Dino - UK

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

Hi Loner T, I've followed this thread from the start as I have the exact same problem installing bootcamp. This is my first Mac so I'm definitely a newbie and made the mistake of erasing windows and trying to delete the bootcamp partition as I didn't make the partition big enough in the first instance.

I now am in the same boat that Barncore was in and I too am not very "techie".

I did boot into recovery and use disk utility and cs list...this is the result.

 

IMG_2654.JPG

Could I take the liberty and ask if you'd cast your eye at the image and give your verdict. It is a late 2013 iMac 27 with I7 processor, 24 GB ram and a 1TB fusion drive.

I'm sorry to burden you with this but you seemed so knowledgable in the thread and I'm desperate to get windows 8.1pro back on as I need it for a couple of programs that are only available within the windows environment.

Best regards.

P.S. When I booted into recovery and ran repair disk in the top drive it listed this in red, although it said the disk appeared ok.

 

"Invalid disk label @ 4096 cksum mismatch".



Loner T wrote....

Can I suggest a new discussion? Since you are in Recovery (I assume Local Recovery - Command +R), this may be a bit more painful to post output with photographs. Can you boot normally into OS X without any issues? If yes, from OS X Terminal post the output of the following Terminal commands.

 

diskutil list

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

 

The "sudo" commands will prompt for your password, and it will not be echoed back. You may also see a warning about improper use of "sudo" and potential data loss due to "abuse" of the command.

 

It is much easier to post information from the normal boot of OS X. If we need to go back to Internet Recovery, it can be done after we gather some information.

 

Yes I can boot normally without issue, here are the outputs..

distil list....

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          121.0 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          848.9 GB   disk1s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk1s3

   4:                        EFI NO NAME                 104.9 MB   disk1s4

/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +964.3 GB   disk2

                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

                                 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3 (external, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk3

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1

   2:                  Apple_HFS Passport for Mac        999.8 GB   disk3s2

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

distil cs list...

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 0794D847-5234-4609-A6AF-82B40B41A1F0

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

    Name:         Internal Drive

    Status:       Online

    Size:         969855918080 B (969.9 GB)

    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume ABA7389B-D341-41B0-893B-2337E4021183

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

    |   Index:    0

    |   Disk:     disk0s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume E5BF1D6A-47AB-45FC-84A5-C32B725285AB

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

    |   Index:    1

    |   Disk:     disk1s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     848867065856 B (848.9 GB)

    |

    +-> Logical Volume Family F99AD810-6552-4297-96F9-EC5D0458C625

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

        Encryption Type:         None

        |

        +-> Logical Volume 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

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

            Disk:                  disk2

            Status:                Online

            Size (Total):          964336500736 B (964.3 GB)

            Revertible:            No

            LV Name:               Macintosh HD

            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

            LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0...

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=121332826112; sectorsize=512; blocks=236978176

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 236978175

      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  236306352      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  236715992     262144      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

  236978136          7       

  236978143         32         Sec GPT table

  236978175          1         Sec GPT header

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

 

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0...

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

         Starting       Ending

#: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

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

1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  236978175] <Unknown ID>

2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013)

Posted on Dec 21, 2015 7:19 AM

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

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  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 22, 2015 11:23 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 11:23 AM in response to Loner T

    Unfortunately the EFI didn't work giving the error.. *Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation, restart the installation.

    This I did only to be left with the 4 windows remnants again (Recovery, MBR etc.) Which I've now erased.

    I then re-ran the two sudo commands as you can see in the terminal output.

    It was difficult for me to determine the correct section of the drive for

    1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

    1364043624   589481511      


    As I only had the size to go by and not anything like the above, about 200GB of unallocated space. Was I correct?


    Here is the terminal output...

    Last login: Tue Dec 22 19:06:45 on console

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1362364448      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1364043624         152        

      1364043776      614400      4  GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

      1364658176      204800      5  GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

      1364862976      262144      6  GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE

      1365125120   588398592      7  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      1953523712        1423        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 1953525167] <Unknown ID>

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s4

    Started erase on disk1s4

    Unmounting disk

    Finished erase on disk1

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s5

    Started erase on disk1s5 NO NAME

    Unmounting disk

    Finished erase on disk1

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s6

    Started erase on disk1s6

    Unmounting disk

    Finished erase on disk1

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ diskutil eraseVolume free FREE disk1s7

    Started erase on disk1s7

    Unmounting disk

    Finished erase on disk1

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1362364448      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1364043624   589481511        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 - 1953525167] <Unknown ID>

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Dec 22, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 22, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Dino - UK

    Please run SMC and NVRAM Reset. Disable SIP.

     

    1. Boot into Local Recovery (Command+R).

    2. Start Utilities -> Terminal.

    3. Type csrutil disable in Terminal and press Enter/Return.

    4. Type csrutil status.

    5. Boot normally, and type csrutil status to confirm that all individual entries are still disabled.

     

    Now try the EFI boot again. (I know it is a bit tedious ).

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 22, 2015 12:38 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 12:38 PM in response to Loner T

    Sorry Loner, but what is SIP, and how do I disable it?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 22, 2015 1:07 PM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 22, 2015 1:07 PM in response to Dino - UK

    El Capitan has System Integrity Protection enabled as default. It prevents unauthorized modifications to the OSX side.

     

    Please also see About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support .

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 22, 2015 1:48 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2015 1:48 PM in response to Loner T

    It's a no go again I'm afraid Loner. Same error as before.*Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation, restart the installation.

    Again I was left with the 4 windows remnants, which I've now erased.

     

    I think it's now time to bite the bullet and accept that Windows is going to be a no show.

     

    Maybe if you could help me one last time to get my mac free of any orphans on the HDD as it doesn't seem as though I have a total of 1TB.

     

    I'll just have to use my wifes laptop for any Windows work I need to do in the future.

     

    I'll boot into recovery once more and enable SIP once again.

     

    Drive one now looks like this... Is that as near to factory as I should be?

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1362364448      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1362774088     1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1364043624   589481511      

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

     

    diskutil cs list

    CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

    |

    +-- Logical Volume Group 0794D847-5234-4609-A6AF-82B40B41A1F0

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

        Name:         Internal Drive

        Status:       Online

        Size:         818519449600 B (818.5 GB)

        Free Space:   0 B (0 B)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume ABA7389B-D341-41B0-893B-2337E4021183

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

        |   Index:    0

        |   Disk:     disk0s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

        |

        +-< Physical Volume E5BF1D6A-47AB-45FC-84A5-C32B725285AB

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

        |   Index:    1

        |   Disk:     disk1s2

        |   Status:   Online

        |   Size:     697530597376 B (697.5 GB)

        |

        +-> Logical Volume Family F99AD810-6552-4297-96F9-EC5D0458C625

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

            Encryption Type:         None

            |

            +-> Logical Volume 0F9B0654-203A-42AD-8840-E4E23177C0C7

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

                Disk:                  disk2

                Status:                Online

                Size (Total):          813000032256 B (813.0 GB)

                Revertible:            No

                LV Name:               Macintosh HD

                Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

                Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

                LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse

    Gerrys-iMac27:~ ME$

    Regards.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 22, 2015 1:54 PM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 22, 2015 1:54 PM in response to Dino - UK

    Let us try a clean setup and see if it resolves the Installation issue.

     

    1. Backup OSX and all your files - Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support .

    2. Boot into Internet Recovery (Command+Opt+R) - OS X: About OS X Recovery - Apple Support .

    3. Click on Utilties -> Disk Utility and Erase your internal whole disk. For a Fusion disk, we may need to rebuild the Fusion drive.

    4. Restore OSX and your files - Use Time Machine to back up or restore your Mac - Apple Support .

     

    This requires a separate external disk which can accommodate TM backup - Backup disks you can use with Time Machine - Apple Support .

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Dec 23, 2015 1:33 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2015 1:33 AM in response to Loner T

    Yes Loner, I'm now thinking the same. Unfortunately I'm going away for the holidays in the morning of the 24th, so may have to continue with this the 2nd or 3rd week of January if that would be alright.

     

    I do have a few questions though, in Disk utility it list 2 drives, FUSION drive, and MACINTOSH HDD under that. Will it be the Mac Hdd that is erased?

    Also, I do have a usb 1TB WD My Passport for mac that is used by Time Machine so will that be good to back up from if I backup immediately prior.

    My only other worry is that when the drive is erased, is that the point when the fusion drive needs rebuilding, only without the restore being done, my only access to the community is via my iPhone, or possibly my wifes old windows laptop.Best regards,

    Gerry

    If  the delay is good with you I wish you and yours a great holiday and thank you for your knowledge and assistance. Hopefully we can continue this in the New Year.

  • by Loner T,Helpful

    Loner T Loner T Dec 23, 2015 6:55 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Dec 23, 2015 6:55 AM in response to Dino - UK

    Post back when you come back from vacation. Enjoy your time off. Have a safe trip, wherever you plan to vacation.

     

    A 'Fusion' drive consists of two (or more) physical drives 'fused' together using software. It will typically have a fast drive and a set of slower drives in such a setup. The Macintosh HD you see straddles both these physical drives. Depending on your usage patterns, disk blocks are moved from slower to faster storage and vice-a-versa. This is primarily done for performance reasons. There are other benefits as well, for example some types of disk failures are easier to recover from.

     

    The 1TB Passport as backup is good to have. In step 2, if you do not want to boot from Apple servers over the internet, the workaround is to install OS X on an external drive and use it as a boot disk. Your 1TB Passport can have a small 16GB partition for such needs. Please also see How to install OS X on an external drive connected to your Mac - Apple Support .

     

    Your iPhone (over wifi) should be good enough for communication. The Windows laptop can be backup if things fail for any reason. 

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Jan 6, 2016 6:06 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2016 6:06 AM in response to Loner T

    Hi Loner, and a very Happy New Year to you, I trust you and yours had an enjoyable Christmas. I had a great time at my sons in Cambridge, but now I'm back I need to resolve the issue with unallocated space on my iMac.

     

    I did come across this article on Wiredbobs blog over the holiday and would like your thoughts on whether it would be good to try...I've pasted it below.

     

    Clean Installation of a Fusion Drive equipped Mac

     

    Arrgghh!  I have just been through the pain of a Fusion drive logical volume group having some unallocated space, and not being able to reclaim it through Disk Utility.  How I got there is a long story involving many failed attempts at installing Bootcamp Windows 8, and I'm not going to go into it because at the moment it is too painful...  Just one lesson - don't create unallocated space on a Fusion Drive (or perhaps any other configuration) as you may not be able to reclaim it without erasing the drive.

     

    The situation with the unallocated space is apparently a "feature" of Mac OS X's recovery partition.  On my 1TB physical disk I had 3 partitions -

     

    1.  The EFI boot partition.
    2.  The bulk of the actual disk for real files.
    3.  The hidden recovery partition <-- this is between 2 and 4 and prevents 2 from being resized to absorb the unallocated space.
    4.  Some unallocated space.

     

    So to fix this, I decided to go the extreme route and reformat the hard drive and reinstall Mac OS X.  Not as easy as it sounds.  A reformat of the "drive" really only reformats (2) - as the EFI and recovery partitions are hidden in Disk Utility.  You'll get the same problem even if you boot into recovery with Command-R or Internet Recovery with Command-Shift-R.

     

    To actually reformat an entire Fusion Drive, the easiest thing to do is break the Fusion Drive and then open Disk Utility.  Disk Utility detects to bad state of the Fusion Drive and can restore the Logical Volume Group and Logical Volume configuration for you.

     

    Do this -

     

    1. Boot to Internet Recovery - hold down Command-Alt-R when you hear the boot chime.
    2. Open Terminal under the Utilities menu.
    3. Issue the command -

     

    diskutil cs list

     

    4.  Find the UUID after the text "Logical Volume Group" and copy it -
    5.  Issue the command -

     

    * WARNING THIS WILL ERASE DISKS IN YOUR VOLUME GROUP AND YOU WILL LOSE DATA *

     

    diskutil cs delete <Paste UUID>

     

    6.  Exit Terminal and return to Disk Utility.
    7.  Disk Utility will see that the drive configuration is incorrect.  When prompted allow it to repair the Fusion Drive - practically this is creating a Logical Volume Group again, containing your SSD and physical hard disk.

     

    Now that's done it's time to get the OS up and running again.  These are the instructions for a Time Machine backup -

     

    1.  Exit Disk Utility.
    2.  If your Time Machine backup is from a different version of OS X from your Recovery Partition forget about restoring from it directly in recovery.  e.g. I had a Mavericks backup, and my recovery partition/Internet recovery has Mountain Lion.  If you do the restore from the Time Machine backup, it will look like it has worked, but on reboot it will boot straight back to the recovery partition.
    3.  Choose a full install of OS X.
    4.  Once the full install completes go through the setup - create a temporary user so that when Time Machine restores your original user, the names won't clash!
    5.  Immediately go to the App Store and upgrade to the latest OS (the one that matches your Time Machine Backup) e.g. in my case Mavericks.
    6.  Once upgraded, open the Migration Assistant.
    7.  Select the Time Machine option, select your backup and proceed with the restore.  This is when you wish you had a Thunderbolt external drive.
    8.  Once the restore finishes, log in as your old user, ensure they have administrator rights and then delete the temp user using System Preferences.

     

    Done.  Now never mess around with unallocated space again!

     

    Best regards,

    Gerry

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 6, 2016 7:44 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Jan 6, 2016 7:44 AM in response to Dino - UK

    Thanks for posting this. It should also help future readers. Please remember to create a new OSX backup.

  • by Dino - UK,

    Dino - UK Dino - UK Jan 7, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 7, 2016 10:31 AM in response to Loner T

    Just to let you know Loner, the Wiredbob method worked like a charm and I now have a fully restored iMac with a working copy of Windows 8.1 pro on a 150GB partition.

    Many thanks for all your help and I hope the method proves useful in the future for others.

    Best regards

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jan 7, 2016 10:47 AM in response to Dino - UK
    Level 7 (24,307 points)
    Safari
    Jan 7, 2016 10:47 AM in response to Dino - UK

    Excellent. Please backup OSX, Windows and create a Windows System Restore point.

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