Josh99Ralla
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: 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

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (24,800 points)
Safari
A:

If you are restoring a full TM backup, it will erase and restore the entire disk. Please try and post if you get any errors when you attempt a restore. If you want to test whether it works or not...

 

You can erase the  disk using...

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

 

 

You can format the disk using...

 

diskutil reformat

Usage:  diskutil reformat MountPoint|DiskIdentifier|DeviceNode

Completely erase an existing volume with the same name and format as the

original.  Ownership of the affected disk is required.

You cannot erase the boot volume, nor can you reformat any device which

does not have a valid file system (instead use diskutil eraseVolume).

Posted on Oct 12, 2014 9:57 AM

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Josh99Ralla

Q: Can't format former Boot Camp partition

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  • by Baron MARTo,

    Baron MARTo Baron MARTo Nov 11, 2014 12:39 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2014 12:39 AM in response to Loner T

    Ok, nobody's answer me in the new discussion, could you please take a look and give me the different step i have to do?

    Partition BootCap on DD 3To Fusion Drive: A methode

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Dec 31, 2014 11:05 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 31, 2014 11:05 PM in response to Loner T

    Hi Loner T,

     

    First of all thank you for the help, I have same issue with topic owner, which is Bootcamp partition deleted using Disk Utility below is my terminal result. Mine is 1TB fusion, tried internet recovery and now I'm on Version 10.9.5 instead of Yosemite when i tried to instal Windows 8. I don't mind to start fresh, i've made a time machine backup for 10.9.5 with external hard disk

     

    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                         749.5 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

       4:                        EFI NO NAME                 104.9 MB   disk1s4

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *864.3 GB   disk2

    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

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    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

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ 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   

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 31, 2014 11:36 PM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Dec 31, 2014 11:36 PM in response to ic3johan

    You have about 250GB missing on the 1TB HDD. The EFI "NO NAME" (disk1s4) looks like the MSR partition for a EFI boot Windows. Can you post the output of the gpt and fdisk commands for /dev/disk1, since that disk needs to be fixed?

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 1, 2015 2:11 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 1, 2015 2:11 AM in response to Loner T

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Password:

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 1953525167] <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

     

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    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 1953525167

           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  1463893792      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1464303432     1269760      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1465573192         184        

      1465573376      204800      4  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

      1465778176   487746959        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 2:14 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 2:14 AM in response to Loner T

    hi loner, ive pasted the result of your request. thank you

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 2, 2015 4:17 AM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Jan 2, 2015 4:17 AM in response to ic3johan

    ic3johan wrote:

     

      1465573376      204800      4  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

    1465778176   487746959        

    This is roughly about 243+ GB. Can you download GPT Fdisk (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/) which can be used to correct this?

     

    Was your Windows installation using EFI Boot or MBR Boot?

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 6:22 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 6:22 AM in response to Loner T

    yes correct on your calculation, it is 250gb. I will d/l that when im back home. what the next move?

     

    Installed using bootcamp helper and copy iso from desktop, is that helping?

     

    Thanks a lot for your help

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 2, 2015 6:41 AM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Jan 2, 2015 6:41 AM in response to ic3johan

    GPT 4 is an EFI (disk1s4) partition. GPT 1 is also an EFI (disk1s1). Usually a disk has a single EFI. Although, it may have an MSR and EFI, both.  It is a bit confusing to see this configuration. This can also indicate a Disk Utility failure and the UI version of DU in Yosemite is very buggy.

     

    The intent is to create a GPT 5 which has the start/size of 1465778176/487746959 which will become disk1s5, and then the headers can be checked. If the headers are valid (and NTFS) BCA can be used to do a clean remove of Windows. This will also properly re-build the Fusion drive.


    If this method does not work, Internet Recovery, Erase/Restore from TM or manual diskutil CS commands to put it back correctly would be the last resort.

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 7:18 AM in response to Loner T

    wow a bit loss there, the last resort method sounds easier. if you dont mind, can you give a step by step for both method. i should reward you something on ur help. really do. thaks

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 2, 2015 2:24 PM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Jan 2, 2015 2:24 PM in response to ic3johan

    Bootcamp disk0s4 gone after Yosemite update is an example of building a GPT entry. It shows a GPT 4 entry, the same steps are used to build GPT 5.

     

    For Erase/re-install see OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support and Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support.

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 3:53 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 3:53 PM in response to Loner T

    i've tried internet recovery, the portion of Free Space is still there and can't be reformatted. I've downloaded disk

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 2, 2015 4:20 PM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Jan 2, 2015 4:20 PM in response to ic3johan

    The first simpler option is to re-create GPT5 and make it an NTFS file system. If it does show up properly as NTFS, then BCA can be used for a 'proper' delete. I have added an explanation for each of the commands in (parentheses).

     

    sudo gdisk /dev/disk1

    n (add a new partition)

    5 (the next available number is 5)

    1465778176 (starting sector of this partition)

    +487746959 (size of this partition in 512-byte sectors)

    0700 (Partition type is Windows NTFS/MS Data)

    p (print the GPT for validation)

    w (write the update GPT to disk).

    y (confirm the write)

     

    Reboot

     

    This should show you a new disk slice called disk1s5.

     

    sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk1s5 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

     

    If this shows 'R.NTFS', then run BCA and try to 'Remove Windows...'.

     

    Please stop and post back if you see any errors.

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 5:01 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 5:01 PM in response to Loner T

    this the result

     

    Last login: Sat Jan  3 08:49:09 on console

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk1s5 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

    Password:

    00000000  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|

    *

    00000200

    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                         749.5 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

       4:                        EFI NO NAME                 104.9 MB   disk1s4

       5:       Microsoft Basic Data                         249.7 GB   disk1s5

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *864.3 GB   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

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$ dskutil cs list

    -bash: dskutil: 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

    Johans-iMac:~ Johan$

     

    <a href="http://s289.photobucket.com/user/johan1111/media/6FC228F6-76E4-4727-B55F-B69FAE0 ACE24.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll228/johan1111/6FC228F6-76E4-4727-B55F-B69FA E0ACE24.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 6FC228F6-76E4-4727-B55F-B69FAE0ACE24.jpg"/></a>

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 2, 2015 5:46 PM in response to ic3johan
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Jan 2, 2015 5:46 PM in response to ic3johan

    Can you run BCA and check if you get an option to Remove Windows?

  • by ic3johan,

    ic3johan ic3johan Jan 2, 2015 10:14 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 2, 2015 10:14 PM in response to Loner T

    BCA show this

    "The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows."

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