Ex-Bootcamp Partition Stuck As "Free Space"

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Ex-Bootcamp Partition Stuck As "Free Space"

Yesterday I had problems with my Windows partition (user file was corrupted) so I had to erase the partition completely. This wasn't possible through the BootCamp app, so I erased and formatted the partition through the disc utility.

Now, after erasing the Windows partition, the hard drive space assigned to the partition is still seperated and labelled "Free Space". I've tried pretty much everything I can think of and haven't been able to remove it or merge it with the main "Macintosh HD".

As you can see, "-" option is grayed out and I'm unable to drag the Macintosh HD down into the free space. I've tried adding a new partition, but it never saves once I switch tabs.

I've tried erasing and formatting the main Macintosh HD and re-installing Yosemite but the problem remains.

I should mention that this is a 1TB Fusion Drive:

Any help would be appreciated.

iMac

Posted on Jun 8, 2015 5:14 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 5:21 PM in response to Rob ツ

By deleting it manually, you now have the Recovery HD (and some CoreStorage parts), which cannot be merged anymore. The simplest and safest method is

1. Back up OSX using Time Machine - Mac Basics: Time Machine backs up your Mac - Apple Support.

2. Boot into Internet Recovery - OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support.

3. Erase your internal drive and restore from the TM backup in Step 1 - OS X Yosemite: Recover your entire system.

Please be aware that TM does not backup Bootcamp partitions.

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Answer 2

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 6:05 PM in response to Loner T

Doesn't seem to have worked.

Correct me if I did anything wrong:

Backed up in Time Machine
Booted up into internet recovery (command+option+R)
Went to disc utility and erased "Macintosh HD"
Restored from Time Machine backup (when asking where to restore it, it displayed my "500gb" Macintosh HD partition, not 1TB)

It's still showing the same problem as the first post.

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Answer 3

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 6:20 PM in response to Rob ツ

You need to erase the outer Macintosh HD (CS Logical Volume Group), not the inner Macintosh HD (CS Logical Volume). It is unfortunate that Yosemite chose to name them the same.

Please post the output of diskutil cs list from Terminal if possible in Recovery console (you will need to post an image) or post one before you repeat the Internet Recovery.

If you are unable to erase it, I can provide OS X Terminal commands to do erase and rebuild it.

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Answer 4

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 6:42 PM in response to Loner T

And where would I erase it? There isn't an erase option for the outer Macintosh HD, only "Verify" and "Repair".

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Answer 5

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 6:56 PM in response to Rob ツ

If you are in Recovery Console, start a terminal window from Utilities -> Terminal and try the following commands in sequence. The commands begin after the first "-" sign.

1. Erase LV Macintosh HD - diskutil cs deleteVolume "Macintosh HD"

2. Erase LVG Macintosh HD - diskutil cs delete "Macintosh HD"

3. Erase the internal SSD - diskutil erasedisk JHFS+ SSD disk0

4. Erase the internal HDD - diskutil erasedisk JHFS+ HDD disk1

5. Recreate CS LVG (Please ensure that you use the SSD first) - diskutil cs create OSX-MacintoshLVG disk0s2 disk1s2

6. Recreate the CS LV - diskutil cs createVolume OSX-MacintoshLVG "Macintosh HD" 100%

7. Restore from TM backup.

8. Re-run BCA and try to install Windows.

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Answer 6

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 7:06 PM in response to Loner T

My results:

1. Error - Not a valid CoreStorage Logical Volume UUID (-69776)

2. Error - Not a valid CoreStorage Logical Volume UUID (-69778)

3. Error -69877: Couldn't open device

4. Error -69877: Couldn't open device

5. Error: The target disk is already in use by Core Storage

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Answer 7

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 7:13 PM in response to Rob ツ

Are you able to delete the inner "Macintosh HD"? If not, then can you boot normally back into OS X and post the text output of diskutil cs list? It will help me to create the exact UUID-based commands. My previous commands are based on a DU screen shot you have.

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Answer 8

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 7:16 PM in response to Loner T

I'm able to erase the inner one, yes. I did that before posting here but still have the same "free space" problem after restoring a time machine backup.

Here's the text from the diskutil cs list

-bash-3.2# diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 9F877C86-814C-40D0-8D9E-45FA2DA5678B

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 564333780992 B (564.3 GB)

Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

|

+-< Physical Volume 65391326-ABA4-4B10-B174-176C8DBDC4B4

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 1DB82D0C-EB0B-40E9-BF7D-88DBF3B8FD66

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 443344928768 B (443.3 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 0DD19705-CFFB-454D-BA91-3BF49976D800

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume B53F94ED-7605-4F21-B39A-66CF286B75E5

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

Disk: disk3

Status: Online

Size (Total): 555826413568 B (555.8 GB)

Size (Converted): -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

-bash-3.2#

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Answer 9

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 7:24 PM in response to Rob ツ

In step 5, the order is important, the SSD must be first in the CS otherwise the performance is really not good.

Same steps with UUIDs...

1. Erase LV Macintosh HD - diskutil cs deleteVolume B53F94ED-7605-4F21-B39A-66CF286B75E5

2. Erase LVG Macintosh HD - diskutil cs delete 9F877C86-814C-40D0-8D9E-45FA2DA5678B

3. Erase the internal SSD (verify that diskutil list shows SSD 120+ GB as disk0) - diskutil erasedisk JHFS+ SSD disk0

4. Erase the internal HDD (verify that diskutil list shows HDD 999+ GB as disk1) - diskutil erasedisk JHFS+ HDD disk1

5. Recreate CS LVG (Please ensure that you use the SSD first) - diskutil cs create OSX-MacintoshLVG disk0s2 disk1s2

6. Recreate the CS LV - diskutil cs createVolume OSX-MacintoshLVG "Macintosh HD" 100%

7. Restore from TM backup.

8. Re-run BCA and try to install Windows.

The verification is necessary to ensure that SSD is index 0 in the CS volume as shown in your output...

+-< Physical Volume 65391326-ABA4-4B10-B174-176C8DBDC4B4

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 1DB82D0C-EB0B-40E9-BF7D-88DBF3B8FD66

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 443344928768 B (443.3 GB)

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Answer 10

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 7:29 PM in response to Loner T

#6 gives this message:

-bash-3.2# diskutil cs createVolume OSX-MacintoshLVG "Macintosh HD" 100%

Usage: diskutil coreStorage createVolume lvgUUID type name size

[-stdinpassphrase | -passphrase [passphrase]]

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

Type is the file system to initialize on the new logical volume. Valid types

are Journaled HFS+ or Case-sensitive Journaled HFS+ or their aliases.

Size is the amount of space to allocate from the parent logical volume group.

Valid sizes are floating-point numbers with a suffix of B(ytes), S(512-byte-

blocks), K(ilobytes), M(egabytes), G(igabytes), T(erabytes), P(etabytes),

or (%) a percentage of the current size of the logical volume group.

Example: diskutil coreStorage createVolume

11111111-2222-3333-4444-555555555555 jhfs+ myLV 10g

-bash-3.2#

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Answer 11

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 7:41 PM in response to Rob ツ

Try

diskutil cs createVolume OSX-MacintoshLVG JHFS+ "Macintosh HD" 100%

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Answer 12

Rob ツ Author

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Jun 8, 2015 7:43 PM in response to Loner T

Error creating CoreStorage Logical Volume: Not a valid CoreStorage Logical Volume Group UUID (-69778)

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Answer 13

Loner T

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Jun 8, 2015 7:48 PM in response to Rob ツ

The Recovery Console is far behind the OS X layer insisting on the UUIDs instead of the names.

Run diskutil cs list. Take the LVG UUID (long string) and use it in the place of <LongLVG-UUIDString> in the following command. It should be in this line