Can't format former Boot Camp partition

Please backup the OSX installation before you attempt the following.

Try these steps. If these do not work, then you will have erase the disk and restore from backup.

1. Remove 1TB PV from CS volume - diskutil cs removeDisk 7428B963-323E-4320-AB4E-90B0EA52D6C2

2. Initialize the 1TB disk - diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MyHDD disk1

3. Add 1TB PV back in CS volume - diskutil cs addDisk disk1s2

4. Show the logical volume - diskutil cs list

Last login: Wed Jan 7 07:50:03 on ttys000

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil cs removeDisk 7428B963-323E-4320-AB4E-90B0EA52D6C2

Started CoreStorage operation

newfs_hfs: cannot create filesystem on /dev/rdisk1s2

: Resource busy

Mounting disk

Could not mount disk1s2 with name (null) after erase

Error: -69832: File system formatter failed

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ MyHDD disk1

Started erase on disk1

Unmounting disk

Error: -69877: Couldn't open device

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil cs addDisk disk1s2

Usage: diskutil coreStorage addDisk lvgUUID NewMemberDeviceName

Add a new physical volume to a CoreStorage logical volume group.

Ownership of the affected disks is required.

Example: diskutil coreStorage addDisk

11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 disk4s2

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 733DDEBE-CA13-41A5-AEC5-02242FD39B98

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 870502473728 B (870.5 GB)

Free Space: 98304 B (98.3 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 938679F7-B1EE-4DCE-BB6A-D98E0438054B

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 7428B963-323E-4320-AB4E-90B0EA52D6C2

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 749513621504 B (749.5 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 17832D68-EA9B-4661-912A-E310ADF8DC8B

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 4527AA97-DD06-43D4-9C7D-1D2E850F643C

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 864315506688 B (864.3 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

irk somehow it become freespace again

Last login: Wed Jan 7 07:50:09 on ttys000

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ 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 *1.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS 749.5 GB disk1s2

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *864.3 GB disk2

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk3

1: Windows_NTFS Seagate Backup Plus ... 1.0 TB disk3s1

/dev/disk4

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *32.5 GB disk4

1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 32.5 GB disk4s1

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ csdiskutil list

-bash: csdiskutil: command not found

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ cs diskutil list

-bash: cs: command not found

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 733DDEBE-CA13-41A5-AEC5-02242FD39B98

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 870502473728 B (870.5 GB)

Free Space: 98304 B (98.3 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 938679F7-B1EE-4DCE-BB6A-D98E0438054B

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 7428B963-323E-4320-AB4E-90B0EA52D6C2

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 749513621504 B (749.5 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 17832D68-EA9B-4661-912A-E310ADF8DC8B

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 4527AA97-DD06-43D4-9C7D-1D2E850F643C

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 864315506688 B (864.3 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

hi loner,

after following your instruction, i restart it and restore OS from external hard disk. this is the result. does this man all okay now?

Last login: Wed Jan 7 16:04:44 on console

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ 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 *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 Macintosh HD *1.1 TB disk2

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk3

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1

2: Apple_HFS backup 999.9 GB disk3s2

/dev/disk4

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *32.5 GB disk4

1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 32.5 GB disk4s1

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 10332F8A-160A-4149-BC1E-E8D27B3D2258

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 1120333979648 B (1.1 TB)

Free Space: 16384 B (16.4 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume B7E5B71F-2FDD-47DE-B34F-9271F32E0753

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume FC9A3CFB-0AB0-45DC-9CD0-FDB7CCCFDFAC

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 999345127424 B (999.3 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 1900D07D-46A7-4C39-B83E-3781CC9E9434

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume B79591FA-470E-4E43-9528-8BB6F4179725

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 1114835501056 B (1.1 TB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Johans-iMac:~ Johan$

Yes, after the restore, you now have

/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

as compared to

/dev/disk1

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS 749.5 GB disk1s2

The commands to add/remove disks from CS volumes would also have worked in Local Recovery mode console.

Hi Josh99Ralla,

I seem to have the same problem you did, i.e. "Can't format former BootCamp partition".

However, the answer to your problem by "Loner T" wasn't clear to me.

What did you do exactly? I ask because the "Free Space" is not a partition right? because it does not appear using "diskutil list" on Terminal.

So, did you erase and reformat the complete HD? OR were you able to merge the unused free space to the main partition?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

In the previous case, the internal disk was erased and restored from a Time Machine backup.

Hi Loner, I have the same problem, I can't go back to my 500Gb, i got stuck with 130Gb of free space, can you help me?

Can you start a new thread and post the output of the commands as mentioned on this thread?

I have already created a new thread Loner T, I attached the of diskutil cs list

Can't format former Boot Camp partition [Thread II]

Hey everyone,

I'm having the sort of same issue, but with a twist haha.

I have deleted the NTFS or Bootcamp partition through Disk Utilities, without knowing that I couldn't do that, so now I'm stuck with a useless partition too.

I've been trying for almost two days now, trying to figure out how to get this work but I can't, it's driving me crazy haha.

Here's my setup; I have a 1 TB external USB harddisk, with a Mac partition, and a (former) NTFS or MS DOS partition on it, I don't know which one of them it is, I presume the latter.

I can't do anything with it, I've tried going in the recovery mode (although it seemed useless because everything is on a external harddrive), I've tried reformatting the Bootcamp partition, making a new partition out of the space I have left on the Mac partition, but nothing worked.

My goal here is, to make the Mac partition smaller, and put a larger (than before) new NTSF/MS DOS partition next to it. The Mac partition isn't full btw.

I also don't run my Macbook from this drive, it's just a external drive I use for Time Machine, and other stuff I need to back up seperately.

I hope someone could help !

This is what I see after "diskutil cs list"

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 193C7021-1DE4-46F6-9672-08221C735CF8

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

Name: JEAN P DISK HDD

Status: Online

Size: 893679972352 B (893.7 GB)

Free Space: 269634301952 B (269.6 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 9890496F-89F0-4C3D-BBD0-6E7473548E2F

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 893679972352 B (893.7 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family CC6FC735-0DB8-4541-8406-798855B633A9

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume 37C9F6EC-412D-4792-B05A-7216BD0F13A0

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 623710121984 B (623.7 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: JEAN P DISK HDD

Volume Name: JEAN P DISK HDD

Content Hint: Apple_HFSX

Jean-P-Macbook:~ macbook$

If that's any help haha. 🙂

Is the diskutil cs list from your external disk?

Yes, it is 🙂 The disk is called Jean P Disk HDD

Posted in your new thread.

Thank you ! I just replied to it 🙂