NemesysSoftware

Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

I've read multiple posts about this happening when your startup disk is already partitioned.

 

My problem is that the startup disk IS NOT partitioned. I specifically installed a clean version of El Capitan on an external FW disk and it is not partitioned. So, why am I getting this message? I don't want to install on my internal disk, I have a Thunderbolt drive that I would like to use for that. I thought that this was possible?

MacBook Pro, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Nov 21, 2015 11:48 AM

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Q: The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition

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  • by NemesysSoftware,

    NemesysSoftware NemesysSoftware Nov 25, 2015 11:25 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 25, 2015 11:25 AM in response to Loner T

    Thank you. I'm going to look over those options this long weekend and see what I decide to do.

  • by NemesysSoftware,

    NemesysSoftware NemesysSoftware Nov 27, 2015 3:08 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 27, 2015 3:08 PM in response to Loner T

    So, I gave it a shot. It ended up that the 6TB Thunderbolt disk was actually the RAID. So, I formatted each drive separately. Then, I partitioned one of the drive. I created a 100GB partition for Windows that I formatted as FAT32 with DU. Launched the Windows installer. Reported it couldn't install on the 100GB partition because it was not formatted as NTFS. So, I clicked the "Format" button in the installer and it happily formatted it. However, it still couldn't install on it because it said the disk partition map was GPT which is not supported. Rebooted in OS X, launched DU. Try to choose a different partition map to Master Boot Record. No can't do because the disk is too large for this type of map.

     

    So, I'm stuck. I'll need to merge the 2 partitions on my internal drive as one partition and then try to create a Windows partition on it and see if Boot Camp is more happy. Unless someone has another suggestion...

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 27, 2015 3:51 PM in response to NemesysSoftware
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Nov 27, 2015 3:51 PM in response to NemesysSoftware

    Can you post the output of the GPT and Fdisk commands for the target disk?

  • by NemesysSoftware,

    NemesysSoftware NemesysSoftware Nov 27, 2015 4:27 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 27, 2015 4:27 PM in response to Loner T

    How can I do that again?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 27, 2015 4:55 PM in response to NemesysSoftware
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Nov 27, 2015 4:55 PM in response to NemesysSoftware

    The command and output you posted in green on black on page 1. The same set of commands to see the current state of partitions.

  • by NemesysSoftware,

    NemesysSoftware NemesysSoftware Nov 30, 2015 9:09 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 30, 2015 9:09 AM in response to Loner T

    Well, Loner, I was getting a little tired of all this so I proceeded to merge the 2 partitions on my internal drive and then Boot Camp assistant was finally able to create a Windows partition. Had a couple of hooplas but finally managed to get Windows 7 64bits working.

     

    Thank you for all your help!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 30, 2015 9:20 AM in response to NemesysSoftware
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Nov 30, 2015 9:20 AM in response to NemesysSoftware

    Please create backups for OSX and Windows. Use separate external physical disks, if possible. Create a Windows System Restore point.

  • by NemesysSoftware,

    NemesysSoftware NemesysSoftware Nov 30, 2015 10:20 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (6 points)
    Mac OS X
    Nov 30, 2015 10:20 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for the suggestion. My main OS X partition is already backed up by TimeMachine. The Windows partition, I don't really care because I installed it only to play Elite Dangerous.

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