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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

Nov 9, 2014 12:45 AM in response to Loner T

Hello,


My diskutil list and diskutil cs list, to be complete. 😎


Last login: Sat Nov 8 09:58:25 on console

iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group FE01F854-51A7-441B-9BBE-B903BA3E5262

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

Name: OSX-MacintoshLVG

Status: Online

Size: 3120721960960 B (3.1 TB)

Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

|

+-< Physical Volume D4097F0C-E8B6-4457-8764-76D78EEB4A96

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 3DDE5754-7274-4D58-AED2-EF28CC6A28AF

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 2999733108736 B (3.0 TB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 433CF0FC-85A1-4316-A0D0-701590C503F7

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 7D2AB070-B558-4788-BD0F-ECD835245C2C

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 3114866704384 B (3.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$

[Restauré]

Last login: Sun Nov 9 09:39:41 on ttys000

iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$ 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_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 3.0 TB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *3.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

7D2AB070-B558-4788-BD0F-ECD835245C2C

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

Nov 9, 2014 8:41 AM in response to Loner T

Stay impossible for me to install Windows, i create a USB Key, the partition look ok but when i 'am going to install and after formatting the bootcamp disk, i have a message saying than it's impossible to create the system files on the disk.


I think may be there is a problem is my Windows iso but it's strange, i install it before on my older iMac Core2Duo without any problem.


To finish, i attempt today three time to install it, the first time i create the Bootcamp partition, the Mac take 1 hour to create it, very strange...

Nov 9, 2014 1:09 PM in response to Loner T

This is a known issue with 3TB fusion drives; What a joke! 😁

I read your message after deleting my Bootcamp drive. Here you'll can see the commands that you asked me:



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_CoreStorage 121.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 2.2 TB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s7

4: Apple_CoreStorage 801.4 GB disk1s5

5: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s6

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *3.1 TB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2, ...

7D2AB070-B558-4788-BD0F-ECD835245C2C

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk3

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1

2: Apple_HFS Time Machine 2.0 TB disk3s2

/dev/disk4

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *8.0 GB disk4

1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 8.0 GB disk4s1

/dev/disk5

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk5

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk5s1

2: Apple_HFS Archives 2.0 TB disk5s2




iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$ diskutil cs list


CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group FE01F854-51A7-441B-9BBE-B903BA3E5262

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

Name: OSX-MacintoshLVG

Status: Online

Size: 3120587710464 B (3.1 TB)

Free Space: 94208 B (94.2 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume D4097F0C-E8B6-4457-8764-76D78EEB4A96

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 3DDE5754-7274-4D58-AED2-EF28CC6A28AF

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 2198162292736 B (2.2 TB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 272FA37E-4CFD-4B2A-853B-6F901149E844

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

| Index: 2

| Disk: disk1s5

| Status: Online

| Size: 801436565504 B (801.4 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 433CF0FC-85A1-4316-A0D0-701590C503F7

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 7D2AB070-B558-4788-BD0F-ECD835245C2C

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 3114447011840 B (3.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS




sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0


WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss

or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your

typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.


To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.


Password:

Sorry, try again.

Password:

Sorry, try again.

Password:

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 236306352 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236715992 262144 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

236978136 7

236978143 32 Sec GPT table

236978175 1 Sec GPT header



sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1


gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk1: 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 4293285728 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

4293695368 1269760 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

4294965128 64

4294965192 1565305792 4 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

5860270984 262144 5 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

5860533128 7

5860533135 32 Sec GPT table

5860533167 1 Sec GPT header



sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1


gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk1: 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 4293285728 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

4293695368 1269760 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

4294965128 64

4294965192 1565305792 4 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

5860270984 262144 5 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

5860533128 7

5860533135 32 Sec GPT table

5860533167 1 Sec GPT header

iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

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



sudo fdisk /dev/disk0


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

iMac-de-Sebastien-MARTINEZ:~ Macintosh$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 97451/255/63 [1565565872 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 4294967294] <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

Nov 9, 2014 2:07 PM in response to Baron MARTo

There two problems now.


1. The CS resizeStack command is failing.

2. If the Bootcamp partition is not within the first 2TB of the HDD, the MBR will not be created either.


The only option I can see is use the resizeStack manually and create a partition with 2TB an manually create a Hybrid MBR to match. Let em know if that is what you like to try and I can post the commands here.


This is the help entry for the undocumented command.


diskutil cs resizeStack

Usage: diskutil coreStorage resizeStack

lvUUID|MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode [pvUUID] size

[part1Format part1Name part1Size part2Format part2Name part2Size

part3Format part3Name part3Size ...]

Resize both a logical volume and one of its underlying physical volumes in a

single operation. A single physical volume is always chosen for the underlying

shrink or grow, even if the logical volume's logical volume group is backed by

more than one physical volume. If you do not specify a particular physical

volume, then one is chosen for you. Note that if this is a grow operation,

this verb is limited by the physical volume's partition's room to grow.

Specifying zero as the size asks for an "automatic" grow-to-fill operation.

If this is a shrink operation, you can optionally request that new partitions

be created in the newly-formed free space gap in the partition map.

Again, note that this only resizes one of the underlying physical volumes; if

you need more sophistication in managing your topology, you should use the

separate physical and logical volume resize verbs.

Example: diskutil coreStorage resizeStack

11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 10g JHFS+ New 1g

Nov 9, 2014 2:47 PM in response to Loner T

OK, i need to read more time your post, i don't understand everything (i told you before, new with terminal + English conversation).


Tonight (for me), i don't have many time to be in front of my computer, or may be in two hours, i dont now yet.

If not, i read you again tomorrow with my total attention. 😉


I have 2 questions:


1. The CS resizeStack command is failing.

Huuuum.... Why?


2. If the Bootcamp partition is not within the first 2TB of the HDD, the MBR will not be created either.

I dont now what is the MBR but i thin the bootcamp partition was after the 2 first To in the HD.


Thanks for your help.

Nov 9, 2014 4:05 PM in response to Loner T

"Resize both a logical volume and one of its underlying physical volumes in a

single operation. A single physical volume is always chosen for the underlying

shrink or grow, even if the logical volume's logical volume group is backed by

more than one physical volume. If you do not specify a particular physical

volume, then one is chosen for you. Note that if this is a grow operation,

this verb is limited by the physical volume's partition's room to grow.

Specifying zero as the size asks for an "automatic" grow-to-fill operation.

If this is a shrink operation, you can optionally request that new partitions

be created in the newly-formed free space gap in the partition map.

Again, note that this only resizes one of the underlying physical volumes; if

you need more sophistication in managing your topology, you should use the

separate physical and logical volume resize verbs.

Example: diskutil coreStorage resizeStack

11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 10g JHFS+ New 1g"


Ok, i confirm, i don't understand. 😐

You ask if i need more sophistication to manage my topology, i just want 200 or 250 Gigas under the Win7 system to play two or three strategic games, nothing more.


Give me hope. 😉

Nov 9, 2014 4:53 PM in response to Baron MARTo

The Bootcamp implementation will try and create a partition only on the HDD, not the SSD.


The MBR is what you see when you run the Fdisk command. The GUID Partition table is what you see when you run the gpt command. For Bootcamp to work, both need to match with each other. The MBR uses 32-bit numbers and cannot work with disks larger than 2TB.


Your HDD is a 3Tb disk.


/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 2.2 TB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s7

4: Apple_CoreStorage 801.4 GB disk1s5

5: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s6


This is from your diskutil list output. Bootcamp Assistant should have created a disk1s2 of the size you wanted out of the 3TB disk and put the remainder in the Macintosh HD. It did start the work by creating disk1s5 and put it in the Macintosh HD volume, but it failed to create the BC volume after the EFI entry. Notice the numbering gaps in disk1s1, disk1s2, disk1s5, disk1s6, disk1s7 and there is no disk1s3 or disk1s4.


This is what it should look like if it worked correctly.



/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 250.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Apple_CoreStorage 2749.9 GB disk1s4

5: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s5


OR


/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 1750.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 250.0 GB disk1s4

5: Apple_CoreStorage 1000.1 GB disk1s5

6: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s6




The Fdisk output should have four (4) entries, which should have EFI, CoreStorage, Recovery HD, Bootcamp.


On one of my Mac mini machines, I have built a custom installation with Windows on the SSD.


diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *256.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 128.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 127.7 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 999.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 650.0 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS OSX-FusionHD *1.1 TB disk2



diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group DF140929-90E7-48E1-AC3D-C9C75BA88D1D

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

Name: OSX-FusionHD

Status: Online

Size: 1127375384576 B (1.1 TB)

Free Space: 69632 B (69.6 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume C856A74C-EB57-4D1F-8223-0A22215218ED

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 128030257152 B (128.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 80D91A14-CCC9-47B1-B071-B9ADFF23924F

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 999345127424 B (999.3 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 019D610F-21AC-4B54-AB0A-6D5F90D520A7

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume D9DC0F70-38C7-4AE6-BAC4-CFBE0F8D4F68

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 1118844862464 B (1.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: OSX-FusionHD

Volume Name: OSX-FusionHD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Nov 10, 2014 4:11 AM in response to Baron MARTo

We can leave this discussion. If you can post a new thread with the output of the following commands


diskutil list

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk1


Choose an appropriate title (in French, if it makes it easier for you).


First we can try the BC method of creating the partition, but if it fails, we may need to start by deleting all partitions, and start with two base disks and create what we need for both Bootcamp and OS X to work.

Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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