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Can't format former Boot Camp partition

So I stupidly erased my Boot Camp partition using Disk Utility rather than in the Boot Camp Assistant. And now I the partition is stuck as free space and i can't change it. When i select the free space in Disk Util, I can change it to Mac OS Extended and ExFAT as usual, but when I press apply, the progress bar appears for a brief second and disappears. Then it acts as if I never pressed apply; when I close the window, it says that I have unsaved changes. The free space does not appear as a drive in the left sidebar.


I have tried reinstalling OS X, I've tried returning to a time machine backup, I've verified and repaired the disk, but nothing has worked.

I'm left with 67GB of space unusable on my macbook now.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Oct 11, 2014 9:36 AM

Reply
239 replies

Oct 17, 2014 8:32 AM in response to Loner T

I have the same problem and I am stuck i have a 500GB SSD in my MBPRORD 2012 edition and I can't format, resize, or basically use 100GB of space. Here is the information that I get out of terminal running the commands that came from this thread.

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 398.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *398.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

23A2E3C3-E4B2-4B82-A8D7-C97F322D3325

Unencrypted

All I want to do now is to get back the whole drive back and do a clean installation of Yosemite, which I have already made on a USB drive.

Any help in how to get the partition back and the whole drive again would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance

Ed

Oct 17, 2014 8:39 AM in response to Eddiep56

If you use Command+R (local Recovery), can you erase Macintosh HD? Does it show you the full space? Can you erase the drive (not Macintosh HD but the disk itself) via Disk Utility?


If not, use Command+Opt+R (Internet Recovery), reformat the internal SSD and use the Yosemite Installer application to install Yosemite from.

Oct 17, 2014 8:43 AM in response to Loner T

I have tried the Command + R a few times already. I get the same issue that the other user has presented where if you do a DU you will see the empty partition as Free Space and no matter what option you use to format it does nothing and just sits there, I have tried resizing it back but that does not work. I will see if the Command Opt R will do the trick but I have a feeling that I will get the same issue.


To mention the DU shows 398.2 GB instead of the 500GB that is in the workstation.

Oct 17, 2014 9:04 AM in response to Eddiep56

If you use Command+Opt+R and start OSX Terminal, can you use diskutil eraseDisk?


diskutil eraseDisk

Usage: diskutil eraseDisk format name [APM[Format]|MBR[Format]|GPT[Format]]

MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Completely erase an existing whole disk. All volumes on this disk will be

destroyed. Ownership of the affected disk is required.

Format is the specific file system name you want to erase it as (HFS+, etc.).

Name is the (new) volume name (subject to file system naming restrictions),

or can be specified as %noformat% to skip initialization (newfs).

You cannot erase the boot disk.

Example: diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ UntitledUFS disk3

Oct 17, 2014 10:01 AM in response to Eddiep56

Run...


diskutil cs deleteVolume

diskutil cs delete

diskutil eraseDisk


diskutil cs eraseVolume

diskutil: did not recognize coreStorage verb "eraseVolume"; type "diskutil coreStorage" for a list

Tushar-rMBP:~ sharma_tu$ diskutil cs deleteVolume

Usage: diskutil coreStorage deleteVolume

lvUUID|MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Delete a logical volume. The volume must be unlocked.

Example: diskutil coreStorage deleteVolume 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555



diskutil cs delete

Usage: diskutil coreStorage delete lvgUUID|lvgName

Delete a CoreStorage logical volume group. All logical volumes will be removed.

Ownership of the affected disk is required.

Oct 18, 2014 8:47 AM in response to Loner T

no luck this is what i get when i run the diskutil


diskutil coreStorage deleteVolume 23A2E3C3-E4B2-4B82-A8D7-C97F322D3325

The Core Storage Logical Volume UUID is 23A2E3C3-E4B2-4B82-A8D7-C97F322D3325

Started CoreStorage operation on disk1 Macintosh HD

Unmounting disk1

Error: -69888: Couldn't unmount disk

i am not sure where to go from here

Oct 18, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Loner T

diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 424F703F-A997-4A1C-AB1F-476012076D32

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 398418030592 B (398.4 GB)

Free Space: 18919424 B (18.9 MB)

|

+-< Physical Volume FAF74C85-084F-46B6-BF98-61E13033441B

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 398418030592 B (398.4 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family C4796B72-C416-4768-8066-F1DED3E1E612

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 23A2E3C3-E4B2-4B82-A8D7-C97F322D3325

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

Disk: disk1

Status: Online

Size (Total): 398046789632 B (398.0 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: Yes (no decryption required)

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Oct 18, 2014 9:13 AM in response to Eddiep56

Assuming that you are in Internet Recovery (not Local Recovery), what happens when you run


sudo diskutil cs delete 424F703F-A997-4A1C-AB1F-476012076D32


diskutil cs delete

Usage: diskutil coreStorage delete lvgUUID|lvgName

Delete a CoreStorage logical volume group. All logical volumes will be removed.

Ownership of the affected disks is required.

Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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