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 19, 2014 12:15 AM in response to Loner T

Hi!

I have the same problem. I erased my Bootcamp partition using Disk Utility and now I cannot use the whole disk. Here is what I get after entering diskutil list:

Danil-Mac:~ makarovdanil$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 87.5 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

And here is the screenshot of DiskUtility (sorry for another language, I hope it is not a problem):

User uploaded file

I studied what you've written before and as far as I understand I should use diskutil coreStorage deleteVolume. The problem is that I can't find this huge number 11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555. Could you tell me what should I do? Many thanks in advance.

PS Do I have to erase the whole disk and then use TimeMachine or somehow I can save the data?

Oct 19, 2014 8:07 AM in response to makarovdanil

If you do not have a CoreStorage volume, it may be a bit easier to fix it.


Can you post the output of


1. sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

2. sudo fdisk /dev/disk0


If you erase Bootcamp partition using Disk Utility, which uses both GPT and MBR, it will change the GPT, but may leave the MBR without a proper cleanup. It is recommended that Bootcamp Assistant be used to remove Bootcamp partitions, not Disk utility.

Oct 19, 2014 8:26 AM in response to Loner T

First:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

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 236978175

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 170845832 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

171255472 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

172525008 64453135

236978143 32 Sec GPT table

236978175 1 Sec GPT header

Second:

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 236978175] <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


I know that I should have used BootCamp Assistant, but for some reason it didn't work. So I made this bold decision. Looks like there are some issues with BootCamp because of Yosemite.

Oct 19, 2014 8:38 AM in response to makarovdanil

If you notice, the space after GPT#3 is where your Bootcamp used to be. Because you have Recovery HD between OS X and Bootcamp, this would require delete recovery HD, merging the all of them to get OS X back, and re-installing OS X again (to get Recovery HD back).


Your MBR is fine.


If you want to see the same picture in Disk Utility, please see this link http://macs.about.com/od/usingyourmac/qt/Enable-Disk-Utilitys-Debug-Menu.htm. This will show you Recovery HD right after OS X and then the previous Bootcamp disk space.


This can also be done via diskutil commands as follows...


1. Merge Recovery HD into OS X. The order of disk0s2 and disk0s3 is very important otherwise you will lose all your OS X data.


diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3


2. Now you can use Disk Utility to drag the Macintosh HD bottom left corner and make it full size. You have lost Recovery HD, but you can get it back by reinstalling OS X without touching any of your non-OS files.



diskutil mergePartitions

Usage: diskutil mergePartitions [force] format name

DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode


Merge two or more pre-existing partitions into one. The first disk parameter

is the starting partition; the second disk parameter is the ending partition;

this given range of two or more partitions will be merged into one.


All partitions in the range, except for the first one, must be unmountable.


All data on merged partitions other than the first will be lost; data on the

first partition will be lost as well if the "force" argument is given.


If "force" is not given, and the first partition has a resizable file system

(e.g. JHFS+), it will be grown in a data-preserving manner, even if a different

file system is specified (in fact, your file system and volume name parameters

are both ignored in this case). If "force" is not given, and the first

partition is not resizable, you will be prompted if you want to erase.


If "force" is given, the first partition is always formatted. You should

do this if you wish to reformat to a new file system type.


Merged partitions are required to be ordered sequentially on disk.

See diskutil list for the actual on-disk ordering; BSD slice identifiers

may in certain circumstances not always be in numerical order but the

top-to-bottom order given by diskutil list is always the on-disk order.


Ownership of the affected disk is required.


Example: diskutil mergePartitions JHFS+ NewName disk3s4 disk3s7

This example will merge all partitions *BETWEEN* disk3s4 and disk3s7,

preserving data on disk3s4 but destroying data on disk3s5, disk3s6,

disk3s7 and any invisible free space partitions between those disks;

disk3s4 will be grown to cover the full space if possible.

Oct 19, 2014 10:01 AM in response to makarovdanil

Command+R is local Recovery HD, and if you did a mergePartitions, you no longer have Recovery HD.


Please use Command+Opt+R (Internet Recovery - it should show a spinning globe), use a wired connection, otherwise it is too slow.


1. Once you have OS X Yosemite installed from App Store (using your AppleID), you can restore files from TM backup as necessary, or,

2. Do a full Restore from your TM backup.

Oct 19, 2014 10:16 PM in response to Josh99Ralla

I just successfully installed Windows 8.1 Update 1 on BootCamp on Mac OS X Yosemite. Here is a step by step I just wrote, hope it helps y'all:


How to successfully install Windows 8, or above, on Mac OS X Mavericks or above:


Requirements:

1- Windows OS ISO Image file

2- An 8GBs USB Flash Drive

3- A good Internet connection as you will need to download the Windows compatible drivers for your Mac


Steps:

1- Open up Disk Utility and create an additional partition for Windows formatted as ExFat. 100GBs, or above, is recommended as update to the operating system, as well as Apps requiere space on your HD or SSD [This step can be done during Mac OS X's installation process]

2- Open up BootCamp Assistant

3- Make sure only the 'Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk' is checked and your USB Flash Drive plugged in and click 'Continue'

4- Click 'Choose' and select your Windows ISO Image file

5- Select the USB Flash Drive you will be using during the installation process and click continue to confirm

6- Once done, restart your Mac and hold down the 'alt/option' key on your keyboard to bring up the Boot Menu

7- Select the USB Flash Drive named Windows, not the UEFI Boot

8- Install Windows as you normally would

* Remember to press and hold the 'alt/option' key, and select the Windows Partition, whenever the installation process requires your Mac to restart

* http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj945423.aspx

* http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/install-windows-on-mac

Oct 21, 2014 8:54 PM in response to iPodtouch245

Loner T, does the following tell you anything about my problem? Thank you.


Last login: Tue Oct 21 23:37:28 on console

Dans-MBP:~ danspector$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 06832E97-0D55-453A-BE67-FBB32D709E44

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

Name: danspector

Status: Online

Size: 239197650944 B (239.2 GB)

Free Space: 35676160 B (35.7 MB)

|

+-< Physical Volume DE9088CE-F17B-4BAD-A357-614A4A0A8CE6

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 239197650944 B (239.2 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 914F8233-1C31-48C5-A094-9DCD87370B69

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: AES-XTS

Conversion Status: Converting

Conversion Direction: forward

Has Encrypted Extents: Yes

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: Yes

|

+-> Logical Volume D7C657CC-710D-4F72-8805-6567DE9A70F1

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

Disk: disk1

Status: Online

Size (Total): 238826422272 B (238.8 GB)

Conversion Progress: Optimizing 35%

Revertible: No

LV Name: danspector

Volume Name: danspector

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Dans-MBP:~ danspector$

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Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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