How do I convert my case-sensitive filesystem hard drive back to the standard?

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Level 1

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How do I convert my case-sensitive filesystem hard drive back to the standard?

I have downloaded a game that won't run on my iMac (Bioshock) I've discovered that it is because I formatted my Hard Drive as a case-sensitive filesystem. I thought it was a better. I've discovered that some other games at the App Store (e.g. Doom 3) will not run on my Mac for that reason.

How do I convert my hard drive form "Mac OS Extended (Case-sensitive, Journaled)" back to the standard "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)"?

I assumed I had to reformat the internal HD. I formatted an external HD in the standard "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" and then used SuperDuper! to create a bootable duplicate of my internal HD. The external HD copy booted without a problem, but the when I tested the games, they still would not run and reported that it was because it was on a case-sensitive HD. So I didn't reformat the internal drive. what have i done wrong? Suggestions? Software?

Cheers,

Neil

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), 27-inch (late 2013), 3.5GHz i7, 16Gb/3Tb

Posted on May 29, 2015 9:16 PM

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Answer 1

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Linc Davis

Level 10

209,541 points

May 29, 2015 10:01 PM in response to iNeil316

You should be able to use either "Carbon Copy Cloner" or "SuperDuper" (free for this purpose) to copy your case-sensitive volume to an empty case-insensitive one. Make at least two such copies on different drives. One is not enough to be safe.

If there are any name conflicts—that is, files in the same folder with names that differ only in case, such as "File" and "file"—then you will either get an error or one of the files won't be copied. You must ensure either that no such conflicts exist, or that the consequences are not important. How you do that is up to you. Unless you went out of your way to create conflicts, they probably don't exist.

Then erase the source volume in Disk Utility as case-insensitive. This action will remove all data from the volume. If the volume is the startup volume, you must start up in Recovery mode or from another drive in order to erase it.

Restore from one of your backups using the same application you used to create it, or use the "Restore" feature of Disk Utility, which will be faster. Search its built-in help for the term "duplicate" if you need instructions.

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