SNWalker4
Level 1 (0 points)

Q: Boot Camp error message: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

I'm trying to partition my HD to instal Windows so I can play some games, but I keep getting this error: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

 

I checked disk utility - only one partition. Just my mac's HD.

 

I ran:

 

diskutil list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0



I got:

 

#:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.1 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI                         209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD            499.1 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

samantha-walkers-macbook-pro:~ samanthawalker$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

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 976773167

      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  974831808      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  975241448     262144        

  975503592    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  976773128          7        

  976773135         32         Sec GPT table

  976773167          1         Sec GPT header

samantha-walkers-macbook-pro:~ samanthawalker$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

 

I then used this:

diskutil mergePartitions disk0s2 disk0s3


I got this:

 

usage: fdisk [-ieu] [-f mbrboot] [-c cyl -h head -s sect] [-S size] [-r] [-a style] disk

  -i: initialize disk with new MBR

  -u: update MBR code, preserve partition table

  -e: edit MBRs on disk interactively

  -f: specify non-standard MBR template

  -chs: specify disk geometry

  -S: specify disk size

  -r: read partition specs from stdin (implies -i)

  -a: auto-partition with the given style

  -d: dump partition table

  -y: don't ask any questions

  -t: test if disk is partitioned

`disk' is of the form /dev/rdisk0.

auto-partition styles:

  boothfs     8Mb boot plus HFS+ root partition (default)

  bootufs     8Mb boot plus UFS root partition

  hfs         Entire disk as one HFS+ partition

  ufs         Entire disk as one UFS partition

  dos         Entire disk as one DOS partition

  raid        Entire disk as one 0xAC partition

 

I tried boot camp again and same old error message.

 

What else could it be?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 2, 2015 1:28 PM

Close
SNWalker4

Q: Boot Camp error message: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by Pmintz25,

    Pmintz25 Pmintz25 Oct 2, 2015 1:35 PM in response to SNWalker4
    Level 4 (1,634 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 1:35 PM in response to SNWalker4

    Did you try to repair the disk in DU?

     

    If you're using 10.6.8 you can boot to the install disc and open DU there. Run Repair Disk and see what happens. Sounds like there could be an error on the hard drive not letting you partition. Repairing the disk could fix this.

     

    Check out this Apple support article:

    Resolve startup issues and perform disk maintenance with Disk Utility and fsck - Apple Support

     

    I know it's not a start up issue, but the options under the "Try Disk Utility" and "Try fsck" sections may help you out

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 2, 2015 1:36 PM in response to SNWalker4
    Level 7 (23,908 points)
    Safari
    Oct 2, 2015 1:36 PM in response to SNWalker4

    The presence of Recovery hd is normal. You do not need mergePartitions. Run diskutil repairDisk disk0 and try your Bca procedure again.

  • by SNWalker4,

    SNWalker4 SNWalker4 Oct 2, 2015 4:05 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 4:05 PM in response to Loner T

    Tried that and got this:

     

    NOTE: repairDisk is deprecated, use repairVolume instead.

    Error starting filesystem repair for disk0: Unrecognized filesystem (-9958)

    You specified a partition map; please specify a volume

  • by SNWalker4,

    SNWalker4 SNWalker4 Oct 2, 2015 4:08 PM in response to Pmintz25
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 2, 2015 4:08 PM in response to Pmintz25

    This seems to be the problem. I got a this disk needs to be repaired message. Apparently volume file and volume directory file count are invalid? Might be from when I tried to use Virtual Box and it didn't do what I wanted. Maybe? I'll repair the disk and see if it fixed my issue. Thanks!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Oct 2, 2015 4:23 PM in response to SNWalker4
    Level 7 (23,908 points)
    Safari
    Oct 2, 2015 4:23 PM in response to SNWalker4

    Try the article which Pmintz25 linked to.

     

    The command line versions using repairVolume are for individual slices.

    diskutil repairVolume disk0s1

    Started file system repair on disk0s1 EFI

    Repairing file system

    ** /dev/rdisk0s1

    ** Phase 1 - Preparing FAT

    ** Phase 2 - Checking Directories

    ** Phase 3 - Checking for Orphan Clusters

    87 files, 177198 KiB free (354397 clusters)

    File system check exit code is 0

    Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required

    Finished file system repair on disk0s1 EFI

     

    diskutil repairVolume disk0s2

    Started file system repair on disk0s2

    Verifying storage system

    Checking volume

    disk0s2: Scan for Volume Headers

    disk0s2: Scan for Disk Labels

    Logical Volume Group 57578357-3715-48A5-AB8A-4107AF12F7FB on 1 device

    disk0s2: Scan for Metadata Volume

    Logical Volume Group has a 24 MB Metadata Volume with double redundancy

    Start scanning metadata for a valid checkpoint

    Load and verify Segment Headers

    Load and verify Checkpoint Payload

    Load and verify Transaction Segment

    Incorporate 0 newer non-checkpoint transactions

    Load and verify Virtual Address Table

    Load and verify Segment Usage Table

    Load and verify Metadata Superblock

    Load and verify Logical Volumes B-Trees

    Logical Volume Group contains 1 Logical Volume

    Load and verify 11EBF920-AA4B-4EC6-AC7F-7CC70E69883C

    Load and verify 8A0116D5-7E1E-44D8-B2A0-8D4E4D48298D

    Load and verify Freespace Summary

    Load and verify Block Accounting

    Load and verify Live Virtual Addresses

    Newest transaction commit checkpoint is valid

    Load and verify Segment Cleaning

    The volume 57578357-3715-48A5-AB8A-4107AF12F7FB appears to be OK

    Storage system check exit code is 0

    Finished file system repair on disk0s2

     

    diskutil repairVolume disk0s3

    Started file system repair on disk0s3 Recovery HD

    Repairing file system

    Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume

    Checking extents overflow file

    Checking catalog file

    Checking multi-linked files

    Checking catalog hierarchy

    Checking extended attributes file

    Checking volume bitmap

    Checking volume information

    The volume Recovery HD appears to be OK

    File system check exit code is 0

    Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required

    Finished file system repair on disk0s3 Recovery HD