'm comfortable with doing that as I've done it with Ubuntu etc on other systems, just not one with OS X.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 11:10 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 11:10 AM in response to addrum

    There are two ways to install Windows on a Mac.

     

    1. Using Bootcamp and a Hybrid MBR, this is the traditional method. This what the Bootcamp Assistant uses and this simulates BIOS using a compatibility layer called CSM-BIOS. The use of a MBR with 2.2 Tb limits this method and the problems you are running into are related to this method and a 3TB drive.

    2. Using Bootcamp drivers only, but partitioning using Disk Utility and using a GPT (Guid Partition) and using EFI. This method has issues with drivers and graphics/audio on older Macs but allows a bit more flexibility. Windows 7 does not fully support this, but Windows 8+ has better support.

     

    You have two parameters in your decision - the Mac year/model and the version of Windows. If you are inclined to use option 2, which is what Ubuntu (or many Linux variants) would use on a Mac as well.

     

    For Option 2.

     

    1. Create Free Space using Disk Utility of how large you want Windows partition to be. You will lose about 200MB to a partition called MSR (Microsoft System Reserved).

    2. Plug in the USB stick with Windows ISO and Bootcamp drivers.

    3. Restart your Mac and hold the Alt key. From the selection, there should be one called 'EFI Boot' and should be from the USB. Select it.

    4. If you have keyboard/mouse/graphics issues, use wired mouse/keyboard. If there is a black screen, post back here.

     

    It would be good to know what GPU you have, just to avoid screen issues.

     

    Assuming this "iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.2)" you can use Option 2. I have Windows 8.1 EFI booted on a Late 2013 15" rMBP.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Aug 24, 2014 11:52 AM in response to addrum
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Aug 24, 2014 11:52 AM in response to addrum

    This is the rMBP on which I have an EFI installation. Partitions 4 and 5 are Windows 8.1 MSR and NTFS file systems respectively. If  you also notice, the MBR is the entire disk (512Gb).

     

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500277790720; sectorsize=512; blocks=977105060

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 977105059

          start       size  index  contents

              0          1         PMBR

              1          1         Pri GPT header

              2         32         Pri GPT table

             34          6        

             40     409600      1  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

         409640  487712920      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      488122560    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      489392096         32        

      489392128     262144      4  GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE

      489654272  487450624      5  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      977104896        131        

      977105027         32         Sec GPT table

      977105059          1         Sec GPT header

     

    Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60821/255/63 [977105060 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  977105059] <Unknown ID>

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     


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