Disk Utility formats Hard Drives as Logical Volume Group

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Disk Utility formats Hard Drives as Logical Volume Group

I just replaced a hard drive which had died in my Mac Pro which has OS X 10.9.5. To format the new 3TB hard drive I went to Disk Utility. I used "Erase" in its fastest form and the drive was formatted with the Type: Logical Volume Group.

I remember this was a problem a few years ago when I first put hard drives in this computer. I think it was considered a bug in the Disk Utility in OS X 10.8 that it would automatically format drives greater than 2 TB as Logical Volume Group. The solution for me was to restart the computer with my OS X 10.6 disk and use the Disk Utility in that to reformat the drive. I never really understood why Logical Volume Group was a problem but I just obeyed what the wise ones of the Internet had to say.

So, now I am wondering if I should reformat my new Hard Drive as GUID using my OS X 10.6 optical disk again? If it was a bug in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.8 then why is it not fixed in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.9? Is there an actual problem with having disks format formatted as Logical Volume Group? Is this now just Apple's way of doing things?

Thank you.

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5)

Posted on Feb 25, 2015 10:09 AM

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Answer 1

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keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 25, 2015 1:53 PM in response to p_a_t_r_i_c_k

p_a_t_r_i_c_k wrote:

So, now I am wondering if I should reformat my new Hard Drive as GUID using my OS X 10.6 optical disk again? If it was a bug in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.8 then why is it not fixed in the Disk Utility of OS X 10.9? Is there an actual problem with having disks format formatted as Logical Volume Group? Is this now just Apple's way of doing things?

Thank you.

You could do your reformat using your 10.6 DVD. That's a decision that's up to you.

Not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed in a new OS.

I don't believe CoreStorage (Logical Volume Group) causes any sort of issues. Whenever one encrypts their Macintosh HD, the format is converted to CoreStorage. Fusion Drives are using CoreStorage and now Yosemite converts portables (laptops) to CoreStorage during the install process. As far as Yosemite is concerned, Apple seems to have gone the route of CoreStorage for portables. Even during the Setup on a portable, FileVault is offered with the default of YES being checked. So, if a customer isn't paying attention and continues with the install, they could encrypt their drive without knowing to uncheck the default checkbox.

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Answer 2

keg55

Level 6

11,743 points

Feb 25, 2015 2:37 PM in response to keg55

I forgot, there is one CoreStorage Logical Volume Group disadvantage. You can only partition it into one additional partition (See verbiage in RED box). That's all!

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Answer 3

Feb 26, 2015 11:52 AM in response to keg55

keg55 wrote:

You could do your reformat using your 10.6 DVD. That's a decision that's up to you.

Not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed in a new OS.

I don't believe CoreStorage (Logical Volume Group) causes any sort of issues. Whenever one encrypts their Macintosh HD, the format is converted to CoreStorage. Fusion Drives are using CoreStorage and now Yosemite converts portables (laptops) to CoreStorage during the install process. As far as Yosemite is concerned, Apple seems to have gone the route of CoreStorage for portables. Even during the Setup on a portable, FileVault is offered with the default of YES being checked. So, if a customer isn't paying attention and continues with the install, they could encrypt their drive without knowing to uncheck the default checkbox.

Thank you for your reply.

I have decided to reformat my new hard drive using my 10.6 disk. I like being able to split it up into more than one volume if need be.

I understand that not every bug in a previous OS gets fixed, but this strikes me as being really a very large bug, so I think it would be good if Apple addressed it.

It is useful to know about Yosemite's behaviour. When I upgrade to Yosemite I will be a bit more prepared. In fact my MacBook Pro has FileVault on with Mavericks so Yosemite won't change anything there.

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